Originally Posted by
pinworm
It's a seedy thing do to and is the sign of a dishonest, struggling restraunt. If they do something like this, you can make their life more difficult by informing their CC vendors..visa, mc, amex, discover etc...and by dropping a note with local regulators about having seen vermin in there and bringing and inspection down on their heads.
It is not a sign of a struggling restaurant, it is a sign of dishonest employees. I have caught employees trying to do some of these things and have not only fired them on the spot but called the police on them. I don't have that problem any more.
The employees swipe the cards themselves, and once the card is swiped, if a tip is added on, they have to manually enter that tip amount. An altered tip is not uncommon, BUT thieves are thieves and they are stupid and it is easy to catch this issue.
It is also easy for the employee to add on items they think the diner will not notice. Until the transaction is closed out, it is open game to a dishonest employee.