Split Checks?

[Handbag Lady]

Before I read anyone's responses, I said other.

In the case of the OP, I would be prepared to split the check evenly, but I would also expect my dining mates to see that I didn't have as much as they did and would know they would pay more. It would make me think twice the next time I dine with these same people and I might just do coffee instead of a full meal. I certainly can't continue to pay for everyone's meals ALL the time if it continued. Most of my friends wouldn't expect this anyway. (Family, well, that's another story!)

There is never an exact answer for when I dine out.

I am on Los Angeles. We dine out twice a week, usually once or twice a month with friends.

We've evolved with one set of friends into alternating paying for the check because we eat out so often with them. It all comes out fair in the long run with the four of us.

 

[avgeek81]

I just went out to breakfast with 2 friends this mourning and we paid for what we had. One girl had a $5 meal and me and the other had $8 meals and i was the only one that had a drink. This is how we normally do it.

The only people we split evenly is if my mom and I go out with my aunt and uncle. We used to go out a lot so it normally worked out in the long run. When we go on vacation with them we all put $100 in an envelope and use that for gas and food and refill as needed. If someone wants a cocktail or dessert they dont have to worry about putting in extra. This works for us because none of us would take advantage. And you dont have to worry about figuring the bill after every meal.

 

[Buckalew11]

Good for you. I don't think anyone's saying you MUST split the checks. But there have been numerous posters who said if you want to split a check, you're "cheap".

And maybe I am, lol. What do I care? I think I get it from my dad.

We always had an ongoing joke (my dad passed 6 years ago) about eating/checks/treating. Dan Murphy treated my family (3 of us plus mom and dad) to dinner at LLT in WDW when we met. It was a b-day meal for DD and I complete with table decorations and dessert. One of my most treasured memories at WDW, actually. dad also said he needed to treat Dan back--he promised he'd buy him dinner at Casey's (hot dogs) one night. I think my mom made sure he did a little better than that, lol.

When it comes to food, I can be cheap. I just do not put a whole lot of emphasis on my meals real often. So, I do not care to pay part of someone else's indulgences.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Now that I am reading, separate checks here are considered cheap and it annoys the server so we don't do that.

 

[momof1princess]

if we go out with friends, which is rare, due to everyone's schedules, we get separate checks. if we're with my mom, we always pay for her, as she has no disposable income. if we go somewhere with my grandmother, she throws a hissy fit if we don't let her pay, unless it's for her birthday. with the in-laws, they usually pay, because they usually invite us, but it's rare that we go out to eat with them-DMIL and i usually cook.

 

[Pakey]

We go with the flow. We have one couple where we take turns buying dinner. We've never stopped to think about who is getting the short end of the stick; we just know we are buying every other time.

We have a larger circle of friends and if this one couple is there (he's really tight with his money), we have to split the bill based on what was ordered. He makes his wife get the cheapest thing on the menu and there's no way they are splitting evenly. If they are not there, the rest of us usually just split the bill evening between the number of diners.

We never ask for separate checks.

 

[Handbag Lady]

OH, you know what really bugs me? When you are a large group dining out and the check comes and it is passed around and the bill lands in front of me and I had $20 worth of food plus tip and tax and I have to put in $50 to make up for people in my family who WILL NOT put in enough money to cover what they ate. I refuse to short any server a tip.

I swear, this happens to me or my husband each time we eat with my family. Yet, they SWEAR they put in their share.

At this point, we just pick up the whole bill to avoid wasting time and our own frustrations. We also dine out less with these people.

 

[Hannathy]

Now that I am reading, separate checks here are considered cheap and it annoys the server so we don't do that.

So what it "annoys" the server what part of SERVER are they not understanding!!! That is their job to SERVE you the customer. Act annoyed with me and you will see how annoyed I am when the tip rolls around.


And since when do I care if a total stranger considers me cheap?

 

[Lavaluma]

Depending on the group of people, I've done all of the above.
With my closest friends and family, we'll often take turns picking up the check. If I'm out with other friends and acquaintances, we tend to split the check. At my last job, it was 50/50. Sometimes we split the check and sometimes we divided the total cost by the amount of people there. We did this mostly when we went out as a larger group to celebrate someone's birthday, last day on the job, etc. Since everyone was sharing the cost for the person of honor, it was easier to split it evenly. I wasn't always a fan of this because I tended to choose the cheaper options as I don't eat beef or most seafood. I live in the DC area.

 

[Sorsha]

If couples/families go out in a group, then we get separate checks. If I am dining with a group of girlfriends, we just all figure out what we owe based on what we ordered and chip that amount in and split the tip.

I live on a limited budget, and if I choose soup and a salad for lunch and my girlfriend chooses prime rib, I will be DANGED if I am going to pay for part of her much more expensive meal.

We live in a small town/mostly rural agricultural area, to answer your regional question. And yes, I think that this almost always plays a part in differing ways of doing things on the DISboards.

 

[ilovemk76]

I voted other.

If we do the invite, then we pay. Sometimes the other couple will pay the tip, but that is not expected. We pay the tip if we are the ones invited.

If we all order fairly evenly, then we just split the check.

If one person had drinks, then they put in the cost of the drink and the rest is split.

If we go out as a large group with our generation and the generation younger than us, then my generation usually splits the entire bill and treats the younger generation.

If a person comes who is know to order the most expensive item and is always considered cheap, then we will get separate checks.

If we go out from work, then one person collects the money and every gives them what there meal and drinks would costs and also their tip. We always collect way more than the normal bill and tip. The rest is added to the tip.

 

[tluvstink]

We ask for separate checks too and were never made to feel cheap in doing so,

I live in central NC by the way

Terri

 

[Acklander]

I don't think of it as a reginal thing, but more of a personality thing. Some people are concerned with it being exactly even/fair. Some are more casual and are happy throwing an approximate into the pot with the assumption that it would be within a few dollars of what they would have paid if you had whipped out a calculator. Some are clueless about the prices so will split amongst the number of people, some want to pick up the check. As long as I know which I'm dining with, I'm fine with whatever (but probably favor the throwing in the pit, taking turns on picking up the check scenario as the easiest)
Now, sometimes I see people post about how when they go out to dinner, they never order the appetizer, order water only(soda and drinks way over priced), possibly share an entree between the couple (portions are huge) and maybe share one dessert amongst the table, and figure the tip at exactly 15%, unless the wait staff was slow to refill the water, or didn't bring the rolls over fast enough- then can drop the tip lower. If I went out to dinner with someone like that - of course I'd pay more on the bill - because I definitely would order more, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't go out with them that often. I'd be very self conscious, and feel like they were mentally adding in their head every time I ordered a glass of wine or wanted to try the interesting soup.
We're more laid back (personality wise, and money wise) so tend to hang out with more laid back people as well, who will help drink the bottle of wine and order a few apps for everyone to try, so the separate check or exactly paying what you owe doesn't come up that often.
Just like people who are very conscious about exactly how much they spend probably hang with people who feel the same way. Yeah, now and then my path crosses with a separate check type person, and I go along with it for their sake, but that's because I know how much it bothers them to just throw $$$ in the pot, and I don't want them to feel uncomfortable. I'm easy, so doing it their way doesn't bother me.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Unless I am treating, I pretty much always ask for separate checks. I'm vegan, and the vegan option is usually the cheapest item on the menu. In fact, I often end up eating just appetizers (maybe an appetizer salad plus some other small item) so my meal may be considerably cheaper. I also rarely have alcohol and usually just drink water.

So maybe I am cheap, but it doesn't feel fair to me to be paying, say $50 as one-quarter of the bill when I actually ate about $16 worth.

TP

 

[FireDancer]

Separate checks. I let the waiter/waitress do the work or separating it out instead of me doing it after the fact, they are the one getting paid to serve me after all. I don't care if they get annoyed by it or think I'm cheap. I'll pay for what I consume and nothing more. There are aspects of my job that annoy me but I do them because, well, it's my job.

I live in the Cleveland area but I travel a lot and will do this wherever I am. DC, NYC, Chicago, or the middle of nowhere.

 

[Disneygirl26]

I don't think of it as a reginal thing, but more of a personality thing. Some people are concerned with it being exactly even/fair. Some are more casual and are happy throwing an approximate into the pot with the assumption that it would be within a few dollars of what they would have paid if you had whipped out a calculator. Some are clueless about the prices so will split amongst the number of people, some want to pick up the check. As long as I know which I'm dining with, I'm fine with whatever (but probably favor the throwing in the pit, taking turns on picking up the check scenario as the easiest)
Now, sometimes I see people post about how when they go out to dinner, they never order the appetizer, order water only(soda and drinks way over priced), possibly share an entree between the couple (portions are huge) and maybe share one dessert amongst the table, and figure the tip at exactly 15%, unless the wait staff was slow to refill the water, or didn't bring the rolls over fast enough- then can drop the tip lower. If I went out to dinner with someone like that - of course I'd pay more on the bill - because I definitely would order more, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't go out with them that often. I'd be very self conscious, and feel like they were mentally adding in their head every time I ordered a glass of wine or wanted to try the interesting soup.
We're more laid back (personality wise, and money wise) so tend to hang out with more laid back people as well, who will help drink the bottle of wine and order a few apps for everyone to try, so the separate check or exactly paying what you owe doesn't come up that often.
Just like people who are very conscious about exactly how much they spend probably hang with people who feel the same way. Yeah, now and then my path crosses with a separate check type person, and I go along with it for their sake, but that's because I know how much it bothers them to just throw $$$ in the pot, and I don't want them to feel uncomfortable. I'm easy, so doing it their way doesn't bother me.

This how I totally feel, I never really thought about until now, unless I'm picking up the bill, I think 99% of the time my friends, family and I spilt the bill 50/50 and never had a problem with it. But I must admit it does kinda turn me off a little when someone pulls out the calculator and wants to get it down to the penny.

 

[Meriweather]

Separate checks at the beginning............west coast

 

[mrsbert]

We usually split the check when eating out with friends. My husband and I ate with a new group of people about a year ago and it was a big group; maybe 20 or so people. This particular week we needed to watch our spending so I think I got a salad and my DH got an appetizer. At the end of dinner, the group all divided the check evenly. We had no idea this was going to happen. Many in the group had pre-dinner drinks, appetizers, main courses, and desert.

DH and I ended up putting our portion on our credit card. Heck, if I would have known before hand, I would have gotten a nice adult beverage myself. LOL

 

[mhsjax]

And maybe I am, lol. What do I care? I think I get it from my dad.

We always had an ongoing joke (my dad passed 6 years ago) about eating/checks/treating. Dan Murphy treated my family (3 of us plus mom and dad) to dinner at LLT in WDW when we met. It was a b-day meal for DD and I complete with table decorations and dessert. One of my most treasured memories at WDW, actually. dad also said he needed to treat Dan back--he promised he'd buy him dinner at Casey's (hot dogs) one night. I think my mom made sure he did a little better than that, lol.

When it comes to food, I can be cheap. I just do not put a whole lot of emphasis on my meals real often. So, I do not care to pay part of someone else's indulgences.

And I am the exact opposite, and I don't think you are cheap, I think that makes you smart. We put a HUGE value on our meals when we go out with friends. We very rarely go out and when we do, we splurge. I also have kids that don't eat off a kids menu, and not only that they prefer the more expensive things. I don't want any of my friends to get trapped into paying for anything that I had. That makes me the opposite of cheap, I don't see how anyone could say differently.

 

[mhsjax]

So what it "annoys" the server what part of SERVER are they not understanding!!! That is their job to SERVE you the customer. Act annoyed with me and you will see how annoyed I am when the tip rolls around.


And since when do I care if a total stranger considers me cheap?

Right there with you, and we have never had a server get annoyed. We just tell them to do it how they think is easier. They either use our names or they have assigned us numbers, lol. It works for them and for us.