Miserly friends

dottymrsp

I have friends like this, where my particular bugbear is that at dinner they will pay exactly what they have eaten/drunk (sometimes rounded down!) with no tip at all! My OH and I have both worked as waiting staff, so know how important tips are, and will often end up tipping for the whole table! That being said, I'd rather do that than not leave a tip

duchy

I now work from home so don't have to deal with the collection.
Always done by the same person -who expects other people to do their work whilst they go from desk to desk with the dreaded the envelope. A lot of stress and bad feeling is caused by that one person who likes the "authority" they feel collecting the money "bestows" on them. (Ever try doing a collection on their day off and see how outraged they are when they get back LOL)

The last large workplace I worked at had it right..... When I first started (it was a new project) our department consisted of twenty people (which was fine) by the time I left there were well over a hundred. We made an agreement that once it got to the point that you were giving to people you didn't know it stopped and people were only collected from if they worked directly with the person (rule of thumb if you had to ask who they were you didn't donate).

duchy

Nothing annoys me more than going out for a meal and the person in the group who doesn't want to contribute to the tip ........or puts in fairly for the meal and adds fifty pence for their share of the tip.

sassysar

We have a tight friend who collects all the cash from the table including people's tips and goes to pay on his card . I'm guessing his bill is very small and the tip is non existent . We hang on to our fiver now and drop it on the table as we are walking out of the door . We are still friends as his wife is very hospitable and kind and often buys little gifts for the kids . It's a funny mix as he never has any cash to buy a drink etc and huffs and puffs about going to the cashpoint first .

Jagraf

How about this one. Going to a restaurant with friends as they said "let's go to ....... as we have loads of tesco club card vouchers"'and then we have to pay over the odds for a burger while they use their vouchers.

Tbh I thought they were treating us !!! They split it down the middle, and we paid in cash and the tip.

Another one - my friends ex asked her for the money for a bacon sandwich he had bought their son as she had dropped him off 'around breakfast time' and he thought she would have fed him first :rotfl:

4 x £1 coins stuck in a card and posted rather than a fiver for a birthday present.

I like watching people at a "as much as you can eat" buffet. Cake and chips on the same plate :eek:

Jagraf

sassysar wrote: »

We have a tight friend who collects all the cash from the table including people's tips and goes to pay on his card . I'm guessing his bill is very small and the tip is non existent . We hang on to our fiver now and drop it on the table as we are walking out of the door . We are still friends as his wife is very hospitable and kind and often buys little gifts for the kids . It's a funny mix as he never has any cash to buy a drink etc and huffs and puffs about going to the cashpoint first .

Omg that's appalling, never thought people would do that :eek::rotfl:

browneyedbazzi

dottymrsp wrote: »

I have friends like this, where my particular bugbear is that at dinner they will pay exactly what they have eaten/drunk (sometimes rounded down!) with no tip at all! My OH and I have both worked as waiting staff, so know how important tips are, and will often end up tipping for the whole table! That being said, I'd rather do that than not leave a tip

I have to admit that I will usually keep a mental tally of the costs of what I've ordered at a restaurant and pay for what I've had rather than simply dividing the bill by the number of people - I've been out too many times where various people around the table have a blow out ordering fillet steak, bottles of wine, three courses plus sides etc, when I've had a salad or something small (either because it's all I wanted or because I was being careful with money) then when the bill arrives the others say 'shall we just split it - £50 each' when what I've ordered adds up to about £15. I will add on some 'tip' money to the value of what I've ordered (usually 15% if service was decent), but I won't subsidise everyone else's extravagance.

NobodysChild

We have actually become wise to people who are tight over the years, and we know this one couple who are tight and will try their best to not spend anything. I mean the guy actually has a pair of slippers that is full of holes, (and stapled in parts,) they resent giving tips to anyone (and never do,) and they have not bought anything new for their house or done anything to it for about 20 years. (It's actually very outdated and smells a bit funny.)

Well, we went out to meet them for a drink some months ago, and they said 'ya know what? we have only gone and forgotten our money.' We said 'how are you going to buy your drinks then?' and he said 'we can reimburse you when we see you again!'

Then I said 'well we only have seventeen quid on us' (that was actually true, but I did have my debit card.) HE said, 'have you got your debit card, because you can pay for everyone's drinks on that at the end of the night.' I did have it, but I said 'no, only the seventeen pounds.' (It was enough for roughly 3 drinks each for me and DH.)

SHE then said 'oh dear, what shall we do?' DH said 'ask the barman for a tab.' She said 'oh no, no I won't.' (LOL they have probably asked before and taken months to pay, and the landlord would probably have said no.)

So I said, 'shall we do it another time then? Because seventeen pounds isn't going to last us all, all night is it?'

Then she rummaged around her (huge) bag for a minute and as if by magic, she found her purse. Would you LOOK at THAT?! :rotfl: What are the chances? And she pulled out a BUNDLE of notes, probably £150. I'm not kidding! :rotfl:

dottymrsp

LMAO Nobody's child - that's the funniest story I've ever heard :-D

Browneyedbazzi - I have no problem with people paying for exactly what they've ordered, it's something we usually do within our group of friends because we all earn different amounts - it's the rounding down and not paying a tip that gets to me! Even when the service has been phenomenal!

Gingernutty

duchy wrote: »

Nothing annoys me more than going out for a meal and the person in the group who doesn't want to contribute to the tip ........or puts in fairly for the meal and adds fifty pence for their share of the tip.

sassysar wrote: »

We have a tight friend who collects all the cash from the table including people's tips and goes to pay on his card . I'm guessing his bill is very small and the tip is non existent . We hang on to our fiver now and drop it on the table as we are walking out of the door . We are still friends as his wife is very hospitable and kind and often buys little gifts for the kids . It's a funny mix as he never has any cash to buy a drink etc and huffs and puffs about going to the cashpoint first .

I used to follow a blog written by a waiter in Belfast. He's stopped writing now, unfortunately. He used detail the types who showed up and described the miserly tactics they used.

Trousering the cash and paying by card, taking the extra money meant for the tip was a common one.

The general rule for the begging emails that go around is

1) Have I heard of the person? If so, go to 2)

2) Have I met the person? If so, go to 3)

3) Do I work with the person on a daily basis? If so, got to 4)

4) Do I like the person? If so, go to 5) if not, go to 6)

5) Pay the recommended minimum, or a fiver if there's no recommended minimum, show up for any presentation and clap when everyone else claps. Eat the barest minimum of cake.

6) Don't pay and don't go to any leaving do.

When I'm out with people, I pay for me and a fiver extra.

When I've been out treating someone for their birthday, I've paid for me + £5 and my proportion of the birthday boy/girl's meal.

The number of times the cash has been counted and there's not enough cash to even pay for the meals is just horrible.

Some people don't even put in enough to cover what they've had, let alone for a tip.

That's disgusting. :mad: