Worst Group Split Check Experiences?

[Anonymous]

I went out with co-worker for dinner and drinks. I ended up with tooth pain from the dentist so only had water and an ice cream. The co-worker who drank the most alcohol loudly suggested we split the bill evenly. My little plain ice cream dish ended up being about $50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teach her that it’s easiest to just split down the middle than try to do the math and if she can’t afford to do that, don’t go out.

Here’s the moocher!!

Easier for you, but not for those are actually on a budget and don’t want to fund your expensive tastes and insensitivity.

agree -- I remember the days when I was first starting out and I made a lot less than my friends. When they split the bill evenly it really hurt my budget. But I never said anything.

[Anonymous]

When I was a broke student I attended a multi-course, preset menu baby shower at an expensive restaurant, and all of the invited guests were presented with a bill at the end of the meal. There went my grocery budget for the week! Still mad at myself for not speaking up.

[Anonymous]

I had a coworker who would calculate and pay their portion of the bill to the penny. They tipped exactly 15%. He carried quite a bit of loose change.

[Anonymous]

I was a waitress for years in college. It is not difficult to split checks according to chairs. The waiter/waitress should have taken the orders for food and drinks accordingly and they can split any joint items like appetizers or desserts into as many pieces as needed.

That being said, I just always split the bill evenly. Generally speaking it'll all work out in the end if these are people you spend time with on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

I went out with a group of colleagues during a conference in NYC. I didn’t know many of them, we were from all over. The restaurant refused to split the check and two grad students slipped out without paying their portion. Was a nightmare to get it resolved. I needed an individual check for reimbursement purposes and couldn’t get it, so ended up paying my share out of pocket plus a portion for the grad students. Many here will roll their eyes, but as a single mom working two jobs, it was not ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teach her that it’s easiest to just split down the middle than try to do the math and if she can’t afford to do that, don’t go out.

Here’s the moocher!!

Easier for you, but not for those are actually on a budget and don’t want to fund your expensive tastes and insensitivity.

agree -- I remember the days when I was first starting out and I made a lot less than my friends. When they split the bill evenly it really hurt my budget. But I never said anything.

This depends on your friends. I make a lot of money now (as do my friends, generally speaking), but I didn’t always and have always been in the split the bill camp. But no one engages in egregious behavior. Sometimes somebody has one more drink than the rest, or someone orders food while the rest of us just have drinks, but it generally evens out over time. But I agree people should be sensitive to that if you’re a group that splits evenly. Or someone else speaks up for the person who just got ice cream (or whatever) and everyone else splits.

OP, you have the right idea teaching your DD to remember to add tax and tip. On the rare occasion that I pay someone else for my proportional share of a bill I always round up/add a few extra dollars after tax and 20% tip just to be careful and thank the person who put it on their card. I really can’t stand people who are cheap at the expense of their friends.

[Anonymous]

My personal favorite was the colleague who would collect everybody’s cash (back when people still used it) and then stinge or even stiff the tip everybody had kicked in for, getting the purchase points to boot. Had a waitress chase them down the street once for a proper tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't give in to this 'split it evenly' BS. Nope. I almost got completely screwed one time when I was out with a big group of family and friends. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a water. Everyone else was drinking like crazy, some of them ordering top shelf stuff, lots of shots. Bill came and they were splitting it down the middle. I was asked to pay $90 plus a top. My objection to this was not appreciated.

Absolutely not paying $90+ tip to subsidize your night of binge drinking. Your dd also needs to stick up for herself in situations like this because people WILL take advantage of this and drink til they black out. I left $15 which covered my food and a tip and left.

For the love…do not go out with a group and agree to one check if you can’t afford to absorb the costs of the group. Get your own check if you really must go out with the group and can’t afford to absorb the additional cost. But really, just don’t go.

If you're on a strict budget and not well off, and if you're a non-drinking vegetarian whose bill will be a small fraction of everyone else's, then you should be excluded from the friend group? Or you should need to live on ramen for the rest of the week to subsidize everyone else's drinking?

I have two examples, one where I paid up and one where I pushed back.
1. I was a lower level employee on a tight budget. One day, people insisted that my group (maybe 12 ppl) go out for lunch to celebrate the promotion of a couple people in the group (to high $$$) positions. I had already brought my lunch that day, but was coerced to go along for the celebration. I ordered just a coke, while everyone else got a full meal. Then, the person in charge decided that the people who got the promotion shouldn't pay on their celebration lunch, and the rest of us should split evenly. So, I owed $40 for a coke. I didn't push back due to work awkwardness, but I did have to more or less eat ramen for a week.

2. My then boyfriend, now DH and I visited his older sister when we were still in college. She and her friends insisted on going to a seafood restaurant, even though I'm a vegetarian and my DH hates fish. I had a side salad and my DH nibbled on fries, while everyone else had full seafood dinners + booze. Then, they all wanted to split the check evenly. We said Hell No to that and only paid the maybe $10 that we consumed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teach her that it’s easiest to just split down the middle than try to do the math and if she can’t afford to do that, don’t go out.

This. Tell her not to be the petty cheap a$$ who doesn’t want to split or else ask for a separate check right at the beginning.

No way. I'll pop for part of your diet coke if I had water, but I'm not paying part of the 4 beers your husband drank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't give in to this 'split it evenly' BS. Nope. I almost got completely screwed one time when I was out with a big group of family and friends. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a water. Everyone else was drinking like crazy, some of them ordering top shelf stuff, lots of shots. Bill came and they were splitting it down the middle. I was asked to pay $90 plus a top. My objection to this was not appreciated.

Absolutely not paying $90+ tip to subsidize your night of binge drinking. Your dd also needs to stick up for herself in situations like this because people WILL take advantage of this and drink til they black out. I left $15 which covered my food and a tip and left.

For the love…do not go out with a group and agree to one check if you can’t afford to absorb the costs of the group. Get your own check if you really must go out with the group and can’t afford to absorb the additional cost. But really, just don’t go.

I think people going out in a group generally should not sweat putting in an extra $5 (unless someone is really strapped). But an extra $50? That's bullpucky.

This. People shouldn't penny pinch when they go out in a group. Being asked to cover $5 more than your share is no big deal. It's reasonable to balk at needing to contribute way more than what you consumed. If someone just had a $10 appetizer or salad + water, it's obnoxious to ask them to put in more than $20 to cover everyone else's excesses.

I also hate splitting checks evenly, because I'm not a mooch and will feel guilty for ordering a drink, expensive entree, or dessert. So then I won't order the thing I really wanted because I don't want to look bad or feel like a mooch. I'd rather just always pay my share and not end up resenting my friends or worrying that my friends are resenting me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was a broke student I attended a multi-course, preset menu baby shower at an expensive restaurant, and all of the invited guests were presented with a bill at the end of the meal. There went my grocery budget for the week! Still mad at myself for not speaking up.

Thats awful! You don’t invite someone to an event like a baby shower and then present them with a bill. Who raised these people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My personal favorite was the colleague who would collect everybody’s cash (back when people still used it) and then stinge or even stiff the tip everybody had kicked in for, getting the purchase points to boot. Had a waitress chase them down the street once for a proper tip.

In the rare case that my sister pays I always have to hang around the table and put some cash on the table because she’s cheap and finds ways to justify a low tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal favorite was the colleague who would collect everybody’s cash (back when people still used it) and then stinge or even stiff the tip everybody had kicked in for, getting the purchase points to boot. Had a waitress chase them down the street once for a proper tip.

In the rare case that my sister pays I always have to hang around the table and put some cash on the table because she’s cheap and finds ways to justify a low tip.

I have to do this with my parents, but in their case, they aren't meaning to cheap out - in their heads, 15% is a perfectly generous tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a broke student I attended a multi-course, preset menu baby shower at an expensive restaurant, and all of the invited guests were presented with a bill at the end of the meal. There went my grocery budget for the week! Still mad at myself for not speaking up.

Thats awful! You don’t invite someone to an event like a baby shower and then present them with a bill. Who raised these people?

I had spent more than I normally would for the gift, too, because I was grateful to be hosted (or so I thought) for a really nice meal out. I ate a lot of PBJ and spaghetti with Ragu in those days, so was looking forward to the treat! There was never any indication that it was a pay your own way type of situation, and there was a fair amount of surprise/grumbling at the table, but nobody said anything and I was to meek to do it myself.