A bill is nothing between friends, right?
A KZN woman has openly shared the embarrassment she felt after her friends put her through an awkward situation when the bill arrived during a recent dinner date.
Split or each pay for their own? Listen as KZN share their thoughts on restaurant bills, or read the details under the podcast;
Funny how the following six words can bring any lively dinner conversation to a grinding halt: “Should we just split it evenly?”
That awkward moment when you’ve only had a starter, and someone else has had crayfish. You banked on paying for yourself, but now it seems you’re splitting the bill? Awkward!
Read: Should restaurants disclose the corkage fee upfront?
I always think that when there’s a large group of people out for dinner, the best way to handle the bill is to let each party pay for themselves. Singles pay for themselves, and couples will pay for their two meals.
But there’s also a downside to doing it this way. Don’t you find that someone always pays too little and then everyone glances around to see who is going to be the sucker to say, ‘don’t worry, I’ll just put in the extra’?
A KZN woman took to our WhatsApp line recently and shared her thoughts on a bill-splitting incident that she found herself in.
Take a look at the message she sent to us below:
Hi Team, so I had not seen my girls for a while, and we decided to go out for a much needed catch up dinner. I know they will die if you read or do this on-air? LOL. So, I picked the restaurant and we all meet up on Saturday. Things got real awkward when the bill came through and I assumed that we would split the bill equally, which is what I am used to. However my friends, got the calculators out and wanted everyone to pay for their own meals which just made it missions! I was so embarrassed as the waiter had to painstakingly split each item between the 3 of us. Was it wrong for me to expect the bill to be split equally or is it common sense that everyone pays for their own bill?
She also sent through a copy of the bill:
For me, when I’m out with a group of people, it always turns out that we pay for what we ate. I mean, if you split the bill and it’s going to work out to almost the same amount, then I’m good with just splitting it. But I’m certainly not paying for someone else's seafood platter if I’ve just had a salad.
Read - Restaurant reviews: Do they influence your dining choices?
How does it work for you? When you're out with a group of friends, who is responsible for the bill? Does everyone cover themselves or split the final cost equally?