The other night, I was at a local restaurant for Tuesday night trivia with a bunch of friends. We wrapped up the game and began the lengthy process of splitting up a tableful of orders by scribbling who had what on the back of the bill, and referencing which credit card or chunk of cash matched it. My friend Marie (the resident math whiz) ran through the totals to ensure we'd gotten all the line items and covered the tip. Then we had to wait while the staff, slammed with a roomful of people all tabbing out at the same time, tried to make sense of the scribblings and finally handed out a round of individual checks for signatures or change. 

As we waited for the 20 extra minutes this process demanded, I just kept thinking, "There has got to be a better way!" 

Turns out, there is.