Was I being U or was friend?

[TowerRavenSeven]

Went to dinner with a friend Thursday. She asked if I would mind this particular restaurant as she had coupon. It was one of those coupons you pay for, so say she paid $12.50 for a $25.00 gift card. I agreed it was fine.

I had paid her for petrol as she usually drives, as she usually likes to drive fairly far and I'm not familiar with the areas.

When the bill came, it was for exactly $25 for both. If this were me I would have split the tip and called it good but she hinted she wanted what I owed her. It was very cordial, I paid her exactly what I owed her (a bit more than hers) plus my part of the tip.

But what gets me is that she wouldn't even been able to get hers free without me going in with her. She paid 12.50 for the gift certificate worth $25.00. If I hadn't gone in with her she couldn't have used the $25.00 gift card because the bill was only $25.00 all together. So me paying her $14.00 plus my share of tip she Made money off me. Fwiw she makes $60 K (Pounds) annually.

Am I b U thinking she made money off next? Usually when I have a deal like that other friends would pay for half of the coupon ($6.25) and anything extra that they had if their bill was more than mine. Personally I'd treat the other person but I wasn't looking for that but I feel weird she made money on me so to speak.

Ok - so assuming a 10% tip:-

She paid:-
£12:50 voucher
£1.10 tip
Total £13:60

She got:-
£11 meal
£1.10 service
£14 from you
Total:- £12.10 in goods £14 in cash

Net position:-
40p in cash
£12.10 in goods

You paid
£14 meal
£1.10 tip

You got:-
£14 meal
£1.40 service

Net position
-£15.10 in cash
£15:10 in goods

Basically she turned her voucher into a "buy one get one free" voucher and got you to buy one and then took the free one.

After having read the posts explaining in figures why the friend has ended up making money off the OP, I think it is very cheeky and unreasonable.

However my sense of mental arithmetic when it comes to things like this is awful. So I can kind of see how in your friend's head maybe she thought you were both paying (approx) 12.50 so it was fair.

Depends on what you know of her overall whether you think it could have been a genuine mistake in working out the bill fairly, or whether you think she planned the whole thing in order to make money off you.

TBH, I find it quite an unattractive trait in friends when they want to split hairs over bills. Fine if I know they are in a position where they have to count the pennies, absolutely no problem. But I have one or two friends who earn double my salary and have an extremely comfortable lifestyle compared to me, and STILL have a need to be obsessive over us always paying for exactly our fair share. Funny, because they have no problem accepting it when I just say 'oh this is on me' or when they come to stay with me and I don't ask them for any money for petrol/food/drinks since I feel I am hosting them for the weekend and I don't want to be asking them for money for groceries or whatever. But it doesn't work the same way the other way round. These type of people generally have other really good qualities for me to turn a blind eye to this stuff!

Yes Mumoftwoyoungkids that's exactly how it happened. Thanks for your math. Like I said, life is too short. But I'll be aware next time and with anyone else that offers the same. As long as you know you aren't getting the same 'deal' as they are and are helping them out, it's fine to do this. But I'm always going to ask them to spell it out exactly just so I don't have to waste mumsnetters times trying to figure out if I got screwed or not!!

And it's all relative. If you know you are 'helping' your friend out you are not getting screwed. If you think you are getting a deal too, then in your mind you are getting screwed. Just like the Rob Lowe commercials, I tell fellow mumsnetters, "Don't be like this me!" and get the scoop beforehand!

You agreed to go to that restaurant knowing the prices.

You went to that restaurant and paid for your meal.

So you didn't pay anything you weren't expecting to pay.

It would be NICE if she shared her discount with you.

But it's not NECESSARY for her to do so.

Whether you think it unattractive and worth making a fuss over, or worth rethinking the friendshp over, is up to you.

(personally I've always shared discounts that I've got through cards or vouchers, but I don't think it is 100% required).

I don't think she did it intentionally to make money off me. I think she did it as a business transaction that gave her the benefit not me.

No it isn't necessary for her to share the voucher, but she needed OP to eat there to be able to use it at all and if I'm thinking correctly, needed to pay for everything so as not to lose out.

So it would have been a nice thing to do.

I think also it's the amounts involved that has made OP lose out.

If for example the friend had spent $25 & used the voucher for herself, the fact that she had only paid $12.50 for it would perhaps seem different somehow as Op would be paying her share direct to the restaurant iyswim.

The friend ended up paying nothing and getting an extra £2 pre tip, a good friend would have split the cost of the voucher so each paid £6.25 plus tip

I think the restaurant probably got ripped off more! £12.50 to cover a meal for 2 people, my guess is they expect people to have more drinks and extras to cover their costs and that is the expectation of the voucher scheme.