I used to steal from customers when they ordered the 2 for $20 at Chili's.

Back when Chili's offered the 2 for $20 deal, there was a way to avoid applying the promotion. I got pretty good at reading the tables to figure out if they'd pay with cash or card. Sometimes they’d tell me they were paying with cash, other times I’d catch them pulling out cash. Here’s how it worked: the bill would usually come out to around $29 (with drinks and tax) before the promotion was applied. Once the promo was added, it dropped the bill to about $23. Most customers didn’t notice that the promotion hadn’t been included because they were either in a rush, didn’t want change, or simply didn’t bother to check the bill. I’d apply the promotion after they left, pocketing an extra $6 per table. Since the 2 for $20 was one of the most popular items, I could pull this off multiple times a night. Some of the best nights were during homecoming when teenagers, with cash their parents gave them, wanted to impress their dates and would often leave bigger tips on top of the $29 bills. I was able to keep doing this until they made the promotion automatic. I even taught a few trusted new servers how to do it. When I got “caught,” and a customer asked why their bill was so high, I’d simply say the system “forgot” to apply the promo or that “oops, I forgot to press the button.”