large booking at restaurant- how to split the bill?

Loanranger

I am teetotal, virtually. I almost never drink alcohol so yes it's fair.

onlyroz

Loanranger wrote: »

It's easy, PN, divide the bill by the total number of diners. Partners and children all pay the same as everyone else. Drinks are paid for separately at the bar if bought beforehand and all wine beer consumed at the table is also added to the bill and divided equally.

Why should a child who chose something from the £4.99 children's menu pay the same as an adult who bought a £20 steak? And why should I contribute towards wine if I didn't drink any?

Loanranger

I regularly meet school friends and two sets of old work colleagues. We always split the bill equally. Nobody whinges or feels done down, just joyful that we're still alive and able to relive shared memories.

Loanranger

onlyroz wrote: »

Why should a child who chose something from the £4.99 children's menu pay the same as an adult who bought a £20 steak? And why should I contribute towards wine if I didn't drink any?

I don't drink either, usually only tap water or tonic water.

Pollycat

Jagraf wrote: »

It would be split between the 2000 people there and probably equal itself out. If PN had arranged such an occasion she would deserve everyone to chip in and pay for her hard work.

I don't see it 'equalling itself out'.

PasturesNew orders a main course and a single soft drink (I think this is what PN would probably do).
Me and OH order a bottle of wine - maybe £10 or so if in wetherspoons, probably a lot more somewhere else.

Some diners order a pudding.

Some diners have several pints of beer, others have a G&T.

Agreed that there may be some diners who would order the same as PN.

That still means PN (& the diners ordering the same) will be subsidising other people's drinks and food choice.

Unless everyone orders food and drink that costs exactly the same it will never 'equal itself out'.

picklekin

My friends and I use this:

https://www.splitwise.com/

Someone can pay and you can sort it all when your home (and sober).

bugslet

I go out with people I know well and people I know less well. i'm a member of two supperclubs.

If I'm out with really close friends, we often split the bill pretty much down the middle if we've had more or less the same thing.

If I'm out with the supperclub people, we pay for what we've eaten/drunk. Some people have alcohol, some don't, some people want a starter and a pudding, some want a main course. We all natter and no-one feels upset about eating/not eating or that the bill is split.

Going out is supposed to be fun!

bugslet

picklekin wrote: »

My friends and I use this:

https://www.splitwise.com/

Someone can pay and you can sort it all when your home (and sober).

We don't get that drunk, most of us are usually driving - I don't know wether to go for or

I think I'd stick with rough calculation at the table and give my lone brain cell a work out!:p

Jagraf

If I thought people were strapped or cash (as I have been down to my last tenner) I would go for coffee instead.

I've done it loads in the past - if I can't afford at least £10 more than I would pay for my own food, I would meet up for coffee at the end, or another time.

Pollycat

PasturesNew wrote: »

It is - but it's no fun if Loanranger starts waving the bill about at the end of the evening as you reach into your pocket for £10 to pay for your £7 burger (plus tip) .... and he's shouting that everybody's got to put £20 down as it's being split!

Now you'll look a tightwad and it won't be fun!

It's not fun to expect a night out and then be bullied into paying for something you didn't have unexpectedly.

When you "pay your way", that's fair. When somebody arbitrarily decides for you that you're paying for the drunk's booze (the drunk that knocked his glass over and ruined your new boots) ..... then it's social bullying.

Precisely!

Loanranger wrote: »

It's easy, PN, divide the bill by the total number of diners. Partners and children all pay the same as everyone else. Drinks are paid for separately at the bar if bought beforehand and all wine beer consumed at the table is also added to the bill and divided equally.

So someone who's got 2 kids who've ordered off the child menu and had a cheap bottle of panda coke each pays 3 shares of the bill - the same as someone who's paid for their own pint at the bar, drank the best part of a bottle of wine and had a starter, main and sweet?

And you think that is fair?