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

tescobabe69

I think I'll just make sure I eat & drink as much as the next man (or more)

Mistral001

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?

BTW I forgot to say. The request was never refused and we let them have their way of a cheaper meal than the rest of us this once. Small price to pay I suppose. As I say we made sure that it only happened once as we just did not dine with them again.

If it happened to me now I would probably just give it to them for free and pay for it myself. Still a small price to pay in my view.

NoLongerLurking_2

Something to remember is that the person at the other end of the table wolfing down their steak and guzzling the wine probably isn't keeping tabs on what everybody else is having!! If they're surrounded by friends also drinking and eating with abandon, they're not going to notice the exception and if they do, it might not register when the bill arrives.

Personally I am aware of one friend who is always on a budget, always consumes less than everybody else and I always say to her to put £x (smaller) amount in then split the rest after that. But I only notice because we've been going out for years now and it's always the same.

There probably are people out there trying their luck (and many stories here support that theory!) but I guess what I'm saying is you HAVE to speak up if you want to pay less or separately, nobody is going to do it for you.

TheConways

This is the problem with the British. All these pent-up frustrations, and we don't air them.

Next time this happens, rather than vent on a forum, do what any straightforward American/Aussie/German/Italian etc etc would do and say "As I'm providing the transport and did not enjoy the wine tonight, here is my 20 pound contribution for food & tip and you can all split the remainder".


States your position, doesn't make you look rude/stingy as you've rounded up your share amply, and reminds everyone they're enjoying a free trip home.

However, if you're splitting hairs over who spent 50p extra on their starter, I think you need a bit of perspective!

Skinto_7

If you dont want to split the bill equally for whatever reason then i dont understand why you just wouldnt pipe up and say, especially if you are out with friends.

Im personally not into doing it, the difference is normally a couple of quid here or there and not worth the hassle IMO, although if i noticed someone had ripped the *rse out of it i would say and get them to put in the extra.

Seems a bit strange complaining about something that you havent even bothered to mention to the people involved, im sure if you did they would understand and accomodate you.

For those who seem to think because they are drinking soft drinks instead of alcohol that their bill will be much cheaper, you must be going to different restaurants from me, the price of a coke in most of these places in now not much cheaper than a beer, so i think you might be over estimating how much you are "overpaying" when splitting the bill in repsect of drinks.

Skinto_7

Mistral001 wrote: »

BTW I forgot to say. The request was never refused and we let them have their way of a cheaper meal than the rest of us this once. Small price to pay I suppose. As I say we made sure that it only happened once as we just did not dine with them again.

If it happened to me now I would probably just give it to them for free and pay for it myself. Still a small price to pay in my view.

Mistral,

Im confused, are you saying because your friends didnt want to split the bill equally because they had consumed less than you, that you ditched them and are no longer friends because of this?

As i say im not generally into doing it, but if a mate asked to do it, i wouldnt take the huff and never go out with them again, seems very petty!!!

Person_one

Mistral001 wrote: »

BTW I forgot to say. The request was never refused and we let them have their way of a cheaper meal than the rest of us this once. Small price to pay I suppose. As I say we made sure that it only happened once as we just did not dine with them again.

If it happened to me now I would probably just give it to them for free and pay for it myself. Still a small price to pay in my view.

Their way of a cheaper meal was to eat less and cheaper food.

Your way of a cheaper meal seems to be to expect other people to subsidise you.

You wouldn't have a leg to stand on if you tried to insist they split the bill, can you imagine it? "We need to just pay for what we had" "no, sorry, you need to stump up for part of what we had too". That'd be pretty shameless.

Mojisola

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?

But they didn't get a cheap night out at your expense - they paid for what they had ordered. Why should other people pay for part of your meal?

DylanO

I had a meal out with friends last night - with this group we have always split the bill equally, but last night we had a newcomer who wanted to just pay for her own, which was absolutely fine - it's happened before with others and there's never been a problem with just taking their cost off the rest of the bill. We all eat and drink pretty much the same amounts anyway and it's never more than a few pounds difference when it has been split before.

She conveniently 'forgot' to include her drinks in her share and contributed nothing for the tip, so we all ended up subsidising her and she got a half free ride, despite being quite vocal about us all only paying for what we had. She won't be invited again. In fact she'll be lucky to be included in anything with any of us after that display.

ipod_killed_the_musicshop

geoffky wrote: »

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..

You're being taken for a ride.