LPT: When dining out or bar hopping use a radar number as the total when the gratuity is included in your total.

If you dine out often enough or go bar hopping, and you are not using cash to pay, inevitably a server will "accidentally" miskey the gratuity amount to more than the amount you left for them. Then you have to call the place and waste time getting it corrected later on. My humble LPT is to increase the tip juuust enough so the bill total (the final amount that is billed on your card statement) is a radar number. Radar numbers are numbers such as 62.26, 71.17, 52.25 and so on. Later on if you see a charge from a bar or restaurant that isn’t a radar number then you immediately know they changed the tip.

Should you ever have to call be polite. Waitstaff and bartenders are human beings who make mistakes from time to time. By calling it in you can help employers locate and address staff who are abusing the gratuity system.