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Interestingly, the way me and my friends do it is to split the bill evenly as long as there are no far-off outliers (in either direction). So the people who ate

by anon4 11y ago

Interestingly, the way me and my friends do it is to split the bill evenly as long as there are no far-off outliers (in either direction). So the people who ate hardly anything pay their part, the people who ate a ton pay their part (there's usually a max total of one outlier), then the rest of us split what's left.

ThrustVectoring 11y ago
What I like to do is cover the entire total, and tell everyone to pay what they think they ought to. Maybe this varies a lot based on who you go out with, but this generally winds up with me paying less than my fair share (people round up in order to avoid being seen as stingy/nitpicky/shirking).
- gknoy 11y ago
  That might work for small groups. I've been at multiple dinners for 8+ people where, after we'd all "put in our share", the pot was still $50 (or more!) shy of the bill + tip. It's frustrating even as the non-host, since I know I carefully put in more than what my food + tip had cost.
  - bsder 11y ago
    Calculate the person who is systematically shorting you when that happens. It's probably only one person.
  - kalleboo 11y ago
    Interesting, my experience is the opposite. Everyone rounds up a little bit and whoever is paying ends up with an excess. This is in Japan though, so the social dynamics are different from the US.
  - ThrustVectoring 11y ago
    It's definitely the sort of thing that will vary a lot based on the group. I'm also at a place where I can afford to spend $50 or whatever to gauge the collective trustworthiness of a group of people.
  - pimlottc 11y ago
    Note that figuring out individual "shares" is more difficult in the US than many countries, what with tax and tip not being included in the menu prices.
- bsder 11y ago
  I agree. I do this with the caveat that I will call out somebody who shirks who can bloody well afford to pay. Ever since grad school, we've always had a gradient of people from affording to eat out to not really being able to. As the generous folks covered me when I was poor, I'm happy to return the favor now that I'm not. However, I'll generally make a spot check on someone who can really afford it but didn't seem to put in the right amount. If they don't pay enough for themselves, I'll give a quiet gentle reminder ("Hey, remember you did eat part of those nachos and had an extra beer. You might want to recalculate your portion.") and that generally solves the problem. Most people generally just forget as it's pretty easy to miscount in a shared context. And, if this is the first time and they drag their feet, I'll just pay it and talk to them afterwards. They may have hit a rough patch in life. However, if the group gets to 15-20 people, I occasionally get someone who just systematically shorts things every time who is making more than enough to pay their share. If it's the third time it happens, I'm whipping out a calculator and calculating their portion exactly and publicly. At that point, they either shape up when I'm around or they never show up again. Either solution is fine by me.
  - meric 11y ago
    I learnt from your comment you roll in big groups. My groups usually <= 6...

by anon4 11y ago

ThrustVectoring 11y ago

What I like to do is cover the entire total, and tell everyone to pay what they think they ought to. Maybe this varies a lot based on who you go out with, but this generally winds up with me paying less than my fair share (people round up in order to avoid being seen as stingy/nitpicky/shirking).

gknoy 11y ago
That might work for small groups. I've been at multiple dinners for 8+ people where, after we'd all "put in our share", the pot was still $50 (or more!) shy of the bill + tip. It's frustrating even as the non-host, since I know I carefully put in more than what my food + tip had cost.
- bsder 11y ago
  Calculate the person who is systematically shorting you when that happens. It's probably only one person.
- kalleboo 11y ago
  Interesting, my experience is the opposite. Everyone rounds up a little bit and whoever is paying ends up with an excess. This is in Japan though, so the social dynamics are different from the US.
- ThrustVectoring 11y ago
  It's definitely the sort of thing that will vary a lot based on the group. I'm also at a place where I can afford to spend $50 or whatever to gauge the collective trustworthiness of a group of people.
- pimlottc 11y ago
  Note that figuring out individual "shares" is more difficult in the US than many countries, what with tax and tip not being included in the menu prices.
bsder 11y ago
I agree. I do this with the caveat that I will call out somebody who shirks who can bloody well afford to pay. Ever since grad school, we've always had a gradient of people from affording to eat out to not really being able to. As the generous folks covered me when I was poor, I'm happy to return the favor now that I'm not. However, I'll generally make a spot check on someone who can really afford it but didn't seem to put in the right amount. If they don't pay enough for themselves, I'll give a quiet gentle reminder ("Hey, remember you did eat part of those nachos and had an extra beer. You might want to recalculate your portion.") and that generally solves the problem. Most people generally just forget as it's pretty easy to miscount in a shared context. And, if this is the first time and they drag their feet, I'll just pay it and talk to them afterwards. They may have hit a rough patch in life. However, if the group gets to 15-20 people, I occasionally get someone who just systematically shorts things every time who is making more than enough to pay their share. If it's the third time it happens, I'm whipping out a calculator and calculating their portion exactly and publicly. At that point, they either shape up when I'm around or they never show up again. Either solution is fine by me.
- meric 11y ago
  I learnt from your comment you roll in big groups. My groups usually <= 6...