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I am deciding it. Really, I am. Someone asking for a separate check to pay only for what they order, has no effect on you. Likewise, when you go to the movies with friends, and they walk up to just pay for their show ticket, that also has no effect on you.
All righty then. Feel free to be wrong. You must be a joy to dine with.
What we ALWAYS do. Split it 3 ways (there are usually 3 of us, and we never order things that cost equal). Over the amount of times we go out, it probably all evens itself out!
To me, nit picking over a bill ruins the whole meal and the whole experience.
Agreed. The groups I go out with frequently order appetizers for the table to share and sometimes we split a few desserts if no one wants a whole one. Other times if enough people are drinking wine, we might order bottles rather than by the glass. Separate checks would make dividing all that up more complicated.
Yeah, it must be sucky to dine with people who won't pay for part of your food bill. What a bummer.
There you go again with your incorrect assumptions.
Nine times out of ten, I am eating/drinking less than the majority of the people at the table. Your assumption that people want to divide up one check in order to get other people to pay for extra food and drink for them is simply wrong.
There you go again with your incorrect assumptions.
Nine times out of ten, I am eating/drinking less than the majority of the people at the table. Your assumption that people want to divide up one check in order to get other people to pay for extra food and drink for them is simply wrong.
What we ALWAYS do. Split it 3 ways (there are usually 3 of us, and we never order things that cost equal). Over the amount of times we go out, it probably all evens itself out!
To me, nit picking over a bill ruins the whole meal and the whole experience.
My suggestion is that the heavier drinkers and/or people who order more should voluntarily contribute and arbitrary additional amount. Personally I live appetizers often more than the main course so when I order I will up front say that I'm not ordering dessert.
Your friends should have looked at the bill before they let the older couple go. To be fair to the older couple, they did ask if it was enough. Sure, they were lazy to look at it, but so were your friends.
Splitting does get tricky especially when it comes to shared appetizers or when the party gets too big. We had a similar fiasco a while ago where two of my friends and I ordered food and drinks and a shared appetizer, and two more friends later joined and only got drinks. And the waitress added a 20% tip to our bill because we had 5 people. And with the tax, it was so tricky to figure out. My friend said he'd just pay it and we could figure it out later but I'm like no... let's figure it out now. It was also dark but I had another friend shine the light on the bill as I used my phone for the calculator. It took me 10 minutes to figure it all out but everyone paid what they owed.
Wow someone must have pissed in your cheerios this morning. If someone isn't comfortable paying a few dollars towards someone else's dinner there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I have had this happen in the past everyone just splits the check evenly and I purposely have ordered just an appetizer and no drinks because I was broke. My dinner companions ordered several drinks, a full dinner, appetizers etc. I should have said something but was so embarrassed by it I didn't say anything.
Last weekend we went out and ordered very expensive wine. One of the women with us didn't drink, we didn't even have her pay the bill. The wine was more expensive than the dinner.
It's all what you are comfortable with. To make someone feel less than because they don't agree with you is shameful behavior.
My wife and I went to dinner to celebrate our new born daughter with some friends. It was an older couple and their 2 grown sons. We had a couple other friends join as well. So we had 8 people total.
We finished eating and the 2 sons left. They were college age and had better things to do and probably were looking for a free meal from their parents. The bill then came and the couple who was responsible for 4 people short changed the bill by 50 bucks!
What happened was no one asked for separate checks so the bill came as 1. No one felt like doing the math. One of my friends said theirs 6 people here, so let's slit it by 6. I said no since it was for 8 people, was an expensive restaurant and not everyone ordered drinks. I figured out exactly what my wife and I owed. We paid that portion.
What happened next was no one else wanted to figure out their bill. There was back and forth and the couple told my friends is what they are putting down good enough? They asked if they could more down on a debit card. The friend said its good enough and no need for the card. But the couple short changed by 50 bucks. They left before the waiter picked up the bill and my 2 friends had to pay the difference of 50 bucks. Basically they paid for 1 of the 4 people. So that's alot.
I hate to say this but i think the couple pulled a fast one by taking advantage of the chaos. No one was drunk and how hard is it to figure out a bill. Bizarre What do others think?
You learned a lot about these people for "only" $50. You are only a fool if you don't absorb the lesson, grasshopper.
Stereo-typically older people are portrayed as kindly and inoffensive. This is just a stereotype. Young jerks and cheats grow into old jerks and cheats.
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So I go out to lunch a lot with friends, so it can add up if I'm always pitching in for someone's salmon and hybiscus tea, with a dessert when I got something "down menu" with water.
I have this friend. She goes to lunch a lot with us too and she taught me this lesson - everything on the menu will taste good. I will be just as happy with the grilled chicken sandwich for 8.95 as I would with the shrimp fettuccine for $17.95, and will have just as much to show for it at the end of the meal. So it's kind of a challenge to me - a game - to keep my lunch tab under $10. Then I tip generously, like $4 - $5.
I have gone with groups where everyone has their head pulled out of their shorts and knows what they owe and are willing also to tip generously, but that's a rarity. Usually people seem to genuinely not know what they owe and tip about 10%.
So it's uncomfortable. Often the split is completely unfair, and then at the end the pot is STILL short because the person whose lunch was 2X the norm didn't even put in their full unfairly cheap 8th of the bill.
Last edited by ClaraC; 10-10-2017 at 04:18 PM..
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