Well, don't give the card to the waiter? I was honestly spooked when my colleagues handed over their credit card to a waiter when I was in the US a while ago, leaving it out of their sight and hands for a while. We're warned in TV adverts here to never hand over your card - it could get skimmed by the attendant behind the counter. Less of a risk now that the magnetic strip is hardly used anymore, but still. Give someone a few minutes with a chip card and they can do plenty of things with it.

Paying by card here happens either by using a mobile card reader, or by just getting up and walking to the cash register before leaving. Much safer.