Reading between the lines does take skill. There's always someone else's interpretation. From experience equally dividing a bill by 6 and running six cards through a machine is easy. I don't think many waiters would be unhappy with doing that and if they were well they're probably in the wrong industry.
Money is money and the customers have to pay and it's the job of the waiters to take the payment so there's no need to split hairs over the transaction details.
In principle I totally agree with you i.e. making things hard for the staff because you are paying is wrong but I didn't interpret Kate's statement as that because of personal experience.

I don't recall calling Europe a country now did I! Simply you can split a bill in New York as well as LA!

We've split the bill in Italy several times without a problem. Even if we didn't tell the waiter ahead of time.

I will be going to Italy and France! Yes, two seperate countries in "Europe" I should have been a little more specific. Not so much splitting the bill but getting two seperate checks. Thank you for the info. Appreciated!

Been to five countries in Europe. Never experienced a problem with splitting the check.

Who said Europe was a "country"?

Never had a problem anywhere we go doing just that. Some sort of modern myth, I fear.

I'm not sure about getting 2 bills.

It's completely normal to get 1 bill and as Janis said, for everyone to put down their debit/credit card & the waiter/ress to take the nominated amount from each.

I'm not sure that in restaurants with computerised tills, they'd be able to run 2 simultaneous bills for the same table.

Why do you feel you need 2 bills ?

If there is a good reason for this, how is your Italian and French ? At a minimum you're going to need the phrases "due conti, per favor" and "deux additions, s'il vous plait" and you'd better use them when you order.

Just a cruious note, what if I do all the booking and I get credit card and hotel points and such, never been in the suitation but some people can get quite stingey about a few AmEx points.

dadaland, I would regard you as entitled to the points as compensation for doing the work and, perhaps, being temporarily out of pocket.

I would not be comfortable travelling, and more particularly, trying to manage a shared budget with anybody who took a different view.