Who is late, and who to leave alone

What does this tour show?

It shows a quiet hour at six in the evening in a sample corner shop, when the owner finally has a minute to look at the tab. Fathima runs Corner Stop. Four regulars owe her money between them, one of them has asked not to be chased, and one walks in with cash while she is looking.

The tour covers two screens on her phone: the reminder list in the credit book, and Got paid from the till's day menu. Together they answer the two questions every shop that gives credit asks at some point: who should I chase today, and how do I record it when they pay?

Why does a shop tab need a system at all?

Because a tab is a loan, and small loans are the ones people forget. A neighbour who owes £12 is easy to remember. Four neighbours who owe different amounts from different weeks are not, and a paper book cannot tell you who has gone quiet for three weeks.

The other problem is tone. A corner shop lives on goodwill. Chase too hard and a regular stops coming in. Never chase and the tab quietly becomes a gift. The list in this tour is built to keep both sides of that in balance: it puts the oldest debts first, it waits between reminders, and it listens when someone says stop.

Step by step

1. Open the credit book's reminder list. At 18:00 Fathima opens Who owes you on her phone. The top line gives the total owed to the shop, £112.85 in the sample, and says four customers owe, longest first. That one figure tells her how much of her money is sitting with customers rather than in the till.

2. Read the list from the top. Mr Hussain from flat 4 is first: £46.20, with his oldest credit from 21 days ago and no reminder yet. The order is by how long the money has been owed, not by the size of the amount, because an old debt is the one most likely never to come back.

3. Notice who is left alone. Dave is next with £31.75, but his row says "Replied STOP: not reminded" and carries a Stopped label instead of a button. He asked not to get reminders, so the list does not offer one. The block stays until Fathima lifts it with his say-so.

4. Check who is waiting for the gap. Mrs Begum owes £22.40 and was reminded three days ago, so her row says Wait. Tom the builder only took £12.50 of milk, bread and tea today, so his row says Not due. Neither needs anything from Fathima tonight.

5. Send the one reminder that is due. Mr Hussain's row has the Remind button. Tapping it opens Fathima's own WhatsApp with the balance already written in. She can soften the wording, add "no rush", and press send herself. It costs nothing and it comes from a number he already knows.

6. Know when automatic reminders apply. The note at the foot of the list explains the rule. Automatic reminders exist, but only with a connected WhatsApp number and the customer's yes, only between 08:00 and 20:00, and never too often. Fathima has not switched them on, so every message is one she chose to send.

7. Take a payment at the till. At 18:40 Mr Hussain comes in with cash. Fathima opens the till's day menu, taps Got paid and picks his name. The screen reads "Got paid by Mr Hussain (flat 4)" and shows he owes £46.20, with the reminder that cash goes in this drawer.

8. Enter the amount and save. He is paying £30 now and the rest on Friday. Fathima types 30 on the keypad. If he had cleared the lot, one tap on the £46.20 chip would fill the whole balance. There is an optional "What for?" note, then Save. His tab drops to £16.20 and the £30 is counted as cash in the drawer.

What changes on screen at each point?

Tips for chasing a tab politely

• Look at the list at the same time each day. A quiet slot, such as early evening, makes it a two-minute habit rather than an awkward job.
• Edit the written message before you send it. "Hi, just a note that the tab is at £46.20, pay when you are next in" reads very differently from a bare number.
• Use the age of the debt, not the size, to decide who to message. A small balance from a month ago matters more than a larger one from yesterday.
• Set a limit before you give credit. The credit book holds a limit per customer, so a new regular cannot run up more than you are comfortable with.
• When someone pays part, say thank you and mention when the rest is due. Writing "rest on Friday" in the note helps you remember the promise.

Common mistakes

Taking tab money as a sale. If Mr Hussain's £30 were rung through as a sale, it would inflate the day's takings and leave his tab unchanged. Got paid records it as money collected on credit, which is what it is.

Lifting a STOP without asking. It is tempting to switch Dave back on because he owes the second-largest amount. Do not. Talk to him in the shop instead. The STOP is there to protect the relationship and to keep you on the right side of his wishes.

Messaging everyone at once. Sending a reminder to every name on the list the same evening feels efficient but reads as a round-robin. The gap between reminders exists for a reason, and the Wait label is the list telling you so.

Putting cash in the wrong drawer. The Got paid screen says which drawer the cash goes in. If you take tab money and put it in your pocket or a different till, the drawer will look over or short at night.

What should you do next?

Close the day. At ten o'clock the £30 from Mr Hussain is already counted under collected on credit, so the cash-up adds up without any adjustment. The closing tour for the same shop shows how that works.

If you give credit to more than a handful of customers, read the guide on getting invoices paid faster for wording and timing that works, and the guide on cash flow to see how much money a growing tab ties up. Wholesalers with trade accounts will find the customer credit guide useful for setting limits and reading ageing.

How EasyTaskr helps

The credit book keeps a balance and a limit for each customer and lists who owes the shop, oldest first. Reminders go through your own WhatsApp, with automatic sending only when a number is connected and the customer agreed. Payments taken through Got paid lower the balance and go into the drawer's count for end-of-day closing.