To think you don’t get out of paying the bill because you don’t drink?

Personally, with the cost of food these days, I think it's only fair that everyone pays for themselves unless everyone has had the same thing / same value of meal.

The days of splitting the bill should be behind us.

No… read the OP’s posts. It was £12.50 total, she claims.

Just each pay your own bill separately, it makes so much more sense

It’s £12.50pp so nearly £40, maybe one expensive or 2 cheap bottles of wine between 3. So the friend’s cokes were £10, and she didn’t end up paying for any!

This is where you went wrong.

'That's no problem, we'll just take all drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic off the bill', or, 'Seeing as we've all eaten the same, but drank different beverages, we'll just pay for what we've had this time'.

That might've made them think twice OP. I don't think YABU in this situation.

But they subsidised hers!

Just pay for your own!

I don’t drink and would rather not pay for everyone’s wine when I’m always on soda water .
Buy my friends wouldn’t expect me to pay for their drinks.

I would have taken all the drinks out, so each paid for their own, and split the bill for the meals. In such a case I would have paid for any drink separately, anyway and would have said I would only split the food bill, not the alcohol. Hate splitting bills.

😂😂😂😂😂

Also, how did you get 3 alcoholic drinks for £12.50? What did you all drink? A restaurant charging over £3 for a coke surely isn’t only charging ~£4 for a glass of wine or a beer?!

This. Jesus Christ.

YANBU considering the little price difference on this occasion and that you ended up paying for her cokes- what?! Surely you could have just done tit for tat and insisted she pay for them separately. It’s fair if she just wanted to pay for what she had.

However in her defence, if she doesn’t drink alcohol it’s possible she’s been stiffed by paying a lot more when bills have been split on previous occasions and she didn’t realise all the drinks in this case cost almost the same.

YABU to complain about the dessert thing - you are perfectly capable of saying “sorry I haven’t got room/really don’t fancy it”. But I assume you mentioned it to imply that if she could afford dessert she likely wasn’t hurting to pay the extra couple of quid to make the bill split simpler.

I’d give her another chance in case it was a mistake - but be prepared to stand up for yourself if she tries to get away with not paying for her own drinks again.

The non- tipping thing is a bit odd though, assuming it’s a full table service restaurant/cafe - unless she thought the service was lousy or it’s a cultural thing? Even the most “careful with money” people I know usually put in a couple of quid if everyone else is tipping too.

It's about time this was done away with and it became standard practice to bill each person separately unless a combined bill is specifically requested. It causes so much bad feeling and resentment.

She’s quibbling about the bill to save less than 2 quid. Of course she’s the arsehole. Don’t go out with her again, she sounds a nightmare if this is what she’s like the first you met.

Gone are the days where no alcoholic drinks are necessarily cheaper than pints or a shared bottle of wine. Pubs and bars know people are drinking less so have to make their money somewhere.

If someone is drinking tap water or one soft drink fair enough. But if someone has had 3 soft drinks and wants to quibble they pay for theirs.

In fairness if I'd just drunk wine and someone had ordered £15 a pop cocktails I'd suggest we pay for drinks separately.

You’re all BU. Just ask for separate checks.

You’re all BU. Just ask for separate checks.

You’re all BU. Just ask for separate checks.

Three cokes with a meal? That stuff goes straight through me. She must have been pissing like a carthorse! <totally misses point of thread>

You're not with the OP as that isn't their point. There's nothing to suggest they would have a problem with the friend just paying for their own part of the meal. their only issue is that the friend didn't pay for any part of their drinks, but got them to pay for part of hers.

I agree with the OP but I don't agree at all with you. There's nothing wrong in my view with anyone saying they are only paying for what they had, as long as they pay for all of what they had.

OP, I am with you. If you go out as a group and want to quibble about who had 'the more expensive starter' etc. don't come out as a group. Non alcoholic drinks are on a par with alcoholic drinks cost wise these days. Different if a few of the party are really going for it and others aren't - then just a reasonable 'drinkers/non drinkers' amount to pay - but not an itemised bill - immediately sucking the fun out of a group dinner.

I presume that 'Classical Coke' is a 'nod, nod, wink, wink' way for people to pretend that they're only having a soft drink, when in fact, it's liberally mixed with something else that will leave you soundly 'Brahms and Liszt'

The first time three of us met up, two of us were driving and our individual bills were £15 each and cf friends bill was £35. I said no we will pay for ourselves but cf and other friend made such an issue like I was tight fisted that I never did it again.

These people are the very epitome of chutzpah. Surely, if their argument held any water, they wouldn't be left with a higher bill anyway. The fact that they are left with a considerably higher bill can only possibly mean that they, in fact, are being tight fisted by ordering high but wanting to pay low.

How do they possibly think their stance can be justified, without anybody seeing it's clear as day what their game is?

Just pay for your own, always be upfront from the offset then no awkward moments. Ask for separate bills, much easier

Did anyone point that out?