Lifestyle and Leisure

The "barkeeper keeping track" method seems to mostly be used at very small bars, or places where they know and trust you. And not even all of these! Instead, at most places you'll "open" a tab by giving them your credit/debit card. They'll either physically hold onto it or pre-authorize it for a certain amount to confirm it's valid. Throughout your time there you'll tell them you have a tab for each drink/item and they'll add it to that each time. When you're ready to "close" the tab and leave, they'll charge all those in-progress items and give you back the card (if they held onto it). They're basically just making sure random people don't overhear your name and are saying "put it on Jim Doogle's tab!" So they still have to monitor it, but nowhere near as bad as keeping track of who had what and trying to catch them before they leave without paying...