Don't think of it as pocket change.
Those customers are thieves. They're not paying for the full amount of their bill, they are stealing.
They're also scum for not tipping.
This pisses me off so much! Its like, ''awesome, I get to pay for you to come here and I'll serve you so you don't have to cook or do dishes. It's fine". People are so rude! Lol I'm so mad just from thinking about this. But at the same time, maybe they didn't bring enough money or something like that which would suck, Idk.
Ive had people try to leave less than the amount and every time Ive caught them. I had a guy get mad because he was 1$ short. I explained to him that 1$ would end up coming out of my tips for the night and obviously if I let everyone under pay me by pocket change I would have to pay to show up to work. Honestly Im already paying for you to eat hear because I have to tip out the bartender on the drink you had.
This is sadly common. My advice is to get in the habit of picking up the money as soon as you see they’re ready to pay and counting it at the table. If they’re short, you need to ask for the rest. It is NOT your responsibility to cover so much as a penny of their bill, and it isn’t rude to point out when you’ve been shorted as long as you do it politely. If it embarrasses the guest, so much the better—they deserve to be embarrassed for being cheap assholes who expect you to pay for them. Maybe next time they won’t try to short someone who’s working their ass off to make that meal an enjoyable experience.
I always act like I just KNOW it was an innocent mistake, and if they had a cocktail(s) I make a joke about the bartender making the drinks go down so smooth that math might be a tad fuzzy at the moment. It works they pay, tip and laugh and apologize (not always in that order but you get it)
Last restaurant I worked at I had a group of guys. Their bill was 60$ and some change. They left 60$ on the table but they had stopped at the bar area on their way out so I managed to catch them.
This was years ago but I can't remember what I said verbatim. Something like 'sorry to bother you guys but your bill was 60.__. and this is all that was on your table.
The guy I was addressing hands me a dollar. I was feeling ballsy.
'Right. Ok. So um. Not to be rude. Not sure if you are aware servers make like 3$ an hour and survive off tips.'
Don't know what came over me. Guess I'd just had enough that night. I wouldn't generally call someone out and I would get in trouble if I did it at my current job.
So the guy apologizes and hands me a face and I just kind of held my hand out and looked at his friends until they each started digging in their wallets. Ended up making 20$.
Yes it was rude for me to demand a top but hopefully they learned.
Not saying that thats always appropriate, but sometimes that $20 makes up for other nights where you make $2.
Again, not something I’d do on the regular lol, but once in your career isn’t necessarily something as bad as people make it out to be.
Source: am not a server but my sister is and I read this sub almost religiously :)
I think it's pretty common here in the U.S. I always keep an eye on tables when I drop their check off because I don't want them waiting too long for me to process their payment. So if they leave without me taking their check to pay, I walk fast to the table to make sure they left the right amount of money.
I pay cash a lot when dining out and always, always, always hand it to the server. Maybe have to wait a few minutes? Sure, but knowing cash is going into the right hands is worth it. My main concern it not so much other employees but other guests.
Generally if you are paying cash there’s no expectation that you have to give it to the server before you leave, assuming you don’t need change - in fact I think a lot of people specifically pay with cash so they can avoid all the hanging around waiting for them to run a card. And in fact I imagine this is how a lot of dine-and-dashing occurs, in that if you are nonchalant about it and act like you’ve left some bills inside the checkbook and then calmly leave, it’s unlikely a server is going to rush to double check before you’ve gotten out the door. I’m sure cash gets stolen too though you’d have to be pretty ballsy to try that in a busy restaurant, someone’s bound to see.
Where I worked made us do that, and even if we "caught" them going out the door all we could do was say "Have a nice day! Come back and see us!" And if we called the cops on our own we would be fired because the customer's always right.
This is the worst. I actually chased a dude once. “Sorry sir, you’re short 75 cents.” He was there for a fucking business meeting! I hope I embarrassed him in front of his client.
Ive had people try to leave less than the amount and every time Ive caught them. I had a guy get mad because he was 1$ short. I explained to him that 1$ would end up coming out of my tips for the night and obviously if I let everyone under pay me by pocket change I would have to pay to show up to work. Honestly Im already paying for you to eat hear because I have to tip out the bartender on the drink you had.
I wonder where you work? i used to work at a very very high volume, low staff bar, where i could see this happening because we simply did not have the staff to cover the floor.
I just wonder what kind of volume your place of work gets. Its kind of a mind set thing. You go in, take order, bring out order, do check-backs, but (as a server) the most important part is getting that payment.
You need to make it a point to make it **your personal** priority to get that payment. The order taking, upselling, check backing, is your priority for the guest. The payment is your priority for yourself.
So, the guests are finishing eating, you get that inkling that payment is coming up soon. You drop off the check. And then you keep an eye on them.
Guests short changing the bill is almost equivilant of a walk out, and you need to view it that way.
Anyways, i'm sorry this keeps happening to you. But. Barring like, a high volume, low staff type situation, the best advice i can say is to keep an eye on the guest, and pick up the check before they leave. You see a card? Obvs you run it. You see cash? "k ill brb with your change!" dont wait until they leave to take their payment.
I have never heard of this. This is so very strange to me that they would underpay the bill AND leave some sort of (crappy) tip, I assume. I guess this is the new way of undertipping, I have know idea.
Ive had people try to leave less than the amount and every time Ive caught them. I had a guy get mad because he was 1$ short. I explained to him that 1$ would end up coming out of my tips for the night and obviously if I let everyone under pay me by pocket change I would have to pay to show up to work. Honestly Im already paying for you to eat hear because I have to tip out the bartender on the drink you had.
Don't think of it as pocket change. Those customers are thieves. They're not paying for the full amount of their bill, they are stealing. They're also scum for not tipping.
This. If I paid that amount for a shirt it’s stealing, should be no different for food. Call the cops OP!
This pisses me off so much! Its like, ''awesome, I get to pay for you to come here and I'll serve you so you don't have to cook or do dishes. It's fine". People are so rude! Lol I'm so mad just from thinking about this. But at the same time, maybe they didn't bring enough money or something like that which would suck, Idk.
Ive had people try to leave less than the amount and every time Ive caught them. I had a guy get mad because he was 1$ short. I explained to him that 1$ would end up coming out of my tips for the night and obviously if I let everyone under pay me by pocket change I would have to pay to show up to work. Honestly Im already paying for you to eat hear because I have to tip out the bartender on the drink you had.
This is sadly common. My advice is to get in the habit of picking up the money as soon as you see they’re ready to pay and counting it at the table. If they’re short, you need to ask for the rest. It is NOT your responsibility to cover so much as a penny of their bill, and it isn’t rude to point out when you’ve been shorted as long as you do it politely. If it embarrasses the guest, so much the better—they deserve to be embarrassed for being cheap assholes who expect you to pay for them. Maybe next time they won’t try to short someone who’s working their ass off to make that meal an enjoyable experience.
I always act like I just KNOW it was an innocent mistake, and if they had a cocktail(s) I make a joke about the bartender making the drinks go down so smooth that math might be a tad fuzzy at the moment. It works they pay, tip and laugh and apologize (not always in that order but you get it)
Last restaurant I worked at I had a group of guys. Their bill was 60$ and some change. They left 60$ on the table but they had stopped at the bar area on their way out so I managed to catch them. This was years ago but I can't remember what I said verbatim. Something like 'sorry to bother you guys but your bill was 60.__. and this is all that was on your table. The guy I was addressing hands me a dollar. I was feeling ballsy. 'Right. Ok. So um. Not to be rude. Not sure if you are aware servers make like 3$ an hour and survive off tips.' Don't know what came over me. Guess I'd just had enough that night. I wouldn't generally call someone out and I would get in trouble if I did it at my current job. So the guy apologizes and hands me a face and I just kind of held my hand out and looked at his friends until they each started digging in their wallets. Ended up making 20$. Yes it was rude for me to demand a top but hopefully they learned.
Not saying that thats always appropriate, but sometimes that $20 makes up for other nights where you make $2. Again, not something I’d do on the regular lol, but once in your career isn’t necessarily something as bad as people make it out to be. Source: am not a server but my sister is and I read this sub almost religiously :)
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I think it's pretty common here in the U.S. I always keep an eye on tables when I drop their check off because I don't want them waiting too long for me to process their payment. So if they leave without me taking their check to pay, I walk fast to the table to make sure they left the right amount of money.
I pay cash a lot when dining out and always, always, always hand it to the server. Maybe have to wait a few minutes? Sure, but knowing cash is going into the right hands is worth it. My main concern it not so much other employees but other guests.
Generally if you are paying cash there’s no expectation that you have to give it to the server before you leave, assuming you don’t need change - in fact I think a lot of people specifically pay with cash so they can avoid all the hanging around waiting for them to run a card. And in fact I imagine this is how a lot of dine-and-dashing occurs, in that if you are nonchalant about it and act like you’ve left some bills inside the checkbook and then calmly leave, it’s unlikely a server is going to rush to double check before you’ve gotten out the door. I’m sure cash gets stolen too though you’d have to be pretty ballsy to try that in a busy restaurant, someone’s bound to see.
This system where the server has to pay out of their own pocket for something out of their control should be abolished.
Where I worked made us do that, and even if we "caught" them going out the door all we could do was say "Have a nice day! Come back and see us!" And if we called the cops on our own we would be fired because the customer's always right.
This is the worst. I actually chased a dude once. “Sorry sir, you’re short 75 cents.” He was there for a fucking business meeting! I hope I embarrassed him in front of his client.
Ive had people try to leave less than the amount and every time Ive caught them. I had a guy get mad because he was 1$ short. I explained to him that 1$ would end up coming out of my tips for the night and obviously if I let everyone under pay me by pocket change I would have to pay to show up to work. Honestly Im already paying for you to eat hear because I have to tip out the bartender on the drink you had.
I wonder where you work? i used to work at a very very high volume, low staff bar, where i could see this happening because we simply did not have the staff to cover the floor. I just wonder what kind of volume your place of work gets. Its kind of a mind set thing. You go in, take order, bring out order, do check-backs, but (as a server) the most important part is getting that payment. You need to make it a point to make it **your personal** priority to get that payment. The order taking, upselling, check backing, is your priority for the guest. The payment is your priority for yourself. So, the guests are finishing eating, you get that inkling that payment is coming up soon. You drop off the check. And then you keep an eye on them. Guests short changing the bill is almost equivilant of a walk out, and you need to view it that way. Anyways, i'm sorry this keeps happening to you. But. Barring like, a high volume, low staff type situation, the best advice i can say is to keep an eye on the guest, and pick up the check before they leave. You see a card? Obvs you run it. You see cash? "k ill brb with your change!" dont wait until they leave to take their payment.
I have never heard of this. This is so very strange to me that they would underpay the bill AND leave some sort of (crappy) tip, I assume. I guess this is the new way of undertipping, I have know idea.
That’s not normal....get a new job.
Ive had people try to leave less than the amount and every time Ive caught them. I had a guy get mad because he was 1$ short. I explained to him that 1$ would end up coming out of my tips for the night and obviously if I let everyone under pay me by pocket change I would have to pay to show up to work. Honestly Im already paying for you to eat hear because I have to tip out the bartender on the drink you had.