Splitting the bill...

Crazychik

I recently went out for a meal with 14 people, celebrating a girl from work - birthday!

I was aware of this thread, and after my previous post & experience, I asked how we intend to pay for the bill.

It was mentioned, that we pay for what we've had. Fair enough

So, I made a mental note of the food myself & OH ordered, all of our drinks was brought at the bar (not the table).

Then I saw people ordering drinks at the table, and I thought Oh no, we're going to be stung here.
When the bill came, it was less than I anticipated, and I was quite happy to put in few extra quid - however, friend's husband didnt see it like that, and he paid for the whole lot. What a turn-around that was!
We ended up having a lock in at their local pub, with intensions of buying the drinks to say thankyou, but he still refused the money/drinks from us!
Who can argue with a bloke the size of Shrek!

seven-day-weekend

We must be tightwads in Wolverhampton. Every meal I have gone to with someone else, everybody just pays for what they have had, unless we are paying for someone/being paid for.

katiepoppycat

A really good way of avoiding these situations is to eat out at Nandos. Everyone can order exactly what they want on their own bill without things getting complicated. Plus it's a fairly cheap night out. I organise quite a few nights out, and with te best will in the world, the organiser always ends up out of pocket for one reason or another - which hasn't happened to me since we started on our chicken fests. Plus, you can really rack up the loyalty points that way!

milkydrink

Yes I know exactly whay you are all talking about here, it seems we all have family/friends/collegues who carry on like this.

But while loads of you (& I) are sometimes made to feel mean for not being willing to pay for lobster & champagne when we've had a burger & coke! Why are the people who are EXPECTING OTHERS to fund their food & drink, not being made to or feeling mean?!, after all THEY ARE THE MEAN ONES.

My husband & I hardly drink & we are often in this suituation & even though you know you are doing nothing wrong, in fact all we want is to pay our way. You end up being made to feel mean for not paying for the heavy drinkers or those who want 3/4 courses, & extras & irish coffees!

grunnie

We used to split the bill equally including the drinks till this last year when we all retired. Now we get the restraurant to give us individual bills and that works out cheaper for me. The last meal out cost my pal £25 another £18 and me I was £11.50. Great as I was no longer subsidising their booze.

Mics_chick

Not got time at the mo to read all of this thread but just wanted to share a story from the opposite view point...

Years ago me and current OH went out for a New Years Eve meal with alot of others from his workplace and their OHs. One workmate had a friend from Germany staying over Xmas period so they were paying for 3. During the main course I felt really ill and couldn't finish it. So I waited until OH had finished his and then we went home. We left £20 (shows how long ago it was!! ) with OH's best mate to cover our share knowing he would give us any change later. At the end of the meal the workmate paying for 3 got out a calculator and proceeded to workout what they had had and put exact money into middle of the table. Rest couldn't be bothered to work it out individually after an enjoyable night out (and they were all a bit pie-eyed!!) so they took the amount on the table away from the bill and worked out what each couple should put in. Each couple had to pay well over £20 so they had to put in all of our £20 so we didn't get any change and each couple had to pay a bit extra as well. Apparently they paid less than £20 for 3 people even though they were there all evening and we left after main course - so no sweets, no coffees & no liquors. Granted 1 of them was driving so was on pop all night but their OH and their friend had liquors and 1 of them had a cigar! To this day I would love to see that bill so that I can work out how 3 can eat cheaper than 2 - a bit of money-saving magic worth knowing!!!

*Louise*

hehe - my mum was telling me about her works Christmas meal so I thought I would add it to this thread....

The meal went fine, they split the bill no problem.

The prolem was after the meal....they sat for ages chatting and drinking wine. It cost £15 a bottle, so they were splitting the cost. When one had emptied, my mum went to get another, but no one wanted any, ao she paid the £15 herself. When she got back to the table, a few people had decided to change their minds and she only got half a glass to herself from the bottle:rotfl:

She was a bit annoyed, and decided just to get a Smirnoff ice after that to save money - then when she was at the table, someone asked to try it, and poured half of it into a glass for themselves....she got another and someone knocked the table and spilt it all....

She gave up and went home sober not long after....£20 out of pocket...:eek:

Mics_chick

God I feel sorry for your mum!! What an awful thing to happen. Maybe next year she can just buy her own drinks and if anyone asks why tell them this story...

Katgoddess

I love my friends dearly but when it comes to bill splitting at meals they are a pain in the !!!!. :mad:

I solved the problem for my birthday earlier in the year by having my birthday meal on a Sunday lunch time at a restaurant that only had a set menu. No one had any alcohol.

Years ago when it was just the girlies it was fine. We actually used martins method where everyone put in what we think we ate, then added the extra equally. Normally just one or two pounds. We used to spend ages quibbling over who ate what, but we all went home happy.

Now.... :rolleyes: with husbands and boyfriends involved it has become much more complicated. We can't split the bill equally because we have "lobster and double JD and coke" couples and "vegetarian loving drivers" like me.

So we only pay our own share, but it never adds up. There is one couple who always sneak off early before the bill arrives and throws *nearly* enough to pay for their share without tip on the table. I always end up paying a lot extra. :mad:

This thread has inspired me. Next time I will throw a strop and refuse or just pay the bill like I always do.

jezebel

I absolutely hate splitting the bill anyway than paying what you have eaten. I have two groups of friends that I see regularly - one full of accountants, civil servants and lawyers that are all on good salaries (and me just a secretary) and another where my friends are students, part-time workers or like me on a support staff salary. I always have problems when socialising with the group that earn more as they don't seem to understand I can't spend £50 a time especially as I also pay trainfare into London to see them - I don't drink and they all do. When I'm with my other friends we always seem to end up with too much money on the table having all rounded up our own to include a tip! Not sure what that says about my class of friends but I prefer to pay my own and that is it - I don't drink so I'm not paying for those that do.