FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - separate checks in the USA?
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Old Jul 18, 2010 | 8:12 pm
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nkedel
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Originally Posted by mike_asia
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Is it perceived as poor manners to ask for separate checks at restaurants in the US... To ask the staff to break it down by what each person had to eat and drink and then separate credit card charges ?
No, it is not poor manners to ask; not every restaurant will do it (some fine-dining won't, and some smaller places) but most will, and those that can't/won't will be used to saying no.

As cordelli said, if you're going to ask, make sure to let the server know before ordering.

Originally Posted by TMOliver
1. Separate checks. We tip.
2. No separate checks. No tip.
Several places I've been which didn't do it wouldn't do it as a matter of house policy, not the individual waiter's. In general, that got them written off the list of places we went for work lunches, but I'd be very hesitant to suggest not tipping unless I knew other waiters in the place would (in which case, I'd take a refusal to split a check as a reason to ask the manager/host for a new server or a new table.)
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