Money Moral Dilemma: Should we keep evenly splitting restaurant bills even though we don’t drink?

Spendless

Pollycat said:

jimpwarsop said:

No difference between food and drink IMHO, I dont eat starters or puddings, I dont order stuff like chateaubriande, in fact I'm happiest with egg and chips, or a salad.

But I do like a few pints.

If its a problem sharing a bill - dont do it.

There is if you're subsidising somebody else's consumption of Chablis or chateauneuf-du-pape, not to mention after dinner brandies and liqueur coffees.

But likewise one diner might have had 2 halves of lager and a med priced main  but is being expected to subsidise the only drinking diet coke person's consumption of the most expensive starter, steak, an additional side and a pudding.

On a fb group I'm on about eating out there was a complain about the price of a  meal,   (not about splitting bills just the overall cost). I pointed out that  they'd had  J20s which are on the dearer side of soft drinks. The landlord of the pub came on, split the bills down and agreed with me  that they had added an additional fiver to the meal each round. Here's an example of a menu where some halves of draught beer are cheaper than some soft drinks (depending on what is chosen)

https://relish-doncaster.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Drinks.pdf


I do wonder if .places could make this easier by automatically  producing separate drinks and food bills or at least summarise the food and drink separately as in all food items at the top then subtotal then all drinks underneath, subtotal  and just put the main total at the end. Then  it would be easier to see whether  to split the food only bill, contribute to the drinks bill  or be happy to split the whole bill regardless.

Pollycat

Spendless said:

Pollycat said:

jimpwarsop said:

No difference between food and drink IMHO, I dont eat starters or puddings, I dont order stuff like chateaubriande, in fact I'm happiest with egg and chips, or a salad.

But I do like a few pints.

If its a problem sharing a bill - dont do it.

There is if you're subsidising somebody else's consumption of Chablis or chateauneuf-du-pape, not to mention after dinner brandies and liqueur coffees.

But likewise one diner might have had 2 halves of lager and a med priced main  but is being expected to subsidise the only drinking diet coke person's consumption of the most expensive starter, steak, an additional side and a pudding.

I do agree with this.
If I was a non-drinker who fancied the most expensive starter, steak, an additional side and a pudding, I'd be sure to suggest the bill is split so nobody ends up subsidising my food.
If I just fancied a small main course but drank 2 glasses of wine, I'd be sure to suggest the bill is split so that nobody ended up subsidising my drinks.

I guess there are some people who are inherently honest and some who think it's fine to free-load off people whom they call friends.
I know which I am.