> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dishink.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tips

> How tips are captured, split, pooled or attributed to a specific waiter — and how staff cash them out.

## Overview

DishInk captures tips through three distinct flows and routes them according to your **Tip Policy** (Settings → Payments → Tips). Every kwacha of tip is logged against a staff member or the pool, and appears on the Batch Invoice Cash Out — no shoebox accounting.

## The Three Tip Flows

### 1. Explicit Tip (before charge)

On the Charge Modal, expand the **Tip** section:

* **% chips** — 5% · 10% · 15% · 20%
* **Fixed K chips** — K10 · K20 · K30 · K50
* **Custom** field

The tip is added to the Grand Total *before* the customer pays. This is the cleanest flow — the customer knows the exact total including tip.

### 2. Overpayment → Tip (during cash payment)

When a cash payment exceeds the total, DishInk shows the overage in green and offers:

* **Give Change** — hand it back.
* **Tip · K\_\_** — book the overage as a tip.

Use this for the very common Zambian scenario: customer hands you a K200 note for a K180 bill, waves off the change with *"keep it"*.

### 3. Post-Charge Tip Adjustment (card-based tips)

When a customer tips on the card terminal itself (they add K20 to the K180 slip), the cashier records it after the fact:

* Open the transaction in **Shift**
* Tap **Adjust Tip**
* Enter the tip amount
* Confirm — the transaction total updates and the tip is attributed.

<Note>
  Card-terminal tips need this manual sync because DishInk's charge locks in *before* the card slip is signed. The Adjust Tip step captures what actually landed on the merchant statement.
</Note>

## Routing: Pool vs Waiter

Every tip routes according to the **Tip Policy** set in Settings:

| Policy                | How it distributes                                                                                                    |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Waiter-Attributed** | Tip goes to the primary waiter of the session. On Quick Sale (no waiter), it goes to the cashier.                     |
| **Pool**              | Tip goes into a shared pool, distributed by shift hours or by a fixed formula (Settings → Payments → Tip Pool Rules). |
| **Hybrid**            | Custom split — e.g. 70% waiter, 30% pool. Configurable percentage.                                                    |

Hybrid is the most common in mid-size restaurants: rewards the waiter for good service while still sharing with support staff (kitchen, bar, runners).

## Multi-Waiter Sessions

When multiple waiters worked one table:

* **Waiter-Attributed** — tip goes to the *primary* waiter (the one who opened the session).
* **Shared** contributions (see [Batch Cash-Out — Shared vs Handoff](/pos/batch-cash-out#9-staff-performance-breakdown)) *split the tip proportionally by dollar contribution*.
* **Handoff** — if the cashier who closed the bill never punched an item on that table, the tip still goes to the waiter(s), not the cashier.

## Tips on the Batch Invoice

* **Summary card: Tips** — total for the period.
* **By Staff** — tips per staff member.
* **Staff Performance Breakdown** — tips broken out by Waiter-Attributed vs Pool Share vs Handoff.
* **Manager Overrides** — any manual tip adjustments (added, removed, reassigned) with reason.

## Cashing Out Tips

At end-of-shift, each staff member's **Batch Invoice Cash Out** shows their **Tips Owed** (waiter-attributed + pool share). The manager pays out cash tips against this figure, or the payroll system syncs them into the next pay run — see [Payroll](/staff/cash-out).

## Step by Step (Adding a Tip at Charge)

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Charge Modal">
    Tap **Charge** on any session or Quick Sale ticket.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Expand Tip">
    The Tip section is collapsed by default — tap the header to open.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a chip or type">
    % 5/10/15/20, or Fixed K10/20/30/50, or Custom.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm charge">
    The confirmation shows *Charge K180.00 · Tip K20.00* clearly. The customer pays the combined amount.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Frame caption="Charge Modal with the Tip section expanded showing quick chips.">
  <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/dishink/images/pos/tips.png" alt="Tips placeholder" />
</Frame>

## Tips & Best Practices

* Post your **tip policy** in the staff room. Ambiguity around pool vs waiter is the fastest way to lose trust.
* Encourage **explicit tips** over overpayment-to-tip — cleaner for the customer, easier for the cashier.
* Reconcile card-terminal tips daily using **Adjust Tip**. Do not leave a backlog — matching statements a week later is painful.
* For hybrid policy, review the split quarterly. Growing kitchens deserve a bigger pool share; a stagnant policy demotivates back-of-house.

## Common Mistakes

* **Charging without expanding Tip** when the customer said "add 10%". The chip is one tap — don't forget it.
* **Booking a tip as Cash when the customer paid card.** The tip method mirrors the charge method — override only when the tip is physically in cash despite a card sale.
* **Assuming card-terminal tips auto-sync.** They don't. Adjust Tip in Shift is required.
* **Distributing pool tips manually.** The Batch Invoice already calculates each waiter's share by shift hours. Use the number it gives you.

## Related Pages

* [Creating Sales](/pos/creating-sales)
* [Partial Payments](/pos/partial-payments)
* [Shift](/pos/shift)
* [Batch Invoice Cash Out](/pos/batch-cash-out)
* [Cash Out (Staff)](/staff/cash-out)
* [Roles & Permissions](/getting-started/roles-permissions)