Patty is home, and it's been super New York-y already: the other people in Terminal 8 were so excited to see their loved-ones they were blocking folks from getting out; the cab said his credit card thing was broken; the sound of the heating pipes woke us up; and there was some seriously creepy bird action this morning. Thumbs up.
On splitting the check. I understand the complaint. I don't understand why it's necessary. I've almost NEVER run into this, though. We all figure out what we owe, chuck it in, and since I've been over the age of about 25, we've usually had too much money, not too little.
I don't understand why there is a stigma to only paying for what you ordered when the bill comes. I genuinely don't.
Splitting the check is I'm sure a hassle for servers, but it seems like they have a better chance of getting a tip that way. Because let's face it, if someone comes up short, it's the tip that it's going to come out of.
In New York most restaurants refuse to split checks. You can hand them some cash and say "put the rest on this card" but you can't get separate checks. I always find it sort of shocking when people do it elsewhere, but it seems like it's okay elsewhere.
Here in Virginia, it's standard for the server to give separate checks, even for fairly large groups like the one I was with last night, which had about 10 people. A good restaurant computer system should be able to handle separate checks easily.
It's the same in Australia -- I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant here that was willing to split the bill. I've always been quite surprised, when abroad, that it seemed standard to do so.
And yeah, most of the time people just put in what they owe, and it usually turns out that we have too much.
I wouldn't say there's a stigma to only paying for what you ordered.
However I have been the money-holder too many times when everyone has "paid for what they ordered" but we are still short $30 or $40 because no one has figured 11% for tax, 15-20% for tip (amazing to me how many adults cannot quickly figure this - move the decimal, then double the result = 20%??), and in some places now, the Healthy San Francisco surcharge. Add that shortfall to the fact that people are often seeing "$11.49" and thinking "ok, about eleven bucks..." and it's a train wreck.
I have paid $40 for a slice of pizza and a soda because I held the money for a table of folks who all got up and left after they "paid" and we were massively short.
So, I am really glad to split evenly a few ways, or I am glad to have people total what they specifically bought, but once the number of folks gets above maybe five or six, the latter method does get very hairy. (And I say this as the first person to speak up when someone suggests "let's split four ways?" and object because no, I had two cocktails and a soup course while other people had only one cocktail and no soup, so I should owe more, etc. etc.)
Don't offer to hold the money. That's been my "solution." :-/
(And, always make sure I'm accurately paying my part, including figuring generously for tax, tip, and another couple of bucks to cover "accounting errors" from elsewhere.)
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Date: 2010-12-15 05:57 pm (UTC)Splitting the check is I'm sure a hassle for servers, but it seems like they have a better chance of getting a tip that way. Because let's face it, if someone comes up short, it's the tip that it's going to come out of.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 06:09 pm (UTC)In New York most restaurants refuse to split checks. You can hand them some cash and say "put the rest on this card" but you can't get separate checks. I always find it sort of shocking when people do it elsewhere, but it seems like it's okay elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 04:22 am (UTC)And yeah, most of the time people just put in what they owe, and it usually turns out that we have too much.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 08:46 pm (UTC)However I have been the money-holder too many times when everyone has "paid for what they ordered" but we are still short $30 or $40 because no one has figured 11% for tax, 15-20% for tip (amazing to me how many adults cannot quickly figure this - move the decimal, then double the result = 20%??), and in some places now, the Healthy San Francisco surcharge. Add that shortfall to the fact that people are often seeing "$11.49" and thinking "ok, about eleven bucks..." and it's a train wreck.
I have paid $40 for a slice of pizza and a soda because I held the money for a table of folks who all got up and left after they "paid" and we were massively short.
So, I am really glad to split evenly a few ways, or I am glad to have people total what they specifically bought, but once the number of folks gets above maybe five or six, the latter method does get very hairy. (And I say this as the first person to speak up when someone suggests "let's split four ways?" and object because no, I had two cocktails and a soup course while other people had only one cocktail and no soup, so I should owe more, etc. etc.)
no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 11:11 pm (UTC)(And, always make sure I'm accurately paying my part, including figuring generously for tax, tip, and another couple of bucks to cover "accounting errors" from elsewhere.)