[MediocreButArrogant]

I always make sure to have at least $20 in singles on me so I can tip the stri...uh, never mind.

[jtjtjtjt]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

In 40 years of dining out multiple times each week, I've never had a restaurant do what you're apparently obsessed with.

Maybe the waiters who do this are smart enough to look at you and decide that you are a guy who would balance his credit card statement to the penny so they don't scam you.

Conversely, they might spot me as the kind of guy who never balances his statement to the penny and they always scam me and always get away with it. In which case I've been getting hit for a few bucks for a while.

Regardless, this is a real thing I'm talking about because it did happen to a friend of mine and he caught it on his statement. Another friend who owns a chain restaurant had to fire a waiter and manager for doing this. Of course, the paranoid side of me has to consider the possibility that my friends are lying to me and this never happens to anyone ever....

[Merrily Gather]

I'm sure it's likely to happen. We read stories about waitresses and baristas that used pocket reader's to steal people's card information for personal use or selling it online. Which was one reason to use cash at these places or take your card up to the cashier directly to watch the transaction instead of passing it off to the server. Also to keep a record of your transaction. I don't understand how they think they can get away with charging more tip than was allotted when you typically have to write the total including tip under the tip line on the receipts. They'd have to show their receipts but maybe they think since it's a little amount that it won't be disputed.

Internal fraud does happen and just like a bank they're not going to reveal when internal fraud is happening to a customer when the customer's account information is compromised from inside the company unless they have to. Eventually the individual doing the crime gets caught by someone paying attention to what's happening with their accounts, and hopefully the restaurant management at these places takes this sort of crime seriously when reported. One of our bank's had internal fraud where the branch manager was embezzling from accounts but they too were eventually caught.

There are certainly pros and cons to how we manage our money these days and the digital aspect changes some of that and in some regards forces our hands to become savvy. I guess it also depends what people are comfortable with too. YMMV