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?

'loathe you'

Seperate* bills also enable those who are less well off to participate in normal & business social life*

e.g. someone very junior or pt can have the cheapest course and a soft drink, instead if having to split a bill for lobster, steak, expensive wine & liqueurs

Also, some people deliberately go for the most expensive food & loads of booze when others are mostly paying for it !
CFs !

You’re coming across as a raver Fizzy and the half written post didn’t help
If split bills has not been a problem for Lying in past why are you labouring this?

The restaurant needs to give back the menu with the prices on.
This is usually taken away after ordering so how TF does anyone work out what they owe?

Our bills are fully itemised and we can print out multiple copies.

That used to happen quite often when we went out as an office, BigChoc, the managers would quite often 'orderup'' and want to split the bill. You could see the panic at bill time when staff were trying to get enough together to cover it. It's stressful when you're the one who's junior. As soon as I could, I would say, 'separate bills, then?' and you'd see the relief.

Doesn't happen now as if we go out as an office it's all covered, but it must be horrendous when you're obliged to go out and there's such a disparity in what people are ordering.

Take a note of the price when you order before you give the menu back!

I thought this was why there was generally an additional service charge for large groups to cover the cost of all the faffing. On the other hand I thought large groups tended to eat and drink more than equivalent smaller groups so maybe they make a fair bit of profit from mark up on booze

Nope...just speaking for most of the community who have ever waitressed. There are some very tedious members of the public out there. Find me an ex waitress who does not agree. Combatting this with 'well I just go to NICE restaurants was a ridiculous point that made no sense. And don't patronise me because I hit a button too fast on my phone. Twatty.

It's been a looong time since I went to a restaurant that didn't have an itemised bill - it's pretty easy to work it out without a menu.

Waitresses are not your slaves

No but they are our their customers servers,so do your job or get a different job if this one is too difficult for you.

I said 'proper' not 'nice'. I regularly go to the same restaurants, posh and not posh, and the staff there are great. If they loath me then at least they hide it well. I'm an 'ex-waitress' myself.

Hope that clears it up for you. I won't be engaging with your vacuous nonsense any further.

Oh shame. Would love to do lunch sweetie. Will bring my calculator xx

You’re a hoot Fizzy
All swearie and luvvie this, twatty that to anyone who disagrees
And yes it was funny you getting all worked up,on an incomplete post.very apt

When I was a waitress I would tell big parties that if they wanted to paid separately, they would have to order separately and no guarantees that the food will come out at once. Hate people faffing around like that!

And did your boss know that you were making that demand Sugar? Because I'd have thought that was his or her rule to make not yours.

Nope...just speaking for most of the community who have ever waitressed. There are some very tedious members of the public out there. Find me an ex waitress who does not agree.

Yep DD3 has a part time job and in her ever so humbe opinion 80% of them ought to be locked up and not let out!

Shes often complained about those groups of 10 or more who right at the end decide they want to have a long debate on who pays for what shes had even fist fights between them!

Sugar I’d ask see to see the manager to query why group meals can’t arrive together just because bill is split
I’d also note your snippy demeanour and report it

Whenever I'm away in the states, they are able to bring separate bills with no trouble at all.

I'd suggest this is not the customers problems but your bosses. The tech exists to make this easy and painless.

Oh OliviaMN - it's so nice to see a well-aimed "Ahem" from you again!

States, Europe this isn’t a thing.it a hassle free transaction

Sorry - NotOliviaMN (got a bit carried away there)

I used to regular eat out in large groups where everyone paid their own.
We used to mainly go to the same place as they had a great system where you were given a wooden spoon with a number on it. Anything you ordered went under the number on your spoon and at bill time you just gave back your spoon and your individual bill toted up which you then paid.
I don’t think this created more work for the staff, the customers didn’t have to sit with a calculator working out each persons share nor did the chicken salad and glass of wine end up subbing the steak and bottle of wine.

Swearing is fun lippygal. The happier I am, the swearier I get. It's great as it filters out uptight people too and I have an absolutely fab group of friends. And we're all professional successful people... but feel free to try and put me down #skipsoffswearing#

I think that's a brilliant system, Dontsweatthelittlestuff.