[JohnFen]

I don't think he's arguing to pay the bill up front, just to ask for the bill up front to avoid the whole "waiting for the check" thing. The idea doesn't appeal to me because I'm not confident that I know what I'll be ordering in total that early. Dessert, for instance... I rarely order dessert, but sometimes at the end of a meal, I do. I can't predict at the start whether or not that will be the case.

But I do have a different habit to speed things along: instead of asking for the check, waiting for it to arrive, then giving my card, I just hand the server my card in the first place and say I'm paying the bill. That eliminates one whole back-and-forth cycle.