And, most importantly, they are doing the work versus me fumbling with their QR code and payment site instead of relaxing and chatting.
What I don't mind though are tabletop POS systems, wherein the swipe and sign is local and straightforward.
I disagree that it's better, and especially if you have to set up an online account to do it.
But I also short-circuit the back-and-forth thing by handing the server my card at the same time as I'm telling them I want the check. Then there's only one trip involved.
How can that work? Do you also give the server your card's PIN?
There is no pin involved.
At some places, the server has a card reader in hand and just runs the card then and there in front of me.
How can they finalize the transaction without your PIN? (Unless it's a low-value NFC proximity transaction, and even then, in my experience sometimes it still asks for the PIN).
> At some places, the server has a card reader in hand and just runs the card then and there in front of me.
That's my experience in every restaurant in which you pay at the desk (instead of while leaving or while ordering). Though I usually eat at self-service per-kilogram restaurants, in which you weigh your food at a scale before eating, and pay at a dedicated cashier station near the exit door.
By running it as a credit card transaction? I don't know the details beyond that your signature is the equivalent of your pin (I think PINs were invented basically as a substitute for signatures). I only know that this is how it's worked for my whole life, from well before the internet existed.
> Though I usually eat at self-service per-kilogram restaurants, in which you weigh your food at a scale before eating
I've never heard of such a thing before. That's an interesting concept. But it raises an interesting point: I'm in the US, and it sounds like you're not. I bet there's a cultural difference in play here.