Paying for meal
 

When I am finished with my meal at a restaurant, I like to pay and leave. Problem many times is that the wait person can’t be found.
I have started to ask for the check when food is delivered so I can offer my card the next time the wait person passes even before I have finished. Then, when it’s delivered, I can just sign the chit and leave when I’m ready.
I’m usually not in a hurry, but I just don’t want to sit there and wait.
Is that so wrong ?

Wrong? Nah. I can understand the impatience. But if the restaurant is busy then waitstaff will be busy as well.

We can be pretty sure that if we owe them money, they WILL remember that you're there.

Or you could just remember to bring cash, and figure out the tax and tip and round up to the nearest dollar. No waiting for a check necessary, just set it on the table sticking out from under your plate. Or hand it to the server on your way out and tell them "no change."

That sounds like a plan but I’d never stuff cash under part of a plate and hope it was collected and processed by the right person. I’d get the tab right away, personally.

Nope. I do not like to sit there wasting time after eating so I always ask for the check as soon as the meal comes.

For me, it's cash only in restaurants. No credit cards. I never need to ask for change. I have also found that two dollar bills come in handy. I special order them at the bank, a hundred at a time.

No problem asking for the check when the food arrives...

But servers are often trained NOT to rush diners with a check. Many people find that to be rude...

Very reasonable

Just ask the waiter/waitress for the check when the food arrives.

While I agree with the OP, I also like to leave as soon as I am done, there are many people who enjoy a leisurely meal, and the dining out and lingering over coffee and conversation is a large part of the experience. For them. Not me.

This confuses me
 

I frequently dine out. I've always been expected to pay first...at the first window... before the order is presented at the second one.

Tell your sever to bring the bill with our food

It's a good idea to ask for the check when food arrives. I usually manage to forget.

get up. Head to bathroom for wash up.
You'll be greeted upon exiting

I totally agree about the server often being impossible to find at end of a meal. I think asking for the check with your meal is a good idea.

AND…..the owner knows that there may be an opportunity to sell another drink or two or a dessert if the tab stays open.

BUt of course once you get your bill you need to provide your credit card as well and then wait for return. Hopefully by the time you complete your meal

My golf group of up to 20 eats lunch after the morning round and we always ask for the check when food is delivered. Sometimes they bring it right away and sometimes they don't.

Naturally, waiters don’t want to bring you the check until they’ve tried to talk you into buying dessert, coffee, or that special cocktail called the DUI. But I’ve never had a waiter refuse or hesitate when I’ve asked for the check when the meal is delivered. I often put my credit card near the edge of the table when I’m ready to pay, and waiters are usually quick to notice that and bring the check. But no, it’s not rude to ask for it early. Better to have you leave quickly, with a good tip, so there is a chance of a second seating, than to have you sit around and chat for another half hour and leave the same tip and leave too late for another seating. Some restaurants are very fast with bringing the checks, and some are slow. Time of day also matters, but in some restaurants, during slow periods waiters are standing around chatting with other waiters instead of paying attention. Then there are the ones who spend five minutes chatting about themselves. Sunday night I tried O’Grady’s, and the waitress devoted five minutes to telling us it was her birthday, and she’d gotten a $25 tip and was hoping for another. Oh, and how the food was authentic Scottish fare cooked in the traditional way. (It’s not.)

Have you noticed that, as soon as you provide a credit card, they charge your account immediately, before you have added the tip and signed the receipt? Then, later they modify the charge to include the tip. I always use cash in restaurants.

Another reason I like the billing machines at the table. Used it at Chili’s yesterday.

Maybe Olive Garden is your answer. They have small credit card payment machines at every table. Pay and leave when you're ready. Nice feature. I think Texas Roadhouse also has them.

I agree. I think the banks (Visa, etc) should require merchants to allow customers to complete their credit card transaction without the card being taken into the back room. It's too easy for someone to copy or photograph the card.

Where is “O’Grady’s”

I use my Apple Card at restaurants, all that's on the card is my name, no numbers are on the card.

That's the way credit card machines are set up to work, at least in the US where we add a tip. No one is trying to steal from you; in fact, they are just trying to do what you asked them to do:
- They presented you with a number (the bill) and you handed them your card
- They charged your card for the amount on the bill
- They presented you a receipt showing the time, date, amount charged, and card used
- YOU (the customer, not RG123 who pays in cash) chose to change the number by adding a tip
- They took the signed receipt, with the changes you made and signed for
- Later, when they weren't busy serving other customers, they went back to the computer to adjust the total per your instructions.

The only time this doesn't happen is with the newer systems where they hand the computer to you to finish the process. This works but is slower for the server who has to wait for you to figure out how to use the system, figure out what tip to add, and figure out which direction to insert your card all while they are standing at your table and not bringing food to one of their other customers. I've seen fairly intelligent people struggle to figure out how much a 20% tip would be and was glad my food wasn't held up for the time it took them to do the calculation.

Delray Beach

Is this wrong? Why would anyone care if it is wrong? Be BRAVE and move forward with my life - I could care less if someone objects.

Exactly. But, I think a lot of people don't realize that they have already charged your card before you sign the receipt. So, even if you don't sign it, they will still charge the card. The two issues I have are that they take your card into another room, and that they make manual adjustments to the transaction after you have left. I will use the machines at the table, where I can complete the transaction, including the tip, entirely electronically.

God knows you don’t have the time to waste!

Until recently, the machine was quite a bit too large to bring to the table.

I wonder how many people have had cards compromised at restaurants. I've read articles about it happening but very few articles compared with the thousands of restaurants doing business. I wear my card out with all the use it gets yet only once have I had to dispute charges and have the card replaced. I was unable to learn whether the number had been stolen at a business or if the credit card company had been hacked. Maybe I'm just lucky

Checks
 

I think it is fine. Also, about half the time, I simply get up and go to the register because the wait person has not been by. Standard is for wait staff to check once, usually soon after the meal is delivered. If I somehow fail to ask for the check then - and have my card out to give the person immediately when they bring it - I know I will probably go to the register to check out.

Also, a lot of restaurants have a policy to pay at the register. The number like that is increasing as it is so hard to find help and wait staff must take care of more tables.

I don't think that most restaurants have a register where you can check out.

Do not leave cash on the table to pay your bill at Francesco’s. Three people at one of our tables did that, one of the staff stole their $85, and the management stiffed the rest of the group to make it good.

As I fancy myself as something of a gourmet when it comes to ethnic eats, I have to confess I've never been particularly attractive to traditional Scottish food. That is NOT to say that it isn't good, or that some people go out of their way to find a restaurant serving it--but, for example, the traditional Scottish dish haggis; a sheep's stomach stuffed with the rest of the sheep innards mixed with rice and then boiled, does not strike me as overwhelmingly attractive, though in truth it does sound like a pretty good survival food (which is probably the origin of haggis in the first place). On the other hand, haggis served with the traditional DRINK of Scotland (i.e. Scotch whisky) does make the entire package more attractive.

Waiter
 

Remember that many restaurants are understaffed, so be patient as they do want the payment and don't cheap out on the tip.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Yea, I hear you , especially if the waitresses are busy or the restaurant is short on help. Most restaurants we eat at have the little pay computers at the table where you can pay & leave whenever you want. Sometimes I ask another waitress to get our waitress & that usually works!

Get the check early.
 

Absolutely not. And, if the waiter/waitress asks, tell 'em why you're doing it. It often results in more visits from them.

that's exactly what i do if i'm in a hurry, --come prepared with cash.

oh no, how terrible! rest assured karma is a B, they'll get theirs in 1 way or another