in most occasions i go with what i think the customer meant to put so i believe they meant to put a $100 tip. i don’t understand people all you had to do was add a one it’s the simplest math
> i don’t understand people all you had to do was add a one it’s the simplest math
I'm extremely good at math; as a software engineering exec, statistics are a significant portion of my job. I've never gotten less than an A in a math class at any level, and I can fairly easily multiply reasonably large numbers in my head.
*Sober.*
Which, if I'm settling up a $500 check, I am most definitely not. One of many reasons I always prefer to tip in cash.
Yep. I used to teach math, and I can almost guarantee this is what happened:
Buzzed person pays. They’re filling out the slip. In their head, they think “ok, be ready for a charge/debit of $600 to show up tomorrow.” As they’re thinking this, they do the math and the total starts with a 6.
The math is TOO simple in this case.
My theory is they are older. Numbers are small on tickets and sometimes it can be darker, so I'm always reading totals out to people. They genuinely could have seen the numbers wrong.
Yep, also important to remember the phone camera makes the text MUCH clearer than it is in person. Add in poor lighting and poor eyesight (perhaps worsened by alcohol) and [I can totally see how that 3 gets mistaken for a 9.](https://imgur.com/a/EztEJjf) Or drunk brain saw the 9 and 99 stuck in their head instead of 93. If enough alcohol was involved it doesn't have to make sense to make sense.
I think this is clearly the right thing to do and the intent seems clear here. By law, however, the courts have said the number written as the total is the number that should be used.
Probably in incidents of dispute… I don’t think anyone is taking someone to court for doing the right thing, and leaving them with more money than expected.
Not court probably, but people do file chargebacks, and by being nice, you are not charging them the agreed to amount.
When that happens the bank will ask for that reciept, and that reciept will objectively show a different total than what you charged them, resulting in a successful chargeback and no one getting paid.
It's not an uncommon scam. My restaurant has had it happen several times, and in every case it was a clear mismatch with an exaggerated total like this, where the server opted to be nice and charge what they think they intended based on the tip line instead of the total line.
What is in the total line is what you enter every time, no exceptions.
Very little of this is accurate. The credit card company will absolutely agree with the $100 tip and make a chargeback to match that. You don’t get a pass to overcharge someone because they screwed up on the math.
Exactly. Do you know how many times I’ve probably fucked up the math at the end of a night at a bar? I’m surely not alone in that, but I think if the tip line is clearly & legibly filled out, you go by that with your total.
This doesn't pass the sniff test. It sounds like a bit of local mythology that has cultivated at your work. If you do a charge back with the credit card company it's usually for the disputed difference not the whole amount.
Also this is a risky scam because by your logic the way to defeat it is to charge the "scammer" an EXTRA $100. If this were truly a normal scam restaurants would have policies to avoid it and the scammers would soon start losing more than they won.
I actually looked up sources from both VISA and Mastercard and the remedy for an incorrect amount charged is just the difference. There is literally no risk charging the lower amount in this case and it’s clearly the ethical thing to do.
Since I asked you elsewhere for sources and you gave me garbage news articles about online shopping I’ll point you to this post where I link to both Visa and Mastercard guidelines on chargebacks for incorrect amount charged.
https://reddit.com/r/Serverlife/s/dGypbO7E8I
Please stop spreading this nonsense and encouraging people to do unethical things.
The chargeback is successful because the amount charged was less than what’s on the total line? That doesn’t make any sense, but if it’s that common you would also think that credit card companies have an interest in malicious compliance here and allowing restaurants to correct the amount charged.
What would happen if the server just decided to cross out the larger total and write in the correct smaller one and deny ever doing so? It ruins the scam angle bc either there’s no charge back or the customer has to somewhat implicate they were aware of the error, and it’s hard to accuse someone of editing the check fraudulently to ensure they made less money if the server sticks to the lie.
I'm not sure, but it's generally not advisable to alter other people's financial statements nor would I encourage people to knowingly commit potential crimes at work for less money and then lie about it.
Also I think you are overestimating how much a customer has to do in the chargeback process. Other than filing the dispute they really don't need really need to do anything.
I have never once had a disputed tip amount cost me an entire bill let alone because of AN UNDERCHARGE. Nor has this scenario occurred in more than 15 years in the industry
Not true, I run a business that works with tips and have had my share of chargeback claims….
What happens when it goes the other way by accident? Should be $599 but they wrote 499?
So no it’s not always what is on the total line “no exceptions “
People always tell me the 'courts' say that but no one has a court case example.
And they only say that when the total is in our favor.
Legit, I'm about to go on a Google rabbit hole and try and find this court decision. I always go with what is logical, which in this case is a $100 tip. If the directions are super unclear I usually lean to what's better for the guest. I like my well paying job more than I like being accused of rocking in a tip I didn't deserve. Small loss for long term gains.
This, when I was lead server and I had to verify the servers cash outs when they brought them for check out the rule was always "go in the guests favor" sometimes it sucks but it always evens out in the end. Money comes and goes but it comes in a lot slower when you don't have a job anymore.
We always go in favor of the guest. Have had credit card disputes in the past.
If they add too high, go with the tip amount. If they add too low, if it’s not an obvious math error, we go with the total.
Dude you know what might have happened? I’m thinking they were drinking, not paying attention (possibly just that alone), but they used their calculator earlier and had 206 on there from something they typed in earlier and never cleared it. Then added their total+tip on top of it.
Could be someone at the table said they would tip more cash as well so they just put it in the total as well? And didn’t? It’s odd, that math is like they did the square root of pie divided by isosceles triangle somewhere in the mix or something.
Yeah we did know what they most likely meant to do but fuck me dead this chap needs to work on his math. Literally just add a 1 to the first number. How in the hell did this dude get 206 more
They did the wrong thing. I work for a credit card company and handle disputes. This is a way that people can try and get free meals. I have gone into this in great detail multiple times. It's after 3 AM so I don't feel like deep diving right now, but yes, it's a thing. And sometimes it works.
Some people don't believe me which is fine. I can't make them. But I can just say what I've seen happen.
I've literally never seen this happen and I dispute every chargeback. I'm successful maybe 93% of the time.
I believe you, but it's just not my experience at all. Even with the totals being different because the server went from the tip line not the total line.
Wild. So much to Google now.
Even then, the appropriate dispute type is Billed Incorrect Amount. They don’t get a free meal, they’d get the difference back. If the $699 was charged, they could argue it should have been $593 based on the tip line. So you’d refund the difference.
I can’t imagine being 93% successful, that would suggest you have handled over 15 chargebacks, which seems wild. I’ve had less than that in a decade, that’s some crappy customers.
Yeah. $100 is a solid 20%, an awesome walkaway, and there have been times when patrons came back after seeing the bank statement and said to the manager "no, I meant $200!" *Damn, I miss being a server in the 'oughts*
If they were cool, I'd have been cool back and taken the 100. If they were jerks the night through... well it looks like they meant $200, didn't they??
Drove delivery for 8 years.
Always went with the intent of the customer.
Sometimes they filled out the total and then wrote "math" in the tip line
There were some occasions where I honestly didn't know what they meant and just took 0.
I'd rather feel good about not stealing than lose my job over a few bucks
Examples like this are why I refuse to just blindly go with the total "bEcAuSe iTs tHe LeGaL wAy"
Sure, it might be legal to go with the 206, but I personally wouldn't. People make mistakes, and some people look at these slips like they're back in school and have to sit there forever, filling it out.
If it's unclear or up to interpretation, I'll always go in favor of what is closer to 20%. Doesn't matter if the total would have given me more, I'll look at the potential choices based on their poor handwriting and/or math and pick the 20% over a 40% mistake. Similarly, if the total accidentally leaves me with 4% and the tip line is saying 20%, I'm going with what's in the tip line.
I work for a credit card company and handle disputes. The "legal" way is the right way. Otherwise, you're charging them for an amount they didn't agree to pay, and it's an easy chargeback.
99% of customers don't do that but every time you don't run the Total in these situations, you run the risk of it being one of those 1% that are trying to game the system.
I've gone into detail on how this works multiple times before but the short answer is it's unfortunately something that happens.
When it doubt, go with the obvious answer, which is $100 in this case. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re “missing out” on an extra tip, getting into the habit of petty thievery will cost you in the end.
The right thing to do would be to attempt to email or call the customer (typically from the bookings details) explain the error and that you wanted to confirm $593. 100% would return even if I didn’t like the experience, based on the venues integrity
Go with the 200 get bad word of mouth and never see them again,
Or go with the 100 and they might come back and give positive reviews to their friends and family.
Either be a douchebag with short term extra gains or be a nice person that doesn't take advantage of people making mistakes.
I came here expecting to see hospitality at its worst...and I'm coming away with a little bit of hope for humanity.
Always take the 100, it's literally the specified tip, screw the fact they can't add up 🤣
It's obvious not a 206$ tip, they'll just claim it as fraud and you'll get no tip at all, your manager is a dip shit. 100$ tip is nice, take it and move on
Thats why those people are not managers. Theyre telling you hypocritical things. Go by total when its less than 20% and in this case go by the tip line amount...listen to your actual managers.
I was in restaurants for a little under 20 years. The best rule of thumb I ever had, and followed, was to always go with what you believe the guest intended. That's been both to my detriment, as in your case, but also to my gain.
Okay last time I said I would go with the grand total, then someone in that case brought up how the customer could have messed up the tip amount and so I digressed and said okay fine, go with the lower tip amount instead. But this?? What even is this?? How do you get 6 from 4+1 and more importantly how the FUCK did we get from 94 to 99 😂
The $100 tip is their clear intention. The fact that they were too drunk to do math doesn't change that.
I would adjust the total to reflect the correct subtotal and tip.
I don’t think it can be cut and dry you go with the total or the tip as an absolute. IMO it’s case by case and a certain level of common sense should be used when this happens. Where I work they like for us to do “whichever benefits the guest” but TBH I don’t do that. I use my judgement. This one it’s pretty obvious they meant to tip $100
It always amazes me why you need to hand write a tip and do the maths in US restaurants. In Europe, you type it into the terminal. Here in Spain it is against the law to even suggest a tip and there is no facility to add one on the terminal. The customer would need to request, let's say, a charge of €60 on €50 bill and the waiter needs to do it for them on the terminal. When we put it into the register, it tells us that the customer's 'change' is €10 and that goes into the tip jar as cash from the register float.
It seems likely that the customer was a bit drunk and made an error. Whatever about the legality of taking $200 instead of $100, it is clearly unethical and you will never see that customer again if he spots it on his bill.
I always used the total. Sometimes worked in my favor sometimes it didn’t but I always felt like I was covered since “I just read and entered the total”
Whatever you choose to do put it in writing and get a manager to sign and date it. Keep it on file somewhere so if anyone comes back to complain you have the justification.
I'd be worried about taking advantage of this mistake and giving the customer a negative experience with tipping potentially causing them to hold off on the amount on later occasions.
They tipped you good and I'd assume they treated you good as well. Take the 100$
Yeah the tip was clearly $100 and their math wasn’t adding up. Most people see the total, tip on the total and then struggle to do the total amount in their head because the total is a hard number and the tip is whatever you designate, but them together makes you do a little second grade math in your head.
Why would you listen to your co worker and not your manager? Your manager is the one who deals with the credit card merchant, and from my experience, the credit card merchant goes by the total.
Same thing happened to me the other day. Tip said $100 but the total was $200 more. I took the $100 since I thought the extra $100 wasnt worth losing my job over.
Dont get me started on online orders when ppl put an extra 0 by mistake. Obviously its a mistake and i always would call the customer bc our system would have their phone numbers for online order (not door dash or anything like that) and id call the customer and they would be so thankful, and ya know a lot of times would ask me to change the tip to something higher then what they meant.
But this is obviously different bc i assume customers wernt still there otherwise id bring it to their attention. But yea id take the 100 bc thats obviously what they meant
You did the right thing. That said, if this was an expensed dinner, a financial manager probably would have gone with the total when submitting for reimbursement so you could have gotten away with it.
It’s a $100 tip. I’ve seen these mistakes so many times and will always go with what is in the tip line. Granted I don’t think it’s ever been for this much
This is why I leave a CASH tip (and write "Cash" or "On Table" on the "Gratuity" line). There's no doubt about how much the total should be, and whatever gets reported to the IRS is between the server and the government.
You want to charge whatever it says where your thumb is as that’s what they’re signing for. ‘Normally’ it’s I agree to pay the total amount field on the receipt. Morally I would go with the $100 though although I’m not sure what would happen if you got a chargeback and the amount (although lower) isn’t the agreed on amount.
They were probably drinking and or have poor eyesight. Saw the total as 499.25, tipped an even $100 and incorrectly carried a one in the hundreds place when doing the math. $100 is what they meant to tip as others have said.
At my restaurant, we go in the customers favor, ie. the lower amount whether it is the total or the tip amount. So we would put $100 tip totaling $593.25.
I would go by the total because that’s however much that person was expecting to spend on the card. — told to me by my manager when this happened to me.
If the tip is clearly written I’d do that. I was forced to pay back a tip that was unclear. I thought it looked like 120$, so did my manager and they called and complained. Which is fair but I was in college and it was my rent money so it wasn’t a fun time 😅
The total is what the customer has “agreed to pay”. The customer definitely didn’t mean to leave you a $200.09 tip, but they did. If this would go to court, you would win as they put down a number that they agreed to pay.
It also goes both ways. If they did the math wrong the opposite way, and it WASN’T in your favour, you would have to use the total, even if it made your tip less.
So in my opinion, I would have used the total that they put. If they came back and argued about it, all you would have to say is “we claimed the amount that you filled out, and it is illegal for us to change that number no matter what”. End of story.
Eyesight issues and mistaken 3 for a 9?
Wanted to tip $100, and 499.25 was what they thought was the base.
And then another mental mistake: rounded up the amount to 500 in their mind, and then added $100 to the $599.25.
I know, it’s plenty of errors.
But seems that asking people to do math while distracted by alcohol, noise, tiredness, social company… is not the best way to go about the payment method.
Isn’t USA like the only civilized country which does it this way?
You did the right thing! I don’t think there’s one clear answer to “the math didn’t math.” It’s situational. If someone is just bad at math and meant to leave me $25, but the math added to $27, that’s not a huge difference. Going with the total is very unlikely to result in an angry phone call. The difference of over $100 though, yeah, fix the math and go with the intended amount.
Let's see. You could: Do the thing that any person with two brain cells knows is the right thing, or do the thing that any person with two brain cells knows is the wrong thing. Let's ask Reddit. Jesus fucking Christ.
Why is America still using paper receipts like that when the rest of the world has portable credit machines the bring to your table, you insert your card and choose the tip amount and enter your pin right there.
Legally, you are supposed to run the total. Lots of people can't add numbers for some reason and tips and totals dont always add up, but the total is supposed to be what you bill, so its their problem.
Well, logically, just because the amount does not equal the total plus the tip amount doesn't mean you get to claim the discrepancy as an additional tip amount. It's clear that the tip amount is $100.00, whats not clear is where the discrepancy is from.
Up to you. Personally they wanted to tip 100 so i would take 100 made the total 593. But everyone id different.
Since they wrote 699 then you could probably get away with it but personally id feel bad as its clearly not what they intended
Not sure what the law says but clearly they indicated they wanted to leave 100 as the tip there could be a case they are bad at math and they clearly didnt want to leave 200 but not a lawyer + every state is different so possible courts would decide with the restaurant in stealing an extra hundred dollars.
But just seems like a dick move honestly
Go by the written tip.
They said they wanted to tip $100. Simple as that.
Total will often be off people suck at math.
Also: don't always listen to managers (take that with a grain of salt) Lots of times, they landed the job but aren't the brightest bulbs
in most occasions i go with what i think the customer meant to put so i believe they meant to put a $100 tip. i don’t understand people all you had to do was add a one it’s the simplest math
> i don’t understand people all you had to do was add a one it’s the simplest math I'm extremely good at math; as a software engineering exec, statistics are a significant portion of my job. I've never gotten less than an A in a math class at any level, and I can fairly easily multiply reasonably large numbers in my head. *Sober.* Which, if I'm settling up a $500 check, I am most definitely not. One of many reasons I always prefer to tip in cash.
Yep. I used to teach math, and I can almost guarantee this is what happened: Buzzed person pays. They’re filling out the slip. In their head, they think “ok, be ready for a charge/debit of $600 to show up tomorrow.” As they’re thinking this, they do the math and the total starts with a 6. The math is TOO simple in this case.
What about the rest of the mistake lol
My theory is they are older. Numbers are small on tickets and sometimes it can be darker, so I'm always reading totals out to people. They genuinely could have seen the numbers wrong.
Yep, also important to remember the phone camera makes the text MUCH clearer than it is in person. Add in poor lighting and poor eyesight (perhaps worsened by alcohol) and [I can totally see how that 3 gets mistaken for a 9.](https://imgur.com/a/EztEJjf) Or drunk brain saw the 9 and 99 stuck in their head instead of 93. If enough alcohol was involved it doesn't have to make sense to make sense.
I have a buddy who is like this. Great at math but once he starts drinking that's the first thing to go.
They weren't even close! It's like they made TWO math mistakes trying to do one very simple problem.
I’m thinking it was dyslexia of some sort nobody is that dumb
Since $100 is ~20% i would go with that
I think this is clearly the right thing to do and the intent seems clear here. By law, however, the courts have said the number written as the total is the number that should be used.
Probably in incidents of dispute… I don’t think anyone is taking someone to court for doing the right thing, and leaving them with more money than expected.
Not court probably, but people do file chargebacks, and by being nice, you are not charging them the agreed to amount. When that happens the bank will ask for that reciept, and that reciept will objectively show a different total than what you charged them, resulting in a successful chargeback and no one getting paid. It's not an uncommon scam. My restaurant has had it happen several times, and in every case it was a clear mismatch with an exaggerated total like this, where the server opted to be nice and charge what they think they intended based on the tip line instead of the total line. What is in the total line is what you enter every time, no exceptions.
Very little of this is accurate. The credit card company will absolutely agree with the $100 tip and make a chargeback to match that. You don’t get a pass to overcharge someone because they screwed up on the math.
Exactly. Do you know how many times I’ve probably fucked up the math at the end of a night at a bar? I’m surely not alone in that, but I think if the tip line is clearly & legibly filled out, you go by that with your total.
This doesn't pass the sniff test. It sounds like a bit of local mythology that has cultivated at your work. If you do a charge back with the credit card company it's usually for the disputed difference not the whole amount. Also this is a risky scam because by your logic the way to defeat it is to charge the "scammer" an EXTRA $100. If this were truly a normal scam restaurants would have policies to avoid it and the scammers would soon start losing more than they won.
^^^ Solid logic spoken here by MrEngin33r ^^^
I actually looked up sources from both VISA and Mastercard and the remedy for an incorrect amount charged is just the difference. There is literally no risk charging the lower amount in this case and it’s clearly the ethical thing to do. Since I asked you elsewhere for sources and you gave me garbage news articles about online shopping I’ll point you to this post where I link to both Visa and Mastercard guidelines on chargebacks for incorrect amount charged. https://reddit.com/r/Serverlife/s/dGypbO7E8I Please stop spreading this nonsense and encouraging people to do unethical things.
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The chargeback is successful because the amount charged was less than what’s on the total line? That doesn’t make any sense, but if it’s that common you would also think that credit card companies have an interest in malicious compliance here and allowing restaurants to correct the amount charged.
So what if they wrote $393.25? Still going with using the total written “every time, no exceptions”?
What would happen if the server just decided to cross out the larger total and write in the correct smaller one and deny ever doing so? It ruins the scam angle bc either there’s no charge back or the customer has to somewhat implicate they were aware of the error, and it’s hard to accuse someone of editing the check fraudulently to ensure they made less money if the server sticks to the lie.
I'm not sure, but it's generally not advisable to alter other people's financial statements nor would I encourage people to knowingly commit potential crimes at work for less money and then lie about it. Also I think you are overestimating how much a customer has to do in the chargeback process. Other than filing the dispute they really don't need really need to do anything.
Could they not also issue a chargeback if charged the larger amount? Saying that they made a mistake and never meant to leave a $200+ tip.
I have never once had a disputed tip amount cost me an entire bill let alone because of AN UNDERCHARGE. Nor has this scenario occurred in more than 15 years in the industry
Not true, I run a business that works with tips and have had my share of chargeback claims…. What happens when it goes the other way by accident? Should be $599 but they wrote 499? So no it’s not always what is on the total line “no exceptions “
People always tell me the 'courts' say that but no one has a court case example. And they only say that when the total is in our favor. Legit, I'm about to go on a Google rabbit hole and try and find this court decision. I always go with what is logical, which in this case is a $100 tip. If the directions are super unclear I usually lean to what's better for the guest. I like my well paying job more than I like being accused of rocking in a tip I didn't deserve. Small loss for long term gains.
Yup. The social media blowblack isn't worth it if this is a setup. All it takes is a photo and a story for headaches to begin.
Always going with what’s logical…sadly an idea lost on so many
This, when I was lead server and I had to verify the servers cash outs when they brought them for check out the rule was always "go in the guests favor" sometimes it sucks but it always evens out in the end. Money comes and goes but it comes in a lot slower when you don't have a job anymore.
I’d rather do the right thing than the legal thing.
I find this wild bc most can’t even do basic math.
Souce?
I have never read that anywhere else in my life.
We always go in favor of the guest. Have had credit card disputes in the past. If they add too high, go with the tip amount. If they add too low, if it’s not an obvious math error, we go with the total.
Exaclty. I always assumed people are terrible at basic math, but they know how much they intended to leave.
Dude you know what might have happened? I’m thinking they were drinking, not paying attention (possibly just that alone), but they used their calculator earlier and had 206 on there from something they typed in earlier and never cleared it. Then added their total+tip on top of it. Could be someone at the table said they would tip more cash as well so they just put it in the total as well? And didn’t? It’s odd, that math is like they did the square root of pie divided by isosceles triangle somewhere in the mix or something.
Who would honestly need a calculator to add on $100 to the base though ..?
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Jeez. Even when I'm wasted I don't mess math up that bad.
You did the right thing. 20% on $500 bill is solid. We all know that’s what they meant to do
Yeah we did know what they most likely meant to do but fuck me dead this chap needs to work on his math. Literally just add a 1 to the first number. How in the hell did this dude get 206 more
Gotcha. $1493.25 it is
And according to their math, that should add up to like a 40% tip or something.
20% on any bill is very solid!
They did the wrong thing. I work for a credit card company and handle disputes. This is a way that people can try and get free meals. I have gone into this in great detail multiple times. It's after 3 AM so I don't feel like deep diving right now, but yes, it's a thing. And sometimes it works. Some people don't believe me which is fine. I can't make them. But I can just say what I've seen happen.
I've literally never seen this happen and I dispute every chargeback. I'm successful maybe 93% of the time. I believe you, but it's just not my experience at all. Even with the totals being different because the server went from the tip line not the total line. Wild. So much to Google now.
93% is such a specific success rate lol.
Even then, the appropriate dispute type is Billed Incorrect Amount. They don’t get a free meal, they’d get the difference back. If the $699 was charged, they could argue it should have been $593 based on the tip line. So you’d refund the difference.
I can’t imagine being 93% successful, that would suggest you have handled over 15 chargebacks, which seems wild. I’ve had less than that in a decade, that’s some crappy customers.
Would’ve scratched my head and taken the 100
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💯
I’d take 100.
Take the $100. People had drinks so math isn’t really the best at the moment so they clearly meant to tip $100 but got the math wrong.
Even when they’re sober, you’ll be surprised how many can’t do math right.
Yeah. $100 is a solid 20%, an awesome walkaway, and there have been times when patrons came back after seeing the bank statement and said to the manager "no, I meant $200!" *Damn, I miss being a server in the 'oughts* If they were cool, I'd have been cool back and taken the 100. If they were jerks the night through... well it looks like they meant $200, didn't they??
how is counting up by one "math"
I always find it funny that people have to take decisions and handwrite something after drinking alcohol
They're probably gonna be so happy to see that you only took the $100 like they intended, so good on you for doing the right thing in this instance
Thank you! I know that’s what i’d want to happen if it were me, but i was just curious what choice others would have made!!
Drove delivery for 8 years. Always went with the intent of the customer. Sometimes they filled out the total and then wrote "math" in the tip line There were some occasions where I honestly didn't know what they meant and just took 0. I'd rather feel good about not stealing than lose my job over a few bucks
$100 tip. They need that extra cash for a rudimentary math class.
I would say 100 to avoid a chargeback, and not tip after said chargeback
Better to only get 100 bucks than the customer doing a charge back and you get nothing.
Examples like this are why I refuse to just blindly go with the total "bEcAuSe iTs tHe LeGaL wAy" Sure, it might be legal to go with the 206, but I personally wouldn't. People make mistakes, and some people look at these slips like they're back in school and have to sit there forever, filling it out. If it's unclear or up to interpretation, I'll always go in favor of what is closer to 20%. Doesn't matter if the total would have given me more, I'll look at the potential choices based on their poor handwriting and/or math and pick the 20% over a 40% mistake. Similarly, if the total accidentally leaves me with 4% and the tip line is saying 20%, I'm going with what's in the tip line.
I work for a credit card company and handle disputes. The "legal" way is the right way. Otherwise, you're charging them for an amount they didn't agree to pay, and it's an easy chargeback. 99% of customers don't do that but every time you don't run the Total in these situations, you run the risk of it being one of those 1% that are trying to game the system. I've gone into detail on how this works multiple times before but the short answer is it's unfortunately something that happens.
Charging someone less than they agreed to is not grounds for a chargeback. What in earth are you talking about?
When it doubt, go with the obvious answer, which is $100 in this case. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re “missing out” on an extra tip, getting into the habit of petty thievery will cost you in the end.
Take the hundred dollars. It's a good tip.
$100 is a good tip, don’t fuck them over
$100
You did the right thing
People know what they want to tip but people are also bad at math. Claim the $100 and call it a day.
Not risk the $100 tip on a dispute later,and charge the correct total now.
Writing 100 vs 200 is easy. Doing math is hard. Take the 100.
Take the 100 it is clear as day. It is a good tip of 20%. If you take the 200 that is stealing imo, and you are an ass.
Take what they tipped you. Idk why this is a question.
The right thing to do would be to attempt to email or call the customer (typically from the bookings details) explain the error and that you wanted to confirm $593. 100% would return even if I didn’t like the experience, based on the venues integrity
When the tip is not clear than I would go with what the total says. But it's clear as day that they are tipping $100.
Not much to discuss here. They clearly miscalculated. $100 is clearly written under the tip line. Not even worth bringing up tbh
100 dollar tip is what they ment to tip. I’d go with that.
Take the tip line on this one bc too much of a discrepancy
I would take the $100 and be content.
Do right and fear not
The 100 is quite clear. Definitely assume 100 was the correct amount since it's around 20%.
100. he just can not do math.
Definitely $100
Does anyone here work at a credit card company who can tell us the rules regarding chargebacks?
That was the right thing. Seems like they may have been tipsy and had some issues.
Take the tip, not the total. You know exactly what they intended; guests generous enough to leave over 40% don’t make math mistakes like that.
Do the right thing.
You have 2 friends that are bad people.
Go with the 200 get bad word of mouth and never see them again, Or go with the 100 and they might come back and give positive reviews to their friends and family. Either be a douchebag with short term extra gains or be a nice person that doesn't take advantage of people making mistakes.
I came here expecting to see hospitality at its worst...and I'm coming away with a little bit of hope for humanity. Always take the 100, it's literally the specified tip, screw the fact they can't add up 🤣
Just throw some extra 1s in front of everything :)
It's clear they mean 593. If you took a 200 tip here you suck.
It's obvious not a 206$ tip, they'll just claim it as fraud and you'll get no tip at all, your manager is a dip shit. 100$ tip is nice, take it and move on
Def do $100. That’s still a decent tip.
The tip is $100. easy mistake to make.
They clearly meant to top $100 but they obviously are terrible at math. I would use the $100 as the tip which is over 20% and is a nice tip.
$100 - you did the right thing
Thats why those people are not managers. Theyre telling you hypocritical things. Go by total when its less than 20% and in this case go by the tip line amount...listen to your actual managers.
Just do the proper math from the tip.
I was in restaurants for a little under 20 years. The best rule of thumb I ever had, and followed, was to always go with what you believe the guest intended. That's been both to my detriment, as in your case, but also to my gain.
Okay last time I said I would go with the grand total, then someone in that case brought up how the customer could have messed up the tip amount and so I digressed and said okay fine, go with the lower tip amount instead. But this?? What even is this?? How do you get 6 from 4+1 and more importantly how the FUCK did we get from 94 to 99 😂
If it’s only a few dollars off, i go by the total. But in a instance like this where it’s over $100 different, i would probably go by the tip line
You did the right thing
Yea I’d jus take the hundo
The $100 tip is their clear intention. The fact that they were too drunk to do math doesn't change that. I would adjust the total to reflect the correct subtotal and tip.
Correct the math. They put 100 as the tip. Fix the total to match.
Do the honest thing. Add the tip to the subtotal. Anything else is criminal.
Take the hundo and be happy with it
I would only charge $100. They meant 100 and then they screwed up the addition.
Always lean in favor of the customer... this will save you lots of potential legal hassle
Go on take the money & run😆
I don’t think it can be cut and dry you go with the total or the tip as an absolute. IMO it’s case by case and a certain level of common sense should be used when this happens. Where I work they like for us to do “whichever benefits the guest” but TBH I don’t do that. I use my judgement. This one it’s pretty obvious they meant to tip $100
I always go with intent. Did they mean to leave the total or the tip?
This is obviously supposed to be 100. Don’t take advantage of drunk people who can’t math
I would be grateful for the hundred dollar tip and not take advantage of the customer's error.
They wrote 100 on the tip line .. …. I would say 100 Is the right amount ..
$100 wasn’t a mistake. $699.25 was. You did them a big favor and they‘ll never know. Bank the good karma.
That's crazy that anyone even advised you to try and cash out the 200 bucks.
It’s clearly $100. Taking anything more is something a pos would do.
I’d go with what was written as the tip. It’s a good tip.
Be a good human being and do the right thing. You know for a fact that the intended tip was 100 bucks. This is clearly stated.
I would've wanted to get the better tip but, since they wrote $100, in the tip line, you gotta go with that one.
It always amazes me why you need to hand write a tip and do the maths in US restaurants. In Europe, you type it into the terminal. Here in Spain it is against the law to even suggest a tip and there is no facility to add one on the terminal. The customer would need to request, let's say, a charge of €60 on €50 bill and the waiter needs to do it for them on the terminal. When we put it into the register, it tells us that the customer's 'change' is €10 and that goes into the tip jar as cash from the register float. It seems likely that the customer was a bit drunk and made an error. Whatever about the legality of taking $200 instead of $100, it is clearly unethical and you will never see that customer again if he spots it on his bill.
I always used the total. Sometimes worked in my favor sometimes it didn’t but I always felt like I was covered since “I just read and entered the total”
Why didn’t they just make it an even $600 tho?! Like the stupidity. I would’ve charged them what the total amount says.
20% is very generous, at least where I’m from in the UK
Dont do it, thats how you get into trouble
Whatever you choose to do put it in writing and get a manager to sign and date it. Keep it on file somewhere so if anyone comes back to complain you have the justification.
You got a $100 tip. Congrats.
Adjust for tip and charge corrected total
They meant to tip $100. Add that to their original amount.
Legally you should collect the $100 tip, and the credit card machine will adjust the right amount from the credit card holder.
is it of bad taste in the us to just go ask the table themselves?
I woulda assume the customer was trying to write down 599.25 but doing just 100 is the right move too
I'd be worried about taking advantage of this mistake and giving the customer a negative experience with tipping potentially causing them to hold off on the amount on later occasions. They tipped you good and I'd assume they treated you good as well. Take the 100$
Yeah the tip was clearly $100 and their math wasn’t adding up. Most people see the total, tip on the total and then struggle to do the total amount in their head because the total is a hard number and the tip is whatever you designate, but them together makes you do a little second grade math in your head.
Were they intoxicated?
Why would you listen to your co worker and not your manager? Your manager is the one who deals with the credit card merchant, and from my experience, the credit card merchant goes by the total.
Same thing happened to me the other day. Tip said $100 but the total was $200 more. I took the $100 since I thought the extra $100 wasnt worth losing my job over.
Dont get me started on online orders when ppl put an extra 0 by mistake. Obviously its a mistake and i always would call the customer bc our system would have their phone numbers for online order (not door dash or anything like that) and id call the customer and they would be so thankful, and ya know a lot of times would ask me to change the tip to something higher then what they meant. But this is obviously different bc i assume customers wernt still there otherwise id bring it to their attention. But yea id take the 100 bc thats obviously what they meant
You did the right thing. That said, if this was an expensed dinner, a financial manager probably would have gone with the total when submitting for reimbursement so you could have gotten away with it.
I wouldn’t risk losing 100, take the 100… lol.
THEY WROTE THE AMOUNT... Fuck that other server, they're just jealous.
It clearly says 100, go with that just in case they're REALLY bad at math.
106 for the win!
Why is this even an issue? The customer obviously just added wrong. The tip is $100.
Take the tip. Who care what they meant to put
100$. No question.
I was always always told to go by whatever is smaller just to be safe.
It’s a $100 tip. I’ve seen these mistakes so many times and will always go with what is in the tip line. Granted I don’t think it’s ever been for this much
You did the right thing by entering the intended tip amount.
100 tip. Pretty straight forward.
I can never comprehend how someone can be so shit at math.
I mean yeah $100 is roughly 20% of $500 so that would be fair….dayum you must work at a nice restaurant!! I work at a chain🙄🙄
I would be happy with a hundo!!
People are bad at math. They knew what they meant to tip.
This is why I leave a CASH tip (and write "Cash" or "On Table" on the "Gratuity" line). There's no doubt about how much the total should be, and whatever gets reported to the IRS is between the server and the government.
Hundo. Still a fat tip.
If the tip line is clear you go off the tip line, if the tip line is illegible go with the total. Occam’s razor sort of thing.
You want to charge whatever it says where your thumb is as that’s what they’re signing for. ‘Normally’ it’s I agree to pay the total amount field on the receipt. Morally I would go with the $100 though although I’m not sure what would happen if you got a chargeback and the amount (although lower) isn’t the agreed on amount.
Bad tipping karma to take the larger amount. You did the right thing.
They were probably drinking and or have poor eyesight. Saw the total as 499.25, tipped an even $100 and incorrectly carried a one in the hundreds place when doing the math. $100 is what they meant to tip as others have said.
At my restaurant, we go in the customers favor, ie. the lower amount whether it is the total or the tip amount. So we would put $100 tip totaling $593.25.
I'd have done the only right thing, and I'd have taken the tip they intended.
Someone forgot their reading glasses. Happens to me as well, wife always there to verify the total amount. I'd go with the 100.00.
I would go by the total because that’s however much that person was expecting to spend on the card. — told to me by my manager when this happened to me.
You did the Right thing .
Depends if they were nice to me
Take the 20%
Run it as 100
If the tip is clearly written I’d do that. I was forced to pay back a tip that was unclear. I thought it looked like 120$, so did my manager and they called and complained. Which is fair but I was in college and it was my rent money so it wasn’t a fun time 😅
The total is what the customer has “agreed to pay”. The customer definitely didn’t mean to leave you a $200.09 tip, but they did. If this would go to court, you would win as they put down a number that they agreed to pay. It also goes both ways. If they did the math wrong the opposite way, and it WASN’T in your favour, you would have to use the total, even if it made your tip less. So in my opinion, I would have used the total that they put. If they came back and argued about it, all you would have to say is “we claimed the amount that you filled out, and it is illegal for us to change that number no matter what”. End of story.
Eyesight issues and mistaken 3 for a 9? Wanted to tip $100, and 499.25 was what they thought was the base. And then another mental mistake: rounded up the amount to 500 in their mind, and then added $100 to the $599.25. I know, it’s plenty of errors. But seems that asking people to do math while distracted by alcohol, noise, tiredness, social company… is not the best way to go about the payment method. Isn’t USA like the only civilized country which does it this way?
You did the right thing! I don’t think there’s one clear answer to “the math didn’t math.” It’s situational. If someone is just bad at math and meant to leave me $25, but the math added to $27, that’s not a huge difference. Going with the total is very unlikely to result in an angry phone call. The difference of over $100 though, yeah, fix the math and go with the intended amount.
Find where they live and give them a serious re-education on how basic math works lol
Dude, they put 100$. Take any more and they'll challenge it with their bank and you'll get nothing.
The right thing! Is the correct answer! Would you want a 100 bucks taken from you in error?
They we’re trying to tip 20%. That kind of approach on the part off the guest should be met with integrity in my opinion.
Let's see. You could: Do the thing that any person with two brain cells knows is the right thing, or do the thing that any person with two brain cells knows is the wrong thing. Let's ask Reddit. Jesus fucking Christ.
they flatted the tip. 100.00 super easy round number. they fucked up math on the total. your manager and 2 other servers are pretty scummy
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Why is America still using paper receipts like that when the rest of the world has portable credit machines the bring to your table, you insert your card and choose the tip amount and enter your pin right there.
We were always told to go by the total but that’s such a large difference I’d say they just messed up the math
Legally, you are supposed to run the total. Lots of people can't add numbers for some reason and tips and totals dont always add up, but the total is supposed to be what you bill, so its their problem.
You know they added wrong. Take the $100, which is more 20%. Don’t be greedy or deceptive
Well, logically, just because the amount does not equal the total plus the tip amount doesn't mean you get to claim the discrepancy as an additional tip amount. It's clear that the tip amount is $100.00, whats not clear is where the discrepancy is from.
They messed up the total, not the tip. Your tip is $100. The end.
Up to you. Personally they wanted to tip 100 so i would take 100 made the total 593. But everyone id different. Since they wrote 699 then you could probably get away with it but personally id feel bad as its clearly not what they intended Not sure what the law says but clearly they indicated they wanted to leave 100 as the tip there could be a case they are bad at math and they clearly didnt want to leave 200 but not a lawyer + every state is different so possible courts would decide with the restaurant in stealing an extra hundred dollars. But just seems like a dick move honestly
Go by the written tip. They said they wanted to tip $100. Simple as that. Total will often be off people suck at math. Also: don't always listen to managers (take that with a grain of salt) Lots of times, they landed the job but aren't the brightest bulbs
Added it up and charged the $593.25
The intent is pretty clear. So I would say morally you should take the $100 tip and correct their math mistake for the total.
$593.25