anyone else hate communist dining?

[nageov3t]

you know, the whole split the bill evenly and it'll all work out in the long run thing.

I went out to dinner with some friends (and friends of friends... there were like 15 of us total) this weekend who pulled it. I'm not a cheapskate and I wouldn't make a deal out of it publicly, but I don't drink at all if I'm driving and I'm like a hair shy of anorexic... I was kinda miffed at being expected to shell out $60 when all I had was a bowl of soup as my meal and a cup of coffee for dessert.

 

[TallBill]

I've never been to dinner once where "splitting the bill" was even suggested.

 

[Demo24]

I pay for what I order, end of story. Unless I'm picking up the tab for someone else.

 

[Ronstang]

Here in TX we just get separate bills.

 

[Crono]

Communal dining, you mean?

Actually, I think you just mean splitting the bill, unless you all shared large dishes and such.
I don't mind splitting the bill with friends.

The only problem would be someone trying to take advantage every single time, but I don't have any friends who would do that.

 

[skyking]

Me neither.

 

[krunchykrome]

It really depends on what you ordered. In your case, I would have just paid for what I ate/drank plus tip.

But most of the time when we dine out with friends, we end up splitting the tab down the middle even though someones entree may have been more or someone else may have drank a bit more. Unless theres a significant difference in price/consumption-per-person, its not a big deal, especially if it's good friends.

 

[bonkers325]

so then just explicitly say "i only ordered soup and coffee, so i'm just going to pay that plus tip."

dont be a pushover.

 

[vshah]

my friends and I always used to simply split the bill, unless one person ordered substantially less. it always came out to a one or two dollar difference at most.
you can always adjust by having one person pay more of the tip.

we only really ran into the situation when everyone was paying by card. if we all had cash then its easy to pay for your exact meal. asking a server to part the bill out 6 ways is asking for trouble.

 

[JulesMaximus]

We did that with another couple on Saturday night. I didn't realize it until later that they just split the bill in two. I felt kind of guilty because I had one of the specials and a Grey Goose martini so I know that my meal was well over $20 plus the drink.

 

[amddude]

Communal dining, you mean?

Actually, I think you just mean splitting the bill, unless you all shared large dishes and such.
I don't mind splitting the bill with friends.

What do you think the root word of 'communist' is?

 

[D1gger]

It really depends on what you ordered. In your case, I would have just paid for what I ate/drank plus tip.

But most of the time when we dine out with friends, we end up splitting the tab down the middle even though someones entree may have been more or someone else may have drank a bit more. Unless theres a significant difference in price/consumption-per-person, its not a big deal, especially if it's good friends.

This.

When I go out with friends for a meal, we almost always split the bill, but I certainly would not expect to split the bill with someone who ordered as little as you did. My friends are more considerate than to expect that someone who ordered $12 worth of food pay $60.

 

[FoBoT]

if i was in your situation, yes, that would bug me a LOT
i only eat out with my family, so i always get to pay the whole bill :\

 

[krunchykrome]

This.

When I go out with friends for a meal, we almost always split the bill, but I certainly would not expect to split the bill with someone who ordered as little as you did. My friends are more considerate than to expect that someone who ordered $12 worth of food pay $60.

thats the other thing, If i was in that party, I would insist that the OP only pay for soup/drink. Someone should have said something and been more considerate.

That reminds me though...a while ago, we had dinner with another couple (wife's friends). When the bill came, the wife in the other couple took the bill and started splitting it up. In the end, per her calculation, we owed a few dollars and some change more than them. I gave my wife a look but we didn't say anything. It just made them look bad, and they'll forever be seen as cheap in my eyes. We've seen them a few times afterwards, and when I see them, I always think about that bill that they split up. Im not sure what they were thinking.....

 

[Platypus]

I would have paid for what I owed in that instance

 

[Possessed Freak]

My one buddy and I do the bill splitting thing. It works out nicely when you are basically ordering the same thing.

My other group I can not do the splitting anymore. We went down to Baltimore and 2 group members had multiple pails of crabs while I had a sandwich. The bill was enormous and of course we ended up splitting it.

 

[Queasy]

In communist russia, meals dine on you!

 

[waggy]

it really depends on who we are out with. One of the guys that we go out with would order expensive dinners and drinks. we got tired of it and finally started splitting the bill.

but most of the time we just split it. it equals out in the end.

 

[Crono]

What do you think the root word of 'communist' is?

I know what the root is, I was just wondering at first why a political term would be applied to paying a bill among friends. It makes sense, I guess, and if it were done by vote, you could probably even call that "democratic dining".

I wouldn't use the term "communist" because of the negative connotation associated with it (I'm neutral towards communism, ideologically), but yes, it is applicable the way the op used it.

 

[ViviTheMage]

a group that large...get separate bills.

 

[nageov3t]

I know what the root is, I was just wondering at first why a political term would be applied to paying a bill among friends. It makes sense, I guess, and if it were done by vote, you could probably even call that "democratic dining".

I wouldn't use the term "communist" because of the negative connotation associated with it (I'm neutral towards communism, ideologically), but yes, it is applicable the way the op used it.

I'm wearing my community party t-shirt today

 

[Blackjack200]

What krunchykrome said. Someone in the group should have said, very casually, "well, ______ only had a soup and coffee so $10 is more than enough for him."

 

[spidey07]

That's why having cash on hand is so helpful. You can just plop down approximately what your meal plus tip is and just say "that's my share". If anybody gives you any smack about it they're being a dick/cheapskate.

 

[nageov3t]

That's why having cash on hand is so helpful. You can just plop down approximately what your meal plus tip is and just say "that's my share". If anybody gives you any smack about it they're being a dick/cheapskate.

the server gave the check to the person who made the original reservations, who credit card'd it and just kinda announced "it works out to about $60 a person"; it seemed like it'd probably be off-putting to make a whole thing about it.

 

[nonameo]

I know what the root is, I was just wondering at first why a political term would be applied to paying a bill among friends. It makes sense, I guess, and if it were done by vote, you could probably even call that "democratic dining".

I wouldn't use the term "communist" because of the negative connotation associated with it (I'm neutral towards communism, ideologically), but yes, it is applicable the way the op used it.

AFAIK communism is much more than just the govt owns everything.