Always Make a Copy of Your Restaurant Receipt
We all left a “customer copy” of the receipt on the restaurant table after we finished dinner. Here’s a good reason why you can take it with you (and store it in a safe place).
On a recent thread , Reddit users / Ryan_77 , a former restaurant employee, has featured people who bring their receipts home, so employees can’t tweak a tip after their vacation.
Redditor u / onekate may add:
I had a dishonest friend who, I found out, changed every tip except 20%, at least for that. Each of the. Never got caught. Because of it, I write my bill total, including tip, below the number and above the signature line, as if it were written on the check. Every time.
To be clear, waiters and other people in the catering industry work on a tricky job, so taking your receipt home is not so much to shame decent employees as it is for your own safety (for the record, if you have good food and service, tip about 20 percent is standard).
Mistakes do occur and bad handwriting on the receipt is common (e.g. mine is terrible and I don’t blame the server for wanting to validate my chicken scratch). By keeping a copy of your receipt, you can at least easily disprove why it doesn’t make sense to pay $ 10 for a $ 4 coffee.
There is also a situation where you accidentally leave your credit card at the bar and wake up the next day to find that your account has a “strike” charge stuck on it. It is completely legal if you have been warned in advance by the bar (e.g. on the signs), although you can dispute this if you have not been informed about it. The responsible place should only charge you when you return to collect your card (not in advance and without your consent, both are grounds for challenging the write-off).
So what if you find a “fake” amount? First, when you keep your receipt, make sure you also write the tip on your copy. Contact the restaurant, refute the incorrect amount, explain what you ordered, and include the tip you originally gave.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, or if you’ve lost your receipt, dispute the charge with your bank. They will contact the seller on your behalf (so you can avoid an awkward conversation) and hopefully refund the disputed amount.
If you don’t want to carry a bunch of receipts in your wallet wherever you go, take a photo of the bill. Or tip in cash and be sure to write “Cash” on the tip line to keep everyone happy.