Return dishes (negative quantity)
Ring a dish a guest hands back at −1, −2, −3 with the ± key on the quantity pad, or with − in the line's window. What a return line does on the bill, who may ring one and the manager's PIN for everybody else, giving the money back in cash when the bill comes below zero, the receipt, and the stock. On the Windows and the Android POS.
On this page
A guest hands back something they bought: an unopened drink, a packet of crisps, a bottle. You ring it on a bill at a negative quantity: −1, −2, −3. That line is a return. It takes its money off the bill, and when the bill is paid, a dish whose stock is counted goes back into the store room.
A return can sit on a bill with ordinary dishes, so a guest who swaps one drink for another pays only the difference. On a bill of its own, the bill comes below zero, and the POS gives the money back in cash.
Before you start
- You need the right. It is Return items (negative quantity), under Take Orders in your POS access group. Without it, a manager types their PIN on the spot (see Who may ring a return).
- Counter and table bills only. A return cannot go on a QR order, a bill held for a customer, a deposit order or a Pay later bill.
- Cash, to give money back. A bill below zero is settled in cash only, so this POS needs a cash payment method.
Ring a return on the quantity pad
The quantity pad opens when you tap the quantity of a line on the bill. On a line, it has a ± key that turns the number you type below zero.
- The dish's name, and under it what the line is now: Now 1. Type how many. Nought voids it.
- The entry: what you type. Until you type, it shows the line's quantity in grey.
- ±: turns what you type below zero, or back. Press ±, then 1, and the entry says -1. On a dish sold by weight the point stays where it is, and ± has a row of its own under the keys. On Windows, the − key of the PC keyboard does the same.
- ⌫: rubs out the last figure.
- The manager's boxes: only while the entry is below zero, and only for a person without the right. OK waits until a PIN is typed. See Who may ring a return.
- Cancel: closes the pad. Nothing changes.
- OK: makes the line what you typed.
- Put the dish on the bill: tap its tile once. It does not matter that the guest bought it on another bill: nothing ties a return to the bill it was sold on.
- Tap the dish's quantity on the bill. The quantity pad opens.
- Press ±, then how many come back: 1 for −1, 2 for −2.
- If the manager's boxes show, a manager types their PIN.
- Press OK. The line says -1 and Return, and the bill goes down by the dish's price.
What a return line does on the bill
- The return line: the quantity below zero, Return under the dish's name (a red label on the screen), and the amount below zero. It is the dish's price as it is sold, its choices included, times the quantity.
- The totals: tax and the service charge are worked on the return too, below zero, so the bill comes down by exactly what one of it costs.
- Save & Fire: a return never goes to the kitchen. No ticket prints for it, and it is not counted on the button.
- No discount of any kind touches a return: not a discount on the line, not a promotion, not a voucher, not the bill discount. A percentage off the bill is a percentage of what is sold. Disc in the line's window is dim on a return.
- A return stays a return. It is its own line, never joined to a sale of the same dish, and it cannot be turned back into a sale. To undo it, take it off (below).
Ring a return in the line's window
Tap the line on the bill to open its window (see A bill line's window). Its − and + work on returns too:
| On the line | − | + |
|---|---|---|
| A sale of 1 | Goes to −1: a return. (To take the dish off the bill, use Void.) | Adds one more. |
| A return of −1 | Goes to −2: one more returned. | Takes the return off the bill. |
| A return of −3 | Goes to −4. | Goes to −2: one fewer returned. |
On Windows, your taps show on the line at once, and the POS writes the quantity they end on when the window closes. A manager, when one is needed, is asked once, for that quantity.
Take a return off
- In the line's window: press + until the line reaches nought, or press Void.
- On the quantity pad: type 0 and press OK.
A return was never sent to the kitchen, so it comes off without a reason and without a slip.
Who may ring a return
Ringing a return, or returning more on a return line, needs Return items (negative quantity). Returning fewer, or taking a return off, never asks.
For a person without the right, a manager approves it on the spot:
- On the quantity pad (Windows): the manager's boxes show inside the pad as soon as the entry is below zero. The manager types their PIN (and their staff code, if they like), then you press OK.
- From − in the line's window: a window opens, Return -1 x Teh Tarik, which says A return needs a manager who may approve returns. The manager types their PIN and presses Approve.
The PIN is checked on this POS, so it works with the internet down. The return is recorded as approved by that manager. See Manager approval on the spot.
Give the money back
When the returns on a bill come to more than what is sold, the bill is below zero: the restaurant owes the guest. Pay says so: Pay RM -3.80.
- Give back: in place of the payment methods and the keypad. A bill below zero takes no money; it gives some back.
- RM 3.80: the cash to hand the guest, in large red figures. If part of the bill was paid before the return was rung, that is given back too.
- Paid out of the drawer in Cash. Nothing else can settle this bill.: no card, e-wallet, Pay later, deposit or member payment can settle it.
- Back: back to the bill, nothing given.
- Give back RM 3.80: takes the cash out of the drawer's count and closes the bill. There is no change: the whole amount goes in one go.
- Press Pay RM -3.80 under the bill.
- The payment window shows Give back and the amount.
- Press Give back RM 3.80. The drawer opens, if one is connected.
- Hand the guest the cash. The bill is closed, and the receipt prints as any receipt does.
On the receipt, a return line prints as it was rung, below zero, with RETURN under it. The receipt is numbered as any receipt.
After the bill is paid
- Stock: a dish whose stock is counted goes back into the outlet's main store. A dish made from a recipe puts its ingredients back. The stock card calls the row Returned on a bill.
- Sales: a return lowers the day's net sales, quantities and tax, on the day its bill is paid.
- Commission: the return takes the commission on it back from whoever is named on the line.
- Cash: money given back lowers the cash expected in the drawer at the shift's end.
A bill with a return, refunded later
- A paid bill that holds a return can only be refunded whole. The returns come back with it.
- A bill that gave money back can never be refunded: ring a new sale instead.
See Refund a bill.
The Android POS does the same, with these differences:
- The quantity pad says Type how many. ± makes it a return. Its ± key is under the keys, beside Clear.
- The manager is asked after OK, in a window of its own: Return items, with Returning items needs a manager who may return items. and the boxes headed A manager approves returning -1 × Teh Tarik: their PIN, or their staff code and PIN.
- In the payment window, the box at the top says To give back, the orange button says Give back RM 3.80, and the line under it says A bill below zero is given back in cash only. Choose Cash.
- Type how many. ± makes it a return.: the pad's line on a dish that can be returned.
- ±: turns the entry below zero, or back.
- Clear: empties the entry. The point key is grey on a dish not sold by weight.
- OK: for a person without the right, the manager's window opens first.