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Comment by sentientslug | Hacker News Reader

In the United States they never bring the terminal to the table. I remember the first time I went to Canada being surprised when the waitress did that.

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Because they have that tipping ceremony - they take your card to the back office, swipe it there and return to you with a paper check and a pen to scribe the tip amount. Also they only very recently introduced paywave cards.

Tipping is part of the terminal flow. You touch your card or mobile device, choose the tip, then choose how you want your receipt. (This is in southern California, where terminals exist but are still rare.)

As a Canadian travelling to the US for the first time in 2+ years due to COVID, I had a very odd experience in the Minneapolis airport. My meal was clearly done, I'd said I was ready for the bill, but 10 minutes later... nothing. I flagged down the waitress, and she was equally confused that I was still at my table!

I was expecting a wireless terminal, or at least a "come to the cash when you're ready". Wireless units were probably at 75% adoption in early 2020, and went to 100% when things started to reopen as a (perceived at least) way to minimize intermingling among patrons. When I mentioned I was surprised the credit card wasn't wireless (and also did tipping on paper, not in the terminal), the waitress said she'd never even seen a wireless terminal before!

Growing up, tech in Canada always seemed to lag behind the US, and it's weird to see it the other way around.

Not never, but definitely its the default. I certainly prefer the terminal wherever its offered.

If there was a way to avoid that last step, it would probably save restaurants a lot of time. Guests could leave sooner as they wouldn’t have to wait around for payment.

The alternative is to pay on the way out. Requires a single terminal at the exit (or just anywhere, s.g. at the bar). It works perfectly fine. Cafes and restaurants across Europe do this more or less as the standard, the more fancy ones bring the terminal to the table.

I don't know about "Europe", but in France it's pretty common to get the terminal at the table, even at "non-fancy" random eateries.

Sure, you could pay on the way out, but that's often painful. Many others are having the same idea, so now you have to wait around, lining up in a place that wasn't designed for people to wait around, bothering waiters who need to run around serving clients. It's usually less of a hassle to just wait around at the table for the waiter to bring the terminal to you.

My pet peeve with the terminal at the table thing is that, despite card payment being extremely common in my area, the waiter will not bring a terminal over when you ask for the check, you'll have to wait some more.

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