Non-Americans who have been to the US.. What is the weirdest thing about America that Americans don't realize is weird?
Non-Americans who have been to the US.. What is the weirdest thing about America that Americans don't realize is weird?
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Canadian checking in.
Biggest oddity to me is that the default for restaurants is one bill, and waiters get annoyed if you ask them to split it by person.
Like why would I want to either:
- do math correctly splitting the bill while trying to leave; or
- be worried I ordered something more expensive than the average and unfairly make others cover it?
It's complete insanity to me.
This hugely depends. Most places will happily split it.
I think this largely depends on the system they're using for billing. In Canada, most restaurant systems bill by seat anyway, so it's easy to print multiple receipts or a combined one. A lot of systems in the US bill by table, so the waiter is the one who has to do all the math.
Yeah, this one is interesting to me. I go out with friends, and we split the bill every time. They're even happy to split it differently for couples and singles. Never been an issue. Maybe it's a regional thing??
It was an option on the POS we had. Just ask at the beginning and it gives you the option to start split. I’m pretty sure you could do it in process too but I just always asked at the beginning. I live in BC.
Split meaning equal shares, or split as in each person pays for what they ordered?
Ah, good point. I was referring to each pays for what was ordered. Although, I think equal splits are typically not an issue either. I do live in a pretty touristy area - no clue if that affects it somehow.
That may vary. In my country if you want to split the bill some places will give a different number for each person but the most common is everyone at the table calculating how much each consumed and taking turns to pay your part whilst the waiter add all to make sure that the bill was all payed.
But in the US I was very surprised when the waiter asked at the end if we wanted a separate bill and they knew what each one ordered and they came back with 4 bills. I was very impressed. Granted I didn't when to that many places in group so not sure how common it is.
Interestingly enough that's mostly in the Northern states I live in the south east and we split all the checks every time we go out. Whenever I go to new York the waiters get all pissy though like it's some monumental task. They couldn't even manage to keep their trash in trash cans until recently though so maybe they will catch up one day.
Paying with a CC in Canada was a new experience for me and my wife. We loved that they run the card at the table and then leave it with you along with the receipt. I’ve had reservations at some restaurants about the waiter disappearing with my credit card.
It's the tipping culture. If you have to split the bill, the presumption is everyone will tip poorly under the assumption that someone else will tip well. Having worked several food service gigs, I can say that is accurate.