Alright! You made the reservation for the night you eat dinner with your family from out of town. You make it to the location and enjoy an excellent dinner. All is going well. Then the server drops the check. The family members and friends glare at each other. Tension rises like a gunfight at high noon. The person with the quickest hands grabs the bill first and then all you know what breaks loose. The great night is in jeopardy. Who pays the tab?

All servers in their careers have witnessed the battle at least once. Believe me, it can get very messy. There are ways to prevent this catastrophe. I’ll share a few techniques I’ve seen and then I’ll offer a suggestion.

1. Pretends to go to the bathroom and then hands the server the credit card.

2. Arrives very early and hands the server the credit card.

3. My favorite one so far is to lie to the server that it’s your friend’s birthday and hand the befuddled server the card.

4. Play credit card roulette. All those insisting on paying places their credit cards in a bucket. The last credit card remaining pays the tab. That’s a fun one.

Here’s my suggestion. I went out with my parents for dinner. Mom insisted on paying the tab. One does not argue with momma. So I offered to take care of the tip in cash. She was happy. I was…well…happier. And the server got a nice tip so he was happy too. Win-win-win.

Feel free to give the idea a shot. Who knows? It may work.