bamford@randvax.UUCP (01/22/84)
[This line is for the line gobbler.] Is anybody out there as disgusted as I am with these new restaurant receipts that print (in agonizing detail) a complete description of your meal? Here is an exact example: +-------------------------------------+ | GUEST CHECK | | | | SERVER 96 TABLE 119/1 TIME 19:10| | | | 1 CLUB SANDWHICH 4.95| | 1 -BECKS 2.25| | 1 -GILBEY VODKA 1.25| | | | TOTAL 8.45| NOTICE THE TIP IS NOT | TAX .55| DETAILED - INSULT ON INJURY | GRAND TOTAL 9.00| | | | ELI MCFLY RESTAURANT AND BAR | | CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA | | | | THANK YOU! | | | | FOOD 4.95| | BEVERAGE 3.50| | | | 83-11-01 1 GUEST NUMBER 174| +-------------------------------------+ I don't cheat on my expense reports or my taxes. Nonetheless, I don't think my company accountant has any right to know what brand of vodka I drink, or how many drinks I had, or how many freinds I shared them with. A perfect example of stupid, dehumanizing computerization that implements a function just because it's easy, in oblivion of possible moral implications. Now, when I'm handed one of these excrescences, I find the manager, and make him write me a normal reciept (date, place, amount including tip, period) I enough of us put enough managers thru this irritating (to them) exercise, we might just make an impression on the idiots who make and use these cash registers. CONTINUATION DISCUSSION IN NET.FOLLOWUP, PLEASE. Cliff Bamford Consultant currently at Rand Home: 2902 Pine Street, SFO 94115
kmw@iheds.UUCP (01/24/84)
I have no complaints about itemized restaurant receipts. Two points: Many companies do NOT include alcoholic beverages as a reimbursable meal expense, so the itemized tab is useful. Why shouldn't the company know what you had for lunch? They're paying for it. (Seriously, do you really think anyone in your accounting department cares?) -- K. M. Wilber iheds!kmw or mvuxs!kw
seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (01/24/84)
So what about those of us that *aren't* on expense accounts?
The new printed receipts make it easier to split up a bill, not
because they have more information (it's usually the same info as
before), but because it's now *legible*.
If you want to hide your alcoholism from your boss, don't complain
to me. By the way, I *assume* you take a cab home after one of these
expense account drink-fests. Like the radio spots say, "Drunk driving
isn't funny anymore."
--
_____
/_____\ from the flying doghouse of
/_______\ Snoopy
|___|
____|___|_____ ihnp4!ihuxl!seifertwan@gatech.UUCP (01/24/84)
I don't mind the new receipts; some of the restaurants I frequent have
many unpopular items on their menu, and they can find out which ones
these are by seeing what doesn't get ordered at all in say, a month. It
may help them determine what to keep in stock, etc.
Some of the restaurants here in Atlanta ask you to sign the guest check
(as well as your credit card slip). Anyone else seen this practice?
Anyone have a guess as to why they would want to do that?
--
Peter N Wan
WHAT : GaTech System Administrator, CSNET Liaison
MAIL : School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
BELL : (404) 894-3658 [office] / (404) 894-3152 [messages]
UUCP : ...!{akgua,allegra,emory,rlgvax,sb1,ut-ngp,ut-sally}!gatech!wan
ARPA : wan.gatech@CSNet-Relay CSNET : wan@gatechpreece@uicsl.UUCP (01/26/84)
#R:randvax:-163800:uicsl:5400044:000:469 uicsl!preece Jan 25 08:49:00 1984 One of the traditional roles of the restaurant check is to allow you to verify a) the waiter's arithmetic and b) that the arithmetic is based on an accurate list of what you were served. The new style receipts make those tasks much easier. If you want something with less detail for turning over to your company accountant (a perfectly reasonable desire), I suggest you write up your own receipt and have the cashier sign it. scott preece ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece
crl@pur-phy.UUCP (Charles LaBrec) (01/26/84)
I would tend to like the idea of itemized restaurant receipts. But it really doesn't make that much of a difference to me. Charles LaBrec UUCP: pur-ee!Physics:crl, purdue!Physics:crl
jel@digi-g.UUCP (John Lind) (01/26/84)
I am not convinced that these new receipts were designed with a wanton disregard for customer preferences. Perhaps, in charming naivete, the cash register designer imagined some utility in such itemization. It was certainly welcomed in the grocery store. The worst such designers can be blamed with is over-generalization. The best we could think is that they thought we might like to keep records of our exact expenses for our personal budgets (some of us do pick up the tab ourselves for a portion of our restaurant visits). Given the inertia of the forward dash of gimics in every aspect of our culture, I doubt seriously whether there is any reverse we can affect. However, we might be able to move further in the same direction and get a receipt suitable for submission printed after the offending over specified version. It might look like the following: +-------------------------------------+ | GUEST CHECK | | | | SERVER 96 TABLE 119/1 TIME 19:10| | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | | | 83-11-01 1 GUEST NUMBER 174| +-------------------------------------+ | 83-11-01 NUMBER 174| | ELI MCFLY RESTAURANT AND BAR | | CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA | | | | PURCHASE TOTAL 8.45| | TAX .55| | SUBTOTAL 9.00| | GRATUITY 1.50| | GRAND TOTAL 10.50| | | +-------------------------------------+ This is probably asking too much, however. The chance of anyone entering their tips into the cash register is probably as near zero as you care to go (and perhaps with good reason). A more realistic expectation may be as follows: +-------------------------------------+ | 83-11-01 NUMBER 174| | ELI MCFLY RESTAURANT AND BAR | | CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA | | | | TOTAL 8.45| | TAX .55| | GRAND TOTAL 9.00| | | +-------------------------------------+
perelgut@utcsrgv.UUCP (Stephen Perelgut) (01/27/84)
:-)
It is nice to see such absolute drivel in net.general. Everyone knows
that net.general is short for:
net.generally.boring.and.meaningless.articles.with.lots.of.spelling.mistakes
It is also nice to see that there is someone with the arrogance to assume his
manager would read the details of his expense account receipts. Frankly, why
should your company allow you to take drugs on company time (expense account
meal) at company expense.
Finally, I enjoyed seeing paranoid ramblings on the network. We really need
more of these. Everyone post to net.general. List everyone who is out to
get you. Generics count (ie. restaurant managers, waiters, midget limbo
dancers, etc.). Name names only if you are certain it is slanderous (is the
network slander or libel?)
--
Stephen Perelgut Computer Systems Research Group University of Toronto
Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsrgv!perelguthxe@rayssd.UUCP (01/30/84)
. In response to the question, "Why do some restaurants make you sign the guest check as well as the credit voucher?": More often than you would think, guests forget to sign the voucher. Having them sign the guest check not only reminds the food server to obtain both signatures, but also serves as a backup signature in case the voucher is unsigned. In that case, the restaurant may submit the voucher to the credit card company with "Signature On File" written on the signature line. (This, by the way, is also how mail order companies submit orders, so make sure that you check all your receipts when you get them back!)
decot@cwruecmp.UUCP (Dave Decot) (01/31/84)
I suppose your company DOES have a right to know everything that it is paying for. Most companies I know of REFUSE to pay for alcoholic beverages, so I don't think they really care what brand of vodka you drink. Remember that you are acting as an agent of your company when you take a business trip or have lunch with a client, not as an employee collecting fringe benefits. If your expense-paid lunches and dinners are for company business, they are the company's business. Dave Decot decvax!cwruecmp!decot (Decot.Case@rand-relay)