anyone else hate communist dining?

[Blackjack200]

WTF are you people talking about? I've never had this occur to me in the U.S. or any other country. Either you get separate checks, pay for everything (and they get it next time), or you divvy it up when the check gets there. Why the fuck would you just take the total and divide it by the number of people? That is bullshit.

Honestly? Because it's just much easier. Usually when you get the check in the U.S. it's 9-10 lines of unintelligable scribbling and a big number circled which is what you have to pay. If everyone is going to pay their own, you first have to figure out what everyone owes. So they have to check the menu (if they are still available and if they have the prices listed). Then you have to add the sales tax, in my state 7% which is a pain in the ass calculation. Then you have to add in the tip. Even after all this is figured out, you need to have exact change, or whoever is consolidating the bill has to be able to make change. Frequently this involves two or three people going up to the cashier to break a $20.

Now what happens if eveyone puts in what they think they owe, but you're short of the check + 15% (minimum acceptable tip in the US)? Now you have to audit everyone and go down the list figuring out who paid what and who still owes.

It can sour the evening, and that's why people would prefer to risk paying an extra couple of dollars to avoid all this. The problem comes in when you have a situation like Loki's where he had much less than everyone else. In this case someone else needs to speak up and take him off the hook.

 

[alkemyst]

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.

QFT this is how ADULTS eat together.

It you are hanging out with a bunch of teenagers itemizing everything is how those punks roll including not counting for a tip.

If someone just had soup though I am sure the table would have made an exception, perhaps they are looking at you to discount their bills though...these your friends or just acquaintances?

 

[Blackjack200]

None of this is of concern to the guest but, that is why restaurants avoid separate tickets like the plague.

Just to add, when you show up as a party of eight or nine, you expect to be seated together, you expect to be waited on as a group, and you expect your food to come out at the same time. How is it fair to then demand 8 or 9 separate checks? If the couple of dollars is that big of a deal just go to McDonalds or Wendy's or something where everyone can place their own order and pay their own bill.

 

[Mill]

Honestly? Because it's just much easier. Usually when you get the check in the U.S. it's 9-10 lines of unintelligable scribbling and a big number circled which is what you have to pay. If everyone is going to pay their own, you first have to figure out what everyone owes. So they have to check the menu (if they are still available and if they have the prices listed). Then you have to add the sales tax, in my state 7% which is a pain in the ass calculation. Then you have to add in the tip. Even after all this is figured out, you need to have exact change, or whoever is consolidating the bill has to be able to make change. Frequently this involves two or three people going up to the cashier to break a $20.

Now what happens if eveyone puts in what they think they owe, but you're short of the check + 15% (minimum acceptable tip in the US)? Now you have to audit everyone and go down the list figuring out who paid what and who still owes.

It can sour the evening, and that's why people would prefer to risk paying an extra couple of dollars to avoid all this. The problem comes in when you have a situation like Loki's where he had much less than everyone else. In this case someone else needs to speak up and take him off the hook.

I can't think of a single restaurant like that. Almost all of them have computer tickets, and if they do not the prices are always listed on the check. All people have to do is take the price of what they ordered... say 18 dollars for an entree and 7 dollars for a Martini (25 dollars) and multiply it by the tax rate and a tip percentage. Tax here is 9%, and most people tip 15-20%. So, just multiply what you ordered by either 30% or 25% (and take a small portion off due to rounding). Very simple and does not require a calculator or much time. If you are tipping 20% (30% total including tax) you would simply take 10% of the 25 dollars (2.50) and multiply it by 3. 7.50+25. So, your argument is that people can't do 3rd grade math?

Even with a tax rate of 7%, you can get plenty close by doing simple rounding. Any adult should be able to do it in their head. Say you had 38 dollars and had tax of 7% and wanted to leave a tip of 15%. Easy as pie. 22%... 20% of 38 would be 7.60. So, just add a little for the sake of rounding. Make it 8.50 and you'd be close to the actual figure. 8.50+38 equals 46.50. How is that even remotely difficult or time-consuming? I don't get it.

Why are you saying you have to make change? Round up to easily calculable amounts like halves or whole dollar figures. People might pay an extra dollar or 50 cents, but that is a lot less than paying 60 bucks when all you had was soup and coffee.

 

[Mill]

Just to add, when you show up as a party of eight or nine, you expect to be seated together, you expect to be waited on as a group, and you expect your food to come out at the same time. How is it fair to then demand 8 or 9 separate checks? If the couple of dollars is that big of a deal just go to McDonalds or Wendy's or something where everyone can place their own order and pay their own bill.

Again, most modern restaurants have POS systems that can easily do that -- especially if you tell them when seated it is seperate checks. Listen, this past weekend on a business trip the place we went to did not split checks. I paid for the meal entirely and then spent about 2 minutes (once I got back to my hotel) dividing the amounts out so they could be submitted for reimbursement under per-diem. Hardly difficult.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Mill, first your social graces are suspect due to your security/corrections schooling.

Second, if you posted off the top of your head, you have the facility for counting money and pattern recognition which many don't.

 

[JEDIYoda]

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.

I would say you have no buisness going out to eat even with friends if all your going to eat is a bowl of soup and a cup of coffee for dessert......coffee isn`t a desert.....
Or grow some balls and speak your mind....

 

[Siddhartha]

I don't mind splitting the bill with friends.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The problem is people have trouble dividing up the bill.

Take your dish and add 25% - 28% for tip/tax. 28% for 18% gratuity. I've taken care of rush at our fraternity where we go out to eat, and I've had no problems collecting money for 40 people and finding we're only a dollar short at most. I've been in situations where you let everyone pitch in and find out you're $40 short because some people were cheap and only threw in $2 - $3 for tip when their dish alone was $15. Tax and tip can come close to 25% which is why it works so well. 15% + 9% sales tax. Bam. Count for the cheapasses who round down to the dollar anyway, and 25% will work.

So if there's a $100 bill and $40 of it was alcohol (say a pitcher). Let's take 5 people. If you had a $8 dish, but no alcohol for you, you take $8 + 25%. Done. As for someone else who had a $12 dish, you take their $12 dish + their $10 share of alcohol (amongst 4 ppl only for alcohol). $22 + 25%. That's their share.

You just need someone who can take care of it. You NEVER let everyone pitch in what they think they owe. Have someone who does this usually go around and collect money. That's what I do. When my gf tries to take care of it by counting everyone's total (but not collecting money) it always goes into chaos. Partly because she's not as good at math and because you let people decide how much they want to pay.

The worst part of it is when people pitch in and you have to find out who was short. Better give them a number to work with and then make them pay up. For those who need change, come back to them later. For those who are short and need others to cover, come back to them. Deal withtthe easy ones and then make your way to the troublemakers. It's almost always flawless.

 

[Blackjack200]

Mill, first your social graces are suspect due to your security/corrections schooling.

Second, if you posted off the top of your head, you have the facility for counting money and pattern recognition which many don't.

Exactly. Also, it's one thing to say, 'oh yeah, just multply X * Y and round up/down.' And it's another thing entirely when you have a messy looking bill with 8 or 9 people that can't do math, and everyone's stuffed, a little buzzed, and ready to leave. As long as everyone has ordered similar meals, there's nothing wrong with just figuring the total bill and splitting it.

 

[meltdown75]

hey OP, you got fuckin hosed. hard.

 

[Mill]

Exactly. Also, it's one thing to say, 'oh yeah, just multply X * Y and round up/down.' And it's another thing entirely when you have a messy looking bill with 8 or 9 people that can't do math, and everyone's stuffed, a little buzzed, and ready to leave. As long as everyone has ordered similar meals, there's nothing wrong with just figuring the total bill and splitting it.

I just don't see it as that complex. Percentages are easy.

 

[torpid]

It's appropriate in some scenarios. Dinner with 15 people where everyone spent wildly different amounts of money is not one of them.

 

[Ns1]

it depends on who your friends are

 

[GlacierFreeze]

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.

Sucker. Those aren't friends. Find some.

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

This.

hey OP, you got fuckin hosed. hard.

And this.

 

[ivan2]

we split every time, i dont see a problem. don't be a cheapskate.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Just to add, when you show up as a party of eight or nine, you expect to be seated together, you expect to be waited on as a group, and you expect your food to come out at the same time. How is it fair to then demand 8 or 9 separate checks? If the couple of dollars is that big of a deal just go to McDonalds or Wendy's or something where everyone can place their own order and pay their own bill.

We're talking $40+, not a couple bucks difference.

You must be a waiter, since you're complaining about separate tickets. Waaaaa

 

[torpid]

We're talking $40+, not a couple bucks difference.

You must be a waiter, since you're complaining about separate tickets. Waaaaa

Or does he work for McDonalds? Possible since he basically implied that McDonalds offers superior service in this regard.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

we split every time, i dont see a problem. don't be a cheapskate.

Is a bowl of soup and coffee worth $60 to you? Didn't think so.

As others have posted, I would've put in $20, which would have more than covered what he ordered. They can pay for their own food and excessive amounts of alcohol.

Speaking of cheapskate, this coming from someone who wants others to pay part of their meal. LOL

 

[Kadarin]

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.

I'm the same way. I'll typically be in favor of splitting the bill if everyone ordered roughly the same amount of stuff.

 

[peasant]

I apologise in advance for any offence, none is intended.

Communism,communist,communal,community, all in the vain of the root word being common.

If you knew already in advance that the bill was going to be split, and you knew in advance that you only wanted soup,bread and coffee, then you should have no complaint.

If you're saying when the bill came, the group decided that an equal monetary split was the best way to go, then at that point, you could have refused, however, even a non American (me) knows that what the majority decides is called Democracy.

I find the politicising of a Democratic event that you disagreed with, and labelling it as something else, is a common (sic) trait amongst the fascist.

Now, I don't know how you view, not that it really matters (it's meant to be light hearted), seems to me that you got caught out by peer pressure, it which case you need to learn to just say no. Or you don't really care to eat in an enviroment that you can't control, making you a control freak. Or you just don't have a clue how to behave in a social enviroment, making you a border line sociopath/pyschopath.

If none of those are true, then what's the problem? $$$$$$$, heck fire man, there's people in your country who would gladly pay $60 for a bowl of soup and a chunk of bread if they had $60 to start with. When was the last time you looked at something that would be truly communal, housing for the homeless just for a start. Still it's your country, not for me to say really.

Good luck trolling me back.lol.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Hey peasant! We don't like our trolls coherent around here. <Get a rope!>

 

[FoBoT]

... what the majority decides is called Democracy.

also known as Tyranny of the Majority, the sheeple are manipulated so The Man can keep you down

 

[Blackjack200]

We're talking $40+, not a couple bucks difference.

You must be a waiter, since you're complaining about separate tickets. Waaaaa

Or does he work for McDonalds? Possible since he basically implied that McDonalds offers superior service in this regard.

If you must know, I am a waiter at McDonalds.

 

[FoBoT]

... I am a waiter at McDonalds.

:hmm: