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isufbcurt

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Apr 21, 2006
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I've never evenly split a check, just do separate checks.

When we go out to dinner with someone we pay for our food and they pay for their food. We don't drink and we aren't going to pay for someone else to get multiple bottles of wine. As for appetizers we just order our own and they order their own. We don't go out to dinner with people to share food, we go out for the company/catching up aspect. If I wanted to share food I'd grill and invite people over.
 

mj4cy

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If with large parties and we want to pay separately, one of us just pays for it all and then the others venmo or paypal later. Keeps it easy for the waitress.
 

NickTheGreat

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I don't think the even split makes sense and i've never been part of that.

There was times we'd order an app, but share with the table. Especially if it was something weird we wanted but not sure anybody else would.
 

CycloneErik

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Thank you. My wife was appalled by the idea I even though about not paying for the person behind me. My position was if no one breaks the cycle then you just have a bunch of people paying for **** they didn't order and no one actually gets to feel good about it.

I've seen a bunch of people elsewhere noting that this is neat for people with money, but the folks in line likely have enough already, and that donating that $ to someone needier would be a nicer plan. I tend to agree on that one.

Do the good deed for someone who needs it more.
 

Isualum13

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My dad and grandpa have nearly gotten into fist fights over who gets to pay the bill more than once.
 

HFCS

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My behavior is strongly formed from when I was a waiter in college and just after college...

Customers asking me to put certain amounts on 2-4 credit cards...WONDERFUL! THANK YOU! EVERYONE WINS! NO PROBLEM! (Ditto if several throw in cash and then ask for a certain remainder on a card or two)

Simple 2-4 separate checks...no problem especially if I knew ahead of time.

Party of 12 people asking for 12 itemized checks, except for a few people who want to combine their totals...I'll allow it if you make it clear when you sit down. It's a hassle either way but pulling that **** at the very end is total BS unless it's the type of restaurant with seating/billing that is always done individually, a sushi bar I go to clearly bills for each space at the bar automatically.

Do a little of your own math, it's not that hard. Tell the waiter $70.00 on this card and the remaining $51.25 on the other if you don't want to split down the middle. Needing to know that $70.00 is actually $71.49 is not needed for anybody.

A few common gut punches for waiters:
1. Customer A throws in $80 cash assuming that includes his tip. Customer B pays the remaining $81.24 on a card. Customer B tips 20% on his credit card total. You just got a 10% tip from a table that probably meant to give you 20%, or at least there was no discussion to agree to only tipping 10%.

2. Someone has a $160 bill. They give you a $100 gift card and pay $60 in credit card with a $12 tip...they probably meant to tip 20% which is actually $32, not $12.

In the vast majority of these cases I really think it's just common error rather than a low tip, I worked nice places with great service where 20% was very common and the bad tips would usually happen in those circumstances.
 
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coolerifyoudid

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I've seen a bunch of people elsewhere noting that this is neat for people with money, but the folks in line likely have enough already, and that donating that $ to someone needier would be a nicer plan. I tend to agree on that one.

Do the good deed for someone who needs it more.

You really never know. About five years ago, my sister had gotten laid off unexpectedly. She's a single mom that scrapes by, but has had her fair share of bad luck. She swung by a drive-thru (I think Chik-fil-A) on her way home because she was pretty upset and wasn't up for cooking for her and her boys. The person ahead of her ended up paying for her order. She said she broke down crying in the drive thru.

She doesn't have much, but a couple times a year, she'll pay for someone behind her in line since she knows what it meant to her that day.

Sometimes, a well-timed good deed can have a really awesome ripple effect.
 

Stormin

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Apr 11, 2006
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Separate Checks. Some people don’t want to tip. Some people want to order appetizers no one really wants. And then there is the issue of drinks. Waitress has no problem making separate checks. I’ll pay for what I want. Have had a lot of moochers that I do not hang with anymore who would definitely order more, and pay less and not include a decent tip. With closest friends we sometimes just split. But anything more than another couple it is separate checks.
 

Al_4_State

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I've never evenly split a check, just do separate checks.

When we go out to dinner with someone we pay for our food and they pay for their food. We don't drink and we aren't going to pay for someone else to get multiple bottles of wine. As for appetizers we just order our own and they order their own. We don't go out to dinner with people to share food, we go out for the company/catching up aspect. If I wanted to share food I'd grill and invite people over.

This. We're always very generous with bringing food to parties or when having people over. Going out to eat is a different thing, and the idea that you aren't just getting your own stuff seems crazy to me. If I accompanied a friend to a grocery store or Fleet Farm, and we each had things to get, you'd never just use one shopping cart and put it all on one bill.

And like you pointed out, people generally aren't sharing their orders. Even when say everyone in the group drinks or no one in the group drinks, you still have people ordering beverages of varying cost, and the meals are varying costs. It's just absurd and not something that's done in any other aspect of life.
 
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Al_4_State

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I also think the pay it forward chain kind of sucks. It's well intentioned, but at the end of the day, you aren't really doing a good deed for anyone - you're potentially creating an unwanted burden for thousands of people.

I love the idea of being charitable and grabbing a stranger's tab out of kindness, but if it doesn't end there, you don't really see anyone benefiting.

If a chain does get started, when someone DOES break the chain and ends up actually benefitting, they look like the *******.
 

NWICY

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Sep 2, 2012
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Yes and no. He felt like he invited himself, so he wanted to make up for it. Plus he thought of it as his graduation present to her. I told him that he should never pay at a dinner that I call to honor something my daughter has accomplished. We worked it out. He's a good guy. More about not being a free-loader. Definitely not a show-off-his-money-kind-of guy.

P.S. We didn't let them pay anything for the wedding reception, so they may have still been trying to catch up from that episode. Too bad, she's my daughter.

Cycsk, is this the daughter that you brought the leftover beer to Hilton and we all chipped in for some charity/sick person. That was a good deal.
 
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Clonefan32

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I also think the pay it forward chain kind of sucks. It's well intentioned, but at the end of the day, you aren't really doing a good deed for anyone - you're potentially creating an unwanted burden for thousands of people.

I love the idea of being charitable and grabbing a stranger's tab out of kindness, but if it doesn't end there, you don't really see anyone benefiting.

If a chain does get started, when someone DOES break the chain and ends up actually benefitting, they look like the *******.

I've never cited the good people of CyFan as proof in an argument with my wife, and I imagine I know how it would go if I did, but I appreciate you all agreeing with me here. She thought I was some kind of Godless heathen for arguing you shouldn't feel obligated to pay it forward. But alas the wise elders of CyFan have proven my point.
 

NorthCyd

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We just kind of look at it from the perspective that we are adults who can perform simple math and take care of it amongst ourselves. We don't need a server to print out multiple tickets and run multiple cards.

I understand why people do it and want to do it, but it just isn't for us.
It's also not that hard for a waitress to split checks. The vast majority of places ask, so obviously it is a service they provide. I had no idea anyone even thought this was a big deal.
 

CYdTracked

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Mar 23, 2006
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Depends on the situation. If its a larger group and we are all ordering apps to share or have similarly priced food and drinks then sometimes it's just easier for everyone to pitch in the same as you probably aren't going to gain or lose a lot either way. Otherwise most of the time we make a point to tell the server who is on what bill and if we want to pay for something to share with the table at least it is on our bill.

It would be tricky if say you had a bunch of people and 1 person is racking up a big part tab with top shelf liquor or ordered an expensive item off the menu while everyone else had much lesser priced meals. In a situation like that the person ordering a proportionally more expensive food and drinks should either pay their own bill or offer to pay more than others to cover their fair share of the bill.