I’d rather have my friends with me for a meal and split the meal then not have them there at all, I read through this thread and wonder how many of our friends feel the same as most people on here as we NEVER split the bill, I’m not paying for someone else’s food, we can’t afford it!Because they’re your friends and sharing a bill is part of sharing a nice evening and meal together?
I completely agree with the general consensus that situations do occur when one person has consumed vastly less and it’s a bit presumptuous to assume they should subsidise you. I always try and keep an eye on that if someone’s too polite to say. But generally a few quid here or there I don’t think is worth quibbling over. Eating out is an indulgence and luxury so when somebody acts like it’s an outrage they’ve paid 1.50 more than they should have it seems a bit of a warped perspective.
Again I know there are times when you're really skint but feel obliged to attend a birthday or something, and it can be hard when everyone else has a more disposable income.
But in general, if you are at a restaurant already, you can afford to split (most) bills and you can afford to tip. That’s the worst of all - I’ve actuslly heard people say that they weren’t paying service because they couldn't afford it. I was like “well then you can’t afford to eat out at all!” Rude and inconsiderate.
Agree that large birthday meals are the absolute WORST for this. The last one I went to half the table conveniently left soon after the bill came, (all people I didn’t know) and seemed to ‘forget’ to pay service. Me and a few others had to cover around £50 extra between us. It’s not even about the money as much as the selfish attitude, the total opposite of what eating out as a group should be about.
In our house every penny counts, if our friends would rather us not attend their meal because we won’t split the bill then I don’t consider them to be very good friends! X