The order pad

We write orders on a pad. Not a tablet, not an app, a paper pad with a carbon copy under each sheet. The top copy goes to the bar. The bottom copy stays on the pad and becomes the record.

The National tallies the totals. It does not need a description of what each line is for, because the pad already has that. The register just needs the number, and the number it rounds down to the dollar, which is what it has always done.

I have tried 3 different tablet systems. Each one required a subscription, an update, and a question I was not prepared to answer on the morning I was most busy. The pad has never done any of those things. It runs on a pen. The pen is a fountain pen. There is a reason for that too.