It is almost ten at night when the group at table 5 waves: "How much are we at so far?" The staff member glances at the clock, tries to remember when the group started, multiplies by the hourly rate in their head, adds a few bottles of water and reads out a round number to be quick. Forty minutes later the group pays, and the bill is far from that number: the clock kept running, the group ordered a fruit plate, and sometimes the venue has already moved into its evening rate. Customers rarely argue about the price. They argue because they feel they were told the wrong number. A running total in the software makes sure the number you give a customer mid-game and the number at payment are calculated the same way.
When customers ask for a running total
- Deciding whether to keep playing. They want to know what they have spent before playing another hour.
- Splitting within a group. One person collects from everyone and needs a number to divide before they get up.
- Someone leaving early. That person wants to know what their share is up to now.
- Close to a rate change. Regulars know the venue changes prices by time slot and ask so they can decide to stop before or after that point.
Two ways to see the running total in Ordersys
On the table map. Every table in play shows the time played, the start time and the amount running. When a customer asks, staff read it off the screen instead of calculating in their head.
Print an interim bill. The table's payment screen has an interim print button (In tạm in the Vietnamese interface). The printout is titled "Provisional invoice" and lists each time line, items ordered and the total at the moment of printing. If the customer plans to pay by bank transfer and the cashier has entered the transfer amount, the slip also carries the QR code of the receiving account the cashier selects.
| Print interim | Payment | |
|---|---|---|
| Table clock | Keeps running | Stops, end time is fixed |
| Bill | Stays open, more orders allowed | Closed |
| Title on the slip | Provisional invoice | Payment invoice |
| Use when | Customer wants to see the amount, group needs to split | Customer pays and leaves |
If the payment screen is left idle for more than two minutes, it has to be reloaded before you can print or take payment, so the interim bill always shows a fresh number rather than the one from when the screen was opened.
What the interim bill includes
- Table time: charged by the rate table the venue has set for the table type, time slot, weekday or weekend, and rounded exactly as at payment.
- Items ordered: drinks and food ordered to the table since the start.
- Surcharges and discounts: those the venue has set up and applied to that bill, such as a member discount.
The amount at payment will differ from the interim bill if the customer plays longer, orders more, plays past a rate change, or the cashier adds a discount at payment. Say so when you give the customer the number.
Pausing the clock: useful, but it must leave a trail
Sometimes a table needs to stop being charged mid-session, for example when the table has a problem to fix while the customers keep it. Ordersys has a paused table status. Pressing Stop closes the running time line at that moment. Pressing Continue opens a new time line at the rate currently in effect.
Paused time is not charged, which also makes it an easy place for leakage. Every stop and continue creates a notification with the account that did it, the table name and the time. Owners should set rules for when pausing is allowed and review these notifications at shift close.
Items added after an interim print are logged too
A familiar trick: print an interim bill for the customer, then edit the bill before collecting the money. Ordersys marks a bill once an interim bill has been printed. After that, every time an item is added, removed or its quantity changed, the bill log records it with the words "after interim print" and the time. If the customer has questions you can check straight away, and the owner knows which bills were changed after the customer saw the amount.
A few habits so running totals do not turn into arguments
- Give the number with the time: "Up to 9:50 it is this much, and the clock is still running."
- For large groups, hand over the interim bill instead of reading each line out loud.
- If someone leaves early and wants to pay their share, use Split/Merge Invoices on the payment screen rather than collecting cash and trying to remember it.
The table map with running amounts, interim printing, pausing and the bill log are all part of the Ordersys billiards club management software, with a 7-day free trial. Read more: how to calculate billiards table time and 4 common mistakes, and timing different table types: pool, cushion and carom tables at different rates.
Ordersys times every table automatically, switches table lights, takes drink orders at the table and reports revenue per shift.
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