How do you split a birthday lunch bill.

[ICRS]

At my work when we have a birthday lunch we always have each person (except the birthday person) pay for their own item, and the tax and tip for their own item. The birthday person meal is split evenly accross for everyone.

Some people I have spoken to have found this very odd, they say we should split the whole bill evenly accross for everyone, so everyone pays the same amount regardless of what they ordered. A person who orders a 25 fish and steak meal pays the same as someone who orders a 10 dollar burger and fries.

 

[Queasy]

We always have everyone pay for their own item and a portion of the birthday person's meal.

 

[Injury]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say all the fat fucks that get $20 meals and the lushes that get $10 Margaritas are the ones saying you should split evenly.

Tell them that if they want you to pay as much as everyone else, you aren't going out. Screw that and screw them.

 

[blackdogdeek]

if i were the manager, i would foot the entire bill.

otherwise, we usually do: every person (except birthday person) pays $total / [n-1] where n = number of people in the party.

 

[Kelemvor]

We always jsut get individual checks for each person. Then have everyone chip in $1 to cover the special person's meal.

I don't like doing the evenly split thing because I drink water and each cheap food and I won't want to pay twice what my bill would have been because someone else orders steak and a chocolate shake and things like that.

 

[HammerCurl]

Yea, my friend said they would all split the bill evenly for whatever reason when his office would get lunch. Doesn't make sense to me, and this wasn't just for birthday lunches. Sounds like a new wave of Communism...

 

[MrChad]

It's much simpler and quicker to split the entire bill evenly. As long as no one orders something egregiously expensive (e.g. steak and fish), it makes everything simpler.

An even simpler option is to have the boss pay for lunch on the corporate card.

 

[krunchykrome]

Splitting the tab can sometimes be a pain. When we go out with good friends, we always split it down the middle, unless one person offers to pay for it all, which is usually the case. For example, for sake of simplicity, sometimes I'll take the entire tab, and sometimes other friends will.

This doesnt work with everyone though. I have one friend in particular who never seems to bring cash with him. And when it's time to pay up, he's like "oh, i dont have cash", and he's the last one to take out his wallet. We go to a lounge a few times a month; it's a cash-only business. He knows this because we go so often, however he still "forgets" to bring cash so others have to pay for him. Lately, my friends and I have been getting tired of this, so on the way there, we stop at an ATM machine and get cash for ourselves. That way there's no excuse for him to be cash-less.

 

[ICRS]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
if i were the manager, i would foot the entire bill.

otherwise, we usually do: every person (except birthday person) pays $total / [n-1] where n = number of people in the party.

So the person who orders the $20 fish meal, and the one that orders the $10 sandwich meal will pay the exact same price in your group?

 

[ICRS]

Some of you must have very generous managers to be willing to foot the bill.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: ICRS

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
if i were the manager, i would foot the entire bill.

otherwise, we usually do: every person (except birthday person) pays $total / [n-1] where n = number of people in the party.

So the person who orders the $20 fish meal, and the one that orders the $10 sandwich meal will pay the exact same price in your group?

that's correct.

 

[Renob]

How do you split a birthday lunch bill.

I dont, I cover the whole bill!!!

Renob <---------- Is not cheap

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: ICRS
Some of you must have very generous managers to be willing to foot the bill.

managers with whom i've worked in the past usually pay for the tab at the bars after work. and we're talking several outings per month. at nice places. for many rounds.

 

[Crusty]

Depends on how many people are there. If it's a small gathering like 6-8 people pay for own your shit. As soon you get more people there 10+ or so you're going to spend more time trying to figure out how much to pay that I think it should just be split down the middle.

 

[olds]

I used to belong to a group that met monthly to celebrate any members birthday that was in that month.
The understanding was that if you wanted to participate, the bill was split evenly.
So 20 people, 2 birthday people, they bill was divided by 18. This was regardless of what you ordered. If you didn't like it, you didn't have to go.
We started that rule because we had people arguing over $1. If you have to argue over a $1 (or $20 for that matter) you shouldn't be eating out. I used to get disgusted with them and I'd pay my share, then throw an additional $20 on the table and walk out. They got the idea and the new rule was born.
The point is we were celebrating something. To drag it down over a little bit of money was stupid.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: ICRS

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
if i were the manager, i would foot the entire bill.

otherwise, we usually do: every person (except birthday person) pays $total / [n-1] where n = number of people in the party.

So the person who orders the $20 fish meal, and the one that orders the $10 sandwich meal will pay the exact same price in your group?

If you have a group of 5, 4 of whom order $10 meals and 1 who orders a $20 meal, the total comes to $60. That's $12 / person. In many situations, it's easier for everyone to toss in an extra buck or two to make the whole process simpler. If you go out to lunch often enough, you will save money sometimes and spend more money other times, but in the end it usually evens out.

 

[ICRS]

We have around 15 people at our lunches, it is always the previous birthday person job to organize the lunch and to calculate the split bill.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: ICRS
Some of you must have very generous managers to be willing to foot the bill.

managers with whom i've worked in the past usually pay for the tab at the bars after work. and we're talking several outings per month. at nice places. for many rounds.

We call those "team building exercises".

 

[ICRS]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: ICRS

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
if i were the manager, i would foot the entire bill.

otherwise, we usually do: every person (except birthday person) pays $total / [n-1] where n = number of people in the party.

So the person who orders the $20 fish meal, and the one that orders the $10 sandwich meal will pay the exact same price in your group?

If you have a group of 5, 4 of whom order $10 meals and 1 who orders a $20 meal, the total comes to $60. That's $12 / person. In many situations, it's easier for everyone to toss in an extra buck or two to make the whole process simpler. If you go out to lunch often enough, you will save money sometimes and spend more money other times, but in the end it usually evens out.

Oh where I work it is usually around 3 or 4 or order $10 or under, 5 or 6 who order under $15, and 5 to 7 who order more expensive items usually around $20 or more.

Usually it is the same people who order the cheap and expensive stuff.

 

[brtspears2]

The problem with the free lunch on your birthday system is that you become obligated to participate in other birthday lunches. In the end, you should get back what you spent on other birthday lunches. My office just lets the birthday person pick the place.

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: Queasy
We always have everyone pay for their own item and a portion of the birthday person's meal.

:thumbsup:

 

[DainBramaged]

Screw paying even amounts. I'll pay for part of the bday boy and my own food.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: ICRS
Some of you must have very generous managers to be willing to foot the bill.

We go out every quarter for the birthdays in that quarter. Manager always pays then expenses it. Probably doesn't come to more than $100 or so each time. Plus we go out for lunch around Christmas.

 

[BKLounger]

for birthday lunches at work the group knows we always end up splitting evenly so usually we will ask each other what the other person is going to order so everyone stays at just about the same amount (you might end up spending +/- 50 cents or a buck). You break the rules though and you get beaten with a trash bag full of post-it pads.

 

[TwiceOver]

Company pays for cake, everyone else pays individual bill.