Restaurants often refer to bills as "checks"

I don't know if you're joking or if it's just a cultural thing, but this was legitimately my first thought too. Many places already add a surcharge for cards, so disincentivizing checks seemed normal to my mind.

Then I realized they meant "check" as in "bill" and they just wanted to hide inflation increases.

The Czechs.

poe’s law won’t leave me alone today