Splitting the bill - from a waitress’s POV.

[MazDazzle]

If you’re out for a meal in a large group and you want to pay individually, how do you go about it?

I’m a waitress in a smallish bistro. It’s a nice place and we do our best to accommodate our customers. We had a table of 23 last night: starters, mains, pudding and some sides, plus cocktails and coffee. Instead of asking for the total bill, each person came up to the til one at a time and asked to pay for what they had.

I had to listen patiently while each person tried to remember what they had. It’s a long process; I had to log in/out multiple times for each customer, shut down screens, open new ones, trawl through the very long bill trying to find each item, create a new table for each customer, cut and paste it to a new bill... this is before we get to the cash/card payment. 23 times!

It took a good 3 mins per customer, so for over an hour the restaurant floor was one person short. It happens all the time and both the restaurant owners and staff are sick of it.

WIBU to say ‘Sorry, we’re unable to make up individual bills, but I’m happy to print out multiple copies of the total bill and provide a calculator. Each person can pay by cash/card, whichever is easiest.’

Would you think it was rude if a waitress said this to you?

I'm guessing this is about how waiting staff are trained. I live in Germany where it is normal for bills to be split. Basically the waitress goes to the table with an itemized bill when someone indicates that they are ready to pay and leave. They ask whether people are paying together or separately. They ask what was had and work out each person‘s/couple‘s/family‘s bill, usually in their head or on paper. No way would it take an hour for a group of 20 or so

In most places I go for group meals we get a bill and pass it round and sort out what we have eaten. There is one place we go that prefers us to do what you suggest and it works quite well. Although we are never in such a large group and in families/couples so they probably only have 5 separate bills maybe at most.

I think as waitress the onus is on you at the start to ask how they will be paying and you can guide them to how you would prefer it. Often I will buy drinks separately and pay as I go so it's just the meal to get. In big groups we will go somewhere where it's two courses for a set price so again we know how much food is then it's just drinks to pay for.

Did the diners book separately, if so then reasonable for them to ask for separate bills. If one booking then they should expect to sort out the bill themselves. 23 people in one group wanting individual bills is ridiculous. Your suggestion of giving them an itemised list for them to sort out their costs sounds very reasonable and sensible.

If its friends we order separately to start with or if its family we pay all together. I hope they left a large tip, we would top about £75-100.

I'm guessing this is about how waiting staff are trained.

Not necessarily. A lot of till systems aren't designed to split the bill multiple ways.

Usually the restaurant puts the bill on the table then each person/family works out what they owe, the waiter returns and takes the card payments and collects any cash.

Your answer is of a typical selfish customer that’s never waited tables. So I have to stand there sorting each individual bill out whilst other tables are waiting to be served and the chef is ringing the bell screaming that hot food is going cold. If your all to tight to just split the bill, ask for it and a calculator. sort it the fuck out yourselves.

Just say your till is unable to do this and give them the bill a pen and a calculator and let them work it out themselves. This probably meant they never tipped either. To tight to split the bill in case someone got a better deal out of it. Everyone should do 3 months as a server and then they might know how to behave in a restaurant. Why don’t these tightasses just stay at home.

It’s no good Hun the general public just don’t understand.

Omg as the chef really needs 23 separate checks lined up in the kitchen and how does the waitress know whose bills to put the extra drinks on etc. Unfuckingbelievable

I find people who do this frankly lazy.

Whenever me and my friend go out we have the bill first and then get our calculators on our phones to work out what we each owe so we have already sorted it by the time the waiter/waitress comes back for payment.

Alternatively if there’s a big group of family, we all take a look at the bill in turns, work out what we owe and then put our share of the cash in.

@threatmatrix

Actually paying separately has nothing to do with being a tightass. It eliminates all the classic mumsnet arguments about fairness when one person has had soup and someone else had steak, without there being any bad feeling. Doing the associated math is just part of basic education for waiting staff so its never seen as an issue. I’m also fairly sure the waiting staff also get better tips as everyone says what they are being given (in the sense of if e.g. the bill is €15 and the customer hands over a €20 note, they will say take €17=€2 tip) and no-one wants to be seen to give less than the standard 10%

That’s one of the reasons why eating out in the US is so easy- servers always ask if you need separate bills or not. That way no-one feels embarrassed and awkward at the end of a meal, trying to work out how much each person has to pay.

The bill arrives. Mobile phones have calculators now. Everyone works out how much they owe & puts the cash in the kitty. Pay the bill with all the money. Simple. You can do the same with cards but it takes longer. It's the responsibility of the consumers to work out what they owe!

I own a restaurant Hun. They wouldn’t have all tipped. We don’t have time in a busy restaurant to do this as other customers end up suffering. Not all restaurants can afford the luxury of a smart till system. The customers never remember what they really had and the last one to pay ends up with a larger bill as they have to pay the remainder. If you haven’t done the job you wouldn’t understand. I’m also sure that if there was 10% on the bill they did not add that on so the waitress probably got stiffed. I’ve actually witnessed this many times in my 30 years of catering.

They should have specified they wanted separate bills at the start. Or they could have got one bill and added up what each person owed- and then bank transferred or paid cash to one person to pay.

We can use the split screen on our tills now which is great IF people can remember what they actually ordered. Most of the time none of them can recall what they have personally ingested over the last 60 minutes but expect us on the bar to remember exactly what each of our 200+ customers have ordered over the course of the evening.

I have this in my job, I tell them I'm happy to take multiple payments but they must decide themselves who pays what ! Unless then want to just split the bill between them equally then I'll work it out for them.

I used to live in a city overseas where it was normal for the wait staff to ask if we wanted split bills when we sat down to eat especially if you went out in a group.
It meant there was never any awkwardness or tricky dividing of bills after meals. I wish more restaurants would do it in the U.K.

Unless it obviously a family group then it can hardly come as a surprise that a large group of friends or work colleague would prefer to pay separately, 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thats just the point, they do all tip. Because however poor the service, its what you do here. In the same way as the expected amount is 10%, max 15%. Anything higher will be refused because its out of line with the norm. Its a cultural thing. You know that you are responsible for what you‘ve ordered and you remember. Also the waiting staff will correct anyone who remembers less than they had. Like I said, training issue. I’m not suggesting that a smart till system is needed as this is usually done with a pad and pencil 😊

I've been looking at restaurants near us and one very popular restaurant says that for parties of 6 or more, they are required to pay in one go on one card (or with cash I suppose!). This is the terms of the booking and as long as it's made clear with booking it seems very reasonable to me.

threatmatrix. It’s not ‘tight’ to want to split a bill. I’m more than happy to pay for what I have eaten and drank and more than happy to leave a tip.

I went to a family chain pub as part of a big group and at the start they asked who was paying on their own / in couples etc. They gave each person / group a number (only written on a slip if paper) so each order was allocated to a separate bill from the start (I suppose the way you would for separate tables). It worked really well.

OP, I think you could make things easier when serving to a group of people by asking them at the very beginning how are they going to pay. If they're going to pay separately create an order list for each person. Every time someone orders anything extra ask who is it for and add it to the personalised order. At the end just go through the orders and that's it.

When we’ve been out, usually we go up and tell the bar staff what we ordered and pay. But if we go somewhere new, we ask for the bill, and work out between us.
I would print of the bill and give it to them to work out how to pay. That’s what we’d expect.