order the biggest dinner you can
As I get older and my patience wears thin, I think I'm warming up to the idea of splitting the bill evenly when going out for big group dinners.
I can remember a time when it took at least 15 minutes to secure all the money from everyone at the table when fellow diners would pay for only what they ordered. I understand not wanting to throw in a lot of money when you've ordered a side of fries, but for a big birthday bash?
Hmmm.
I think it makes things easier to just split the bill evenly, gripe to someone who wasn't there, and then choose a fancy place when it's your special day.
(Even easier would be hosting a dinner at home and then going out for drinks, which may be how I celebrate my next nine birthdays.)
There's an article here about the practice, which also references this piece in the Times.
What do you think?
5 comments:
One commented PM'd me and said:
"I'm only for splitting if things are close to equal. Like, if one person only has soup and no drinks and the next person has two drinks and an entree, then I feel that there's no need to split. But if, say, bottles of wine and apps are involved, I think people should split. Basically, it depends on the meal. Also, even in big group affairs, if a person can't afford it and only eats what he/she ordered, then I also think they should only pay for their portion. Once you're in on apps. and wine, then a split makes sense. Also, buying one time and then expecting the person to reciprocate can cause problems. At our age, almost everyone should be able to pay up, so problems shouldn't exist. Also, if people know what they order costs, then paying for a share is no problem. But, for big/crazy/let's drink and gorge ourselves dinners, then splitting makes sense because nobody really has a clear idea anyway. Those are my opinions, which essentially could be summed up by being said everything is situational."
Another commenter PM'd me and said:
"i think people should pay what they owe. if you split the bill evenly you're still going to have people scrounging around for change, using cash etc. i am however all about paying for bday person's dinner! just not someone elses [drink]. i think it should be de rigeur for going out in a large party - part of the process is figuring out the check."
And another voice:
"I vote paying for your own. I don’t want to pay for someone else’s foie gras when I’m scrapping by so that I can order some lettuce and cheap beer. My ultimate vote is small dinner and larger drinking party afterwards. Small dinners make it easier to split the bill. Sadly, I don’t want to go broke because of someone else's taste for high rollin’ ingredients."
I work in non-profit, many of my friends do not. I don't drink much alcohol, many of my friends do. For a birthday, or the like, splitting the check is usually fine, but for Tuesday Night Sushi when I eat my vegetarian rolls and drink water while the fish-eaters have a big huge platter and the sake is flowing? Screw 'em, I'm paying my 10 bucks and that's it.
big group dinners, yes. but make it clear that you are going to do that beforehand, so people know that. ordering wine iis a good way to do that. smaller than 6 or 7, or if the big group is a bunch of grad students, then pull on that patience some more
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