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So when a server takes my cash with the bill they don't go to the register and get my change? They actually have change in their pockets and bring it to me and then take the bill with the correct amount to the register when they have time?
For the most part, yes. Although servers don't get rid of their cash whenever they have time, but rather at the end of their shift after printing out their sales report that says if they owe the restaurant, and how much.
So when a server takes my cash with the bill they don't go to the register and get my change? They actually have change in their pockets and bring it to me and then take the bill with the correct amount to the register when they have time?
It depends on the restaurant, and how busy they are, and if the servers are also cashiers. If it's a busy restaurant, having lots of servers trying to get transactions done at a register, at a busy time would create a bottleneck and waste a lot of time. In a busy restaurant each server would have their own bank, and would cash out at the end of the shift.
I'm going to backtrack here on the bank issue... My input was based on my experience long ago and the way I did things. I've been reading up on modern cash registers and sales systems and I was under the impression that they had been automated to the point where they managed each transaction and the associated cash. Apparently that is only half right, they manage the transactions, but the waiter's bank can still be kept separate.
So, to SundayDrive00, sorry, I was wrong about that issue.
That being said, I still do not believe a waiter can or should be held responsible for a coin transaction.
So, the short answer is that the sandwich shop can set whatever policy it likes when it comes to payment, as long as it is established before a transaction occurs and the customer incurs the debt.
You enter into an implied contract with the restaurant when you order food/beverages to be paid for after consumption.
I don't think there are any federal statutes that specifically state that restaurants that don't take cash have to make that clear upfront. Maybe that's because there's really no need for a blanket federal statute to that effect because only an idiot would run a restaurant that way -- and not for very long because it would be a financially disastrous move (I feel as if I need to inject here yet again that my comments are specific to not letting customers know in advance if cash isn't an option rather than the practice of not accepting cash). And while private businesses are free to develop their own policies concerning what payment they'll accept, those policies need to be equally applied to all customers. They don't get to decide that one guy can't pay cash but the people at the next table can, unless they want to get sued.
Nonetheless, currency is the default for contractual agreements involving debt in the U.S., and while they may not be legally required to take cash (except in MA), they have legal obligations on their end of the implied contract to make any deviations from reasonable expectations clear.
I'm grateful for this thread. I inherited a restaurant a few years ago and decided to turn it into something else; this mess reinforces that decision.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 07-20-2018 at 01:42 AM..
You're more trusting of people then I am. I made sure each of my tables paid their bill in full, and I tried to do it before they left. There was the occasional time when a table would accidently short me. If I didn't catch it in time, then I would have been the one responsible for paying the remainder of their bill. I wasnt their to pay for other people's meals, I had my own bills to pay.
I think it was more about the nature of that particular restaurant... it was a small independent/local joint, in a tourist town (South Lake Tahoe) that was pretty quiet during the “off season” months. And being a town built around skiing and gambling, most of the visitors had money to blow. I can’t recall ever getting stiffed, and tips were usually quite good!
If I’d been working at a chain restaurant in a bigger city, I probably wouldn’t have been so trusting. Like when I was delivering pizzas in Stockton CA, I always counted the money (usually inside my car) before leaving a customer’s property.
Stores normally have rolls of coins in their safe. I don't know any store employees who are thrilled about counting large amounts of change.
Yeah, but those rolls of coins have to come from somewhere (like a bank). When we run out of change at the library, it’s always a ro-sham-bo between the clerks on who has to go get more! So if we’re playing devil’s advocate, one could say it saves them a trip to the bank?
Yeah, but those rolls of coins have to come from somewhere (like a bank). When we run out of change at the library, it’s always a ro-sham-bo between the clerks on who has to go get more! So if we’re playing devil’s advocate, one could say it saves them a trip to the bank?
Unless it's a small operation, doubtful.
I'm at a relatively small store, we tend to keep around $400-600 in coins. BUT, those coins are delivered and kept rolled and stacked in trays until they go into a register. I can't imagine trying to store $45 in loose change in the safe, the coin cups in those things isn't any bigger than the coin cups in a register, money would roll out everywhere. We'd have to go buy coin wrappers somewhere or load the registers with so much loose change they'd be a pain to carry from the office!
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