Going Out for a Meal - The Awkward Moment When Someone Says...

thriftymanc

I don't understand people who say you're tight if you want to pay for your own food, and that you should split the bill because it's about sharing the experience. If you went for a girly day shopping with your best friend and she decided to buy a diamond necklace and a fur coat while you just bought a pair of socks from the sale section, would you split the bill then? No you flipping well wouldn't. It's no different with food. You choose what you want to eat, you pay for it. People who expect their "friends" to pay for their food are rude spongers.

Taadaa

I completely agree. I don't think that people should be made to feel like spendthrifts just because they don't want to subsidise other people's drinking. It can't be a co-incidence that in most of these stories the idea that the bill should be split comes from the person who had the most to drink and the most expensive courses to eat. If it is relatively cheap and a small group who go out regularly, then fair enough to agree to split it - a few times over will make up for a few times under. But when it is people you hardly know it's a bloomin' cheek. Not only that but it can spoil an otherwise pleasant evening!

Gillyx

I generally only go out with close friends/relatives, and we either split the bill or it's a "your turn, my turn situation" where if my friends pays that time, I'll pay the next.

So we'd never do the whole split the bill thing, in fact we're forever paying for something for each other if one doesn't have change or whatever.

When we go on holiday/a night out/weekend away, we do a central kitty normally between me and my 2 best friends, so to start it off we'l each put in £30 or whatever, and that's our spends for drinks/food/taxis etc. They are close friends so I don't grudge them really, and if I ever felt I really couldn't afford it I'd speak to them and they'd be more than happy to help me out, as would I to them if I had it

geoffky

This happens to us as the wife and i do not drink and i do not like soft drinks..we have had this for years and years..we always pay up..

bunnykins

Nope I never split the bill......

It's a standing joke amongst my friends as I usually do the driving and don't ask for petrol money, drink soft drinks (as I'm driving), so I only pay for what I've had.........

I've even been known to whip out my calculator when the bill comes and that someone (not a close friend) says "shall we just split the bill" ...... so that can they calculate the split bill after my portion has been deducted:D:D:D:D

I do like to be helpful but I downright refuse to subsidise other peoples food and drinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bunnykins x

ps. My close friends never take offence at my stance as they know I'm on a tight budget and will often offer to pay for my drinks or starter etc as I wouldn't take money for the petrol/car parking:D

Mistral001

I do not eat out much now as I cannot afford it, but when I did eat out in groups, splitting the bill was quite normal and done all the time. With maybe the excpetion of those who did not drink people who argued that they should pay less than others only did it once. They got a cheap night out, but was it worth it?

Person_one

Mistral001 wrote: »

I do not eat out much now as I cannot afford it, but when I did eat out in groups, splitting the bill was quite normal and done all the time. With maybe the excpetion of those who did not drink people who argued that they should pay less than others only did it once. They got a cheap night out, but was it worth it?

Sounds like they found out what their supposed friends true colours were, which is a bargain for the price of a meal.

aquamarine10

PasturesNew wrote: »

I figure if cost doesn't matter ... why didn't you offer to pay for everybody.

I would rather not buy lunch for tight-fisted a***holes

Mrs.W_2

The sooner this country's restaurants cotton on to the benefits of seperate bills for large number tables, the better.

As a restaurant host, I had endless problems with large groups wanting to split the bill. Especially when some of the group left before the majority, leaving what they thought was their share of the bill on the table.

Every weekend I had to apologetically smile at the remaining members of a party, quietly saying, "Sorry, there's a difference of xx here (on the bill)."

I might have run around after such a group for over two hours, ensuring they had exactly what they wanted, brought every drink as they asked for one, but the moment I needed to utter those deadly words, I knew my tip was don't eat yellow snow.

So, the next time you are arranging for a group of friends to eat out, ask the venue to arrange seperate bills beforehand. And inform your friends - blame it on the venue if you must. But, please, see that it's easier for all concerned!

Trazy

CrazyRatLady wrote: »

I had this recently and it did annoy me.

The situation in a nut shell was it was a birthday meal out - the birthday girl was someone my boyfriend works with, I had met her and one of her friends once for about 2 minutes but she and my boyfriend are quite good friends. The other people who came along we didn't know.

Anyway the meal was booked in a restaurant 50 miles away from where we live (no I don't know why) and somehow we ended up driving half the people there and back (so a decent amount in petrol but we weren't going to ask for petrol money and no one offered).

At the restaurant both my boyfriend and I had a starter each, a lower priced main meal, I drank tap water and he had one small drink (so he was in the driving limit) - we were trying to keep the price down as we don't have much spare money.

When it came to paying, a guy sitting on the end said 'right we'll split the bill between us and each pay a bit of (birthday girls)'. Nothing about splitting the bill was mentioned before and the guy who said we'd split it all was the one who had consumed the most - he ate a starter, the most expensive main, a side, several alcoholic drinks, a dessert and a coffee (so he got himself a good deal in the end).

I didn't feel like I could say anything because I didn't really know any of these people and didn't want to stir the boat (plus I really want to make a good impression on people ever since my boyfriend lost his best friend 2 years ago as his girlfriend said I was a horrible person who obviously didn't like them, when it was nothing of the sort I'm just shy!) Boyfriend also didn't want to say anything because he didn't want to upset the only person there that he knew on her birthday.

All he did say was 'Well I'll have to go to a cash machine because I haven't got enough money for that' which was just met with an 'Ok'. In the end it cost us about 2.5 times what it actually should have.

To top it off all but one person waited by the restaurant while we bought the car round - the person who came with us contributed £1 to the car park fee (over £5) and no one else offered.

I did feel sorry for one other person there - she was a vegan and had literally just had a plate of salad which ended up costing her about £25.

Blumming cheek, but I've yet to go for a meal where it is the person who eats the least that decides to split the bill :mad::mad::mad: