Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Want your dinner to go as smoothly as possible? Your waiter wants that, too! Here's one thing you absolutely need to tell your server right away. When you go out to dinner with a group, you’re probably pretty distracted with ordering drinks, reading the menu and catching up with friends. But take a moment to alert your waiter to one important thing: whether or not you want to split the check. Why to Split a Check First Thing Many people assume that the time to discuss payment is after the waiter presents you with a bill—but that’s actually rude to the server, and can create more work for them. Why? As you place orders for food and drinks, your waiter tallies them up in a POS, or point of sale, system. If your waiter doesn’t know you’re splitting the bill, they’ll enter the entire table onto a single tab—they’ll then have to go through and separate every item, requiring both manual overrides and the need to remember who ordered what.