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?

Time consuming, I know, but did you get 23 separate tips?

No. Some people (I’d estimate 1/3 of them) left between £1-£3 pounds, then rest left nothing. Tips are entirely optional though and we never expect them. Whatever we get in tips we divide between all staff and we are very grateful for them though!

And no, we don’t charge a service charge for bigger groups.

When I go out with work we all choose somewhere you pay up front and all go do that individually before the food comes out at the bar when we arrive, usually not all at the same time

But otherwise I would get the receipt and get everyone to work it out, put in their amount then pay in one go. I have before done it where it where the card machine is passed around the table person to person but we have all worked out our own amount and just tell the staff how much we are each paying

@happymummy12345 because I'm not going to fork out £700 from my account and then carry £700 in cash for the rest of the night. And I wouldn't expect anyone else to. Ridiculous suggestion.

We wouldn’t expect anyone to do this either nc100 and are more than happy for people to pay their share separately. It’s the working out of each share that is tricky with our software system.

Splitting the bill and seperate bills are different things. Of course people want to pay for what they have had or their share and not everyone has cash to put in the middle. Taking multiple cash and card payments on the same bill is not a problem at all and to be expected. But seperate bills are time consuming and confusing. And unnecessary when everyone can figure out how much they need to pay by looking at the itemised bill on the table (can even be printed out multiple times).

I can understand people wanting seperate bills for expenses but this should be made clear at the start so the server can either do seperate bills from the start or prepare for the fact that they will need a lot of time to take payment and plan accordingly.

Certainly not the customer's fault you have to log in, close windows, create tables etc, just to let them pay. Sounds like you need a system that can handle this very simple, every day situation, rather than the rubbish one you have now.

Sorry, that top part was a quote from another poster and should have been in italics!

LettuceP, I think that being able to add up is part of a waiting staff's job quite honestly. Arithmetic was very much part of Maths when I was at school and it's an invaluable skill.

I know that computers have taken over the task pretty much but being able to accurately calculate customers' bills, regardless of table-size, goes with the job, surely?

yabu
you need better systems in place if it's too much of a faff otherwise.

This sort of shit is exactly why I do my damnedest to avoid eating out in large groups. There's nothing worse than watching some arsehole order about eight sides, an expensive main and four refills when you just know that the first fucking thing out of their mouth when the bill arrives is 'Shall we split it equally, then?' No, we won't, you freeloading twat. I agree that providing individual bills for all members of a large party is unfair on the establishment too, though. To be honest, I've never found a good workaround for the issue, and so now I stick to only eating out in groups with those that I know and can trust to play nicely, or else just turn down the offer. Don't really care if it makes me look miserable and antisocial, I am rapidly approaching the age where having to be subjected to the above scenario will publicly give me The Rage™.

Approach it from a different angle - get a better point if sale system that allows easy splitting of bills. We go out for work lunches and always split. Never a drama. Staff easily select what you ordered and you pay for it - they don't fuff around with multiple screens etc.

It’s not rubbish Cheese, it works perfectly for everything else and was expensive to set up. Also, the staff are all trained on how to use it. It’s a small family run restaurant and a huge expense to overall the software becasue customers can’t be bothered to check the bill themselves and add up what they want to pay for.

But when the system does get updated, we would definitely look into ways it can be improved and creating separate bills for each customer will be top of the list!

The area we’re in attracts fairly wealthy people and is very rural, so it’s rare we have people using business accounts.

Another easy option is people go to the counter to order. That way no issue with multiple bills or messing around splitting payments.

I would expect to do it the second way. It would be much quicker too and the customers wouldn't want to hang around for an hour while you sort the bills.

LyingWitchIn are you seriously suggesting that I should know the exact cost of every item on the menu and be able to add up the cost of what someone has had in my head on the spot? If you think that every server should be able to do that then you are living in lala land

You have my full sympathy.

What an utter faff

Other places we eat say no split bills. Table gets the bill at end of meal, it passed around and people pay for what they had.

When I was a waitress at a restaurant in the Trafford Centre the only thing I hated was people asking me to do the maths for them on a busy Saturday night!
I think the problem here lies with the restaurants tills, because at restaurants people split the bill all the time and you can't really get round that.
Where I worked, we could take multiple transactions really easily, but I did work for a chain restaurant and understand that small businesses might not have the best technology.

That sounds a faff.

Every time I have been out in a large group the norm has been to add up what you had and put that amount into the pot at the end. Paying individually would have been a real atmosphere killer to the meal.

@MeetMeInMontauk totally agree. I can see why people want to do it like this. I stopped going to work nights out due to 2 people who took the piss. Head office would always put money behind the bar for every one to get a drink or two. These two CF would arrive before everyone else and would have ordered 3 cocktails each before the rest of us had or coats off. They would then order the most expensive items always had a starter, main and desert, coffee etc. Even ordering themselves a bottle of wine each then want to just split evenly. The rest of us would have had 1 or 2 courses and a couple of beers or ciders, sometimes a soft drink and they expected us to pay for their bottles of wine and expensive deserts. A couple of us got fed up with it as if they were challenged they would start to get mouthy. It just wasn't worth it so we stopped going.

LettuceP, No, I'm seriously suggesting that waiting staff ought to be able to do some simple calculations (and they are), with pen and paper if you can't do it in your head. What would happen if your till failed?

All of the issues that OP is referring to is because there is total reliance on an automated system that can't seem to manage multiple diners from one table.

It's not me in la-la land.

Restaurant saying no split bills,how peculiar fortunately I’ve never encountered that
I’d say it’s a sure way to lose custom

I do love it when people just tell you they had the chicken, two pints and a chocolate brownie then wait for you to tell them how much it is off the top of your head. As if you've memorised the menu prices and can immediately add them up.

Bills turn people into nightmares. We've got a business that use our restaurant for work lunches regularly. They always moan if the food takes a minute longer than usual then pay separately one at a time in a similar way that you describe. Once or twice there's been about £2 left to pay that they've genuinely argued about amongst themselves. I always want to say, don't come out to eat if you quarrel over £2 between friends!

I agree with that, Lipstick, it's a service industry and there is a huge amount of competition out there. I wouldn't make a fuss about OP's plan but wouldn't return either.

I think that many customers don't actively complain, they just vote with their feet and 'fussy' establishments don't see them ever again.

I wouldn’t dream of expecting the restaurant to calculate the cost of my individual food and drink. I know MNers hate the concept of sharing bills equally but in my experience it’s only very rarely that you get a CF taking the piss. If however, you do want to itemise your own cost down to the last penny then imo, it’s incumbent upon you to act like a grown-up and keep your own tab. Not expect busy restaurant staff to pander to your ridiculousness.