We all hand our credit card to the waiter and watch them disappear to the back of the restaurant. Then we wait and hope they don't take a swipe for themselves along with the one for the bill.

Several restaurant chains are moving to stem this form of icredit card theft. Legal Seafood is deploying portable point-of-sale (POS) devices in its 34 stores so diners won't ever have to let their credit cards out of their sight. "When we rolled it out, some people were offended by it or intimidated," Roger Berkowitz, Legal Sea Food's chief executive, told The Boston Globe. "People are there to relax and have a good time, so there is a little bit of a fine line. But given the furor over credit-card protection, we're definitely starting to see more people wanting to experiment with it."

It is only a matter of time before the standard check is a computer to allow you to finish paying at the table.