Paying a check in PointLit: tips, the service charge and clearing the table
Paying a check turns it into a sale with its own number and receipt, and a tip taken with the payment is credited to the check's waiter.
You take the money on the same payment sheet the register uses. When the check is paid, the table shows Paid, not cleared until someone clears it. A split check's parts are each paid as their own sale, as splitting a check explains.
Take the payment
- On the check, press Pay, shown with the total (F9 or Ctrl+Enter on a keyboard).
- Take payment opens with the check's total. Choose how the guest pays, or split the amount between several payments, as at the register.
- If tips are on, choose the tip: No tip, one of the suggested percentages shown with its amount, or Other amount.
- Confirm. The sale is written with its own bill number and receipt, and the check closes.
How a tip works
- The suggested tips are percentages of the subtotal, before the service charge and the tax. You set up to three in Restaurant settings.
- A tip is not a sale. It is not counted as revenue, it is credited to the check's waiter, and the receipt shows it on its own line as Tip.
- With cash, the cash handed over must cover the bill and the tip, and the change is worked out after the tip.
- A cash tip stays in the drawer, so it counts in the drawer's expected cash until it is paid out.
- On a delivery paid in cash, the driver's cash bag holds the cash and its tip.
How the service charge is worked out
- It is a percentage for each order type, set in Restaurant settings, and a check keeps the rate it had when it was opened.
- It is worked out on each item after its discounts. A product marked No service charge (in Products, Service charge…), such as bottled water or the delivery fee, is left out.
- Tax on the service charge decides whether tax is added to it. The total is the subtotal, plus the service charge, plus the tax.
- Check options can remove it from one check, which needs its own permission, and add it back.
- It prints on the pre-bill and the receipt as Service charge with its rate, and the Z-report shows the day's total.
When the payment is refused or waits
- Another device is taking payment for this check: wait until it finishes, or ask a manager to release it.
- The check changed since you opened the payment: check the new total and take the payment again.
- The connection is down: the payment is kept on this till and recorded when the connection is back. Print offline receipt prints a receipt marked Paid offline: number to follow.
- A check paid twice, on two devices: both payments are recorded, and a manager refunds one.
Clear the table
A paid table shows Paid, not cleared. Press Clear on the table when it is ready for the next guests, and it shows Free on every device. If nobody presses Clear, the table frees itself 15 minutes after the payment.
Pay out tips, and the Z-report
Pay out tips, on the till's shift bar, records cash paid from the drawer to a waiter for their tips: choose the waiter, type the amount and press Record the tip payout. A tip paid out of a driver's cash bag is recorded from Driver cash, with Pay out tips.
On the shift's Z-report, extra rows show the Service charge, Tips collected, Cash tips, Cash tips returned, Tips paid out and Covers (the number of guests), each one only when it is not zero.
Questions and answers
- What happens to the tip if the sale is voided?
- Voiding a paid check's sale returns its tips with the money, and the refund slip shows Tip returned. A partial refund returns no tip.
- Who can take the payment for a check?
- Anyone whose role may ring up a sale. Opening a check and sending items need the check permission too; the Waiter and Cashier roles have both as standard.
- Can every shop have its own service charge?
- Not yet. The rates are set for each order type, and they are the same in every shop of the business.