large booking at restaurant- how to split the bill?

Pollycat

Jagraf wrote: »

in the past, for many years we went camping for a week with some friends of ours (bones too stiff now to lie on the floor). There were three families - all with different numbers of kids, some adults drank, some didn't eat meat, etc. We split the shopping bill three ways at the supermarket before we left - including washing up liquid, loo roles, gas etc. it never occurred to me who had more food / drank more beer/ ate more. How would you manage this scenario?

That's a very different scenario to expecting children to pay the same percentage of a restaurant bill as a G&T quaffing, wine-swilling adult.

But - I would expect the adults who were drinkers to pay for their own drink outside of the total bill. Unless of course you're talking about a tin of lager each an evening - which is hardly worth borthering about.

If I were one of the adults, I would have insisted on paying for my own drinks.

As you were probably self-catering, I'd have split the food bill equally regardless of the number of kids.
That's assuming you were all pretty good friends and were cooking for the whole party together e.g. BBQ.

If you weren't cooking together, I can't see why you'd do a mass shop.
I would have done my own shop and bought what I knew my kids would eat.

onlyroz

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't take anything off someone's plate unless invited but I think it's quite common (among friends) to offer someone a taste on your fork.

Sorry but the only people I'd share a fork with would be my husband or possibly my kids. Even then I'd probably prefer them to cut off a bit of my steak for themselves with their own cutlery.

I really don't think it's normal to be putting your cutlery into the mouths of your fellow dinner guests.

Jagraf

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

That's sad. So you could have gone, enjoyed your meal, paid your way for what you ate and drank but chose not to because that wasn't deemed socially acceptable amongst your group?

It's a shame you had to miss out. That's why, if everyone just paid their own way, scenerios like this would not happen.

No not at all. Nothing to to with what they think. It's what I would personally think. In fact, me calculating what I owed can make others feel uncomfortable.

Peter333

I have seen people at work fall out over this kind of situation. Last year, nine of the girls from work went out for a Christmas 'do.' It came to £233. It was all fun and games until the bill came. Someone (who had a bottle and a half of wine, 3 whiskies, 3 courses, and 2 Irish coffees,) suggested that they split it between the nine of them. (£25 each.)

Said person had had about £45 worth of food and drink, and someone who had had 2 courses, 1 beer, and 1 coffee, piped up 'not a chance mate! I had £12 worth of stuff maximum.' They sat there for half an hour with a calculator, individually working out what everyone had had.

Petty? Maybe so, but although I don't like to be petty or picky, I would also not tolerate subsidising someone's £45-£50 food and drink bill, if I had only had £12 worth of food and drink.

Me and the lady missus; we go to Wetherspoons. I know it's not 'flashy' but it's cheap and cheerful. We went the other week with our daughter and we got a main and a dessert and 2 (soft) drinks each, and it was only about £25 in total!

Georgiegirl256

You crack me up pigpen! :rotfl: But what you say is so true. It's disgusting and not at all common (from what I've experienced) to eat off another persons fork.

seven-day-weekend

Peter333 wrote: »

I have seen people at work fall out over this kind of situation. Last year, nine of the girls from work went out for a Christmas 'do.' It came to £233. It was all fun and games until the bill came. Someone (who had a bottle and a half of wine, 3 whiskies, 3 courses, and 2 Irish coffees,) suggested that they split it between the nine of them. (£25 each.)

Said person had had about £45 worth of food and drink, and someone who had had 2 courses, 1 beer, and 1 coffee, piped up 'not a chance mate! I had £12 worth of stuff maximum.' They sat there for half an hour with a calculator, individually working out what everyone had had.

Petty? Maybe so, but although I don't like to be petty or picky, I would also not tolerate subsidising someone's £45-£50 food and drink bill, if I had only had £12 worth of food and drink.

Me and the lady missus; we go to Wetherspoons. I know it's not 'flashy' but it's cheap and cheerful. We went the other week with our daughter and we got a main and a dessert and 2 (soft) drinks each, and it was only about £25 in total!

We frequent Wetherspoons reasonably often too

Pollycat

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't take anything off someone's plate unless invited but I think it's quite common (among friends) to offer someone a taste on your fork.

It's not common amongst the people I dine out with.

I would never offer anything to anyone on a fork that I've used.

I'd never accept anything from anyone on a fork that had been used by someone else.

I'm not into saliva swopping.

Georgiegirl256

Jagraf wrote: »

No not at all. Nothing to to with what they think. It's what I would personally think. In fact, me calculating what I owed can make others feel uncomfortable.

Not me. Infact, if you were one of my friends, I'd much rather you came out and didn't miss out. Then again, it wouldn't be a problem in our group, as we always just pay our own way anyhow.

When we went out with work, most of the men drank ALOT and one or two of the women weren't too far behind! There were huge variances in people's total bills, so the fairest way was for everyone to work out how much they owed. Not really hard to do a quick calculation in your head, no calculators needed!

missbiggles1

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I wonder how much of the UK's obesity crisis and disgusting food wastage is caused by people ordering dishes just for the sake of it, rather than eating as their appetite dictates.

If I order a starter I'll struggle to finish my main and definitely won't be able to enjoy a dessert, so I just don't as I hate waste. I am genuinely amazed that for some people this would affect their own eating pleasure.

I think it depends on where you eat. The idea of a starter is to excite your appetite, not to slake it, just as a pudding is to round off a meal rather than be something enormously rich that leaves you feeling sick.

I think there must be lots of people here who envision eating the same size portion for their main course as they would at home, in which case,obviously another 2 courses will seem excessive but, IME, restaurants don't don't serve food in domestic quantities because people would rather have the variety that comes with multiple courses rather than just one big plateful.

missbiggles1

Pollycat wrote: »

It's not common amongst the people I dine out with.

I would never offer anything to anyone on a fork that I've used.

I'd never accept anything from anyone on a fork that had been used by someone else.

I'm not into saliva swopping.

Does your husband know about your disgust?;)