Help settle a restaurant debate.

[IcedTeaForMe]

I wasn't one of the people in this scenario but I was having this discussion with a friend who was.

There are five people out to dinner and they're splitting the billl. One person(my Friend) Karen has a gift card for the restaurant given to her by her employer. The gift card more than covers her share so she generously says that the rest of the gift card can be used to deduct from the bill for the other diners meaning that they'd pay around ten pounds less than they would have without Karen's gift card. One diner objects and says that the remaining bill should be split between all five(including Karen) and not the remaining four because she hasn't actually contributed any money to the bill, only a gift card that she didn't pay for.

It seems pretty clear cut to me who was in the wrong, but I'm curious to know what MN thinks?

I think it might have been more prudent and less devisive if Karen had offered her balance to reduce the bill for everyone else after her share had been covered. However, as it was hers to share, objector was not in a position to demand how that balance was used and Karen was free to choose who benefited.

I think it might have been more prudent and less devisive if Karen had offered her balance to reduce the bill for everyone else after her share had been covered

That's exactly what she did.

think it might have been more prudent and less devisive if Karen had offered her balance to reduce the bill for everyone else after her share had been covered. However, as it was hers to share, objector was not in a position to demand how that balance was used and Karen was free to choose who benefited.

Which she did but Ian wanted more!

Duck me this threads going around in circles.
Karen's gift card paid for her share if the bill
PLUS a portion if everyone else's bill.

Everyone got a cheaper meal.

Karen = lovely generous friend
Ian = tight arsed grabby fucker

Could this be the new

Cancel the cheque ......

I think I know Ian. He's a complete dick.

Karen was generous and the objector is a cf.

Can we move towards the northern european way where the bill is separate by default. You always get asked "together or separate" and then this whole problem would go away.

@mybrilliantmind RTFT before posting🙄

@mybrilliantmind read the OP properly. 🙄

It really beats me how someone can be so dumb🤦‍♀️ Not only that she paid her share but partly paid their share too!

Oh the irony of ‘mybrilliantmind’ as the username 😂

I think some people are getting confused between a gift card worth actual cash and a voucher code downloaded for free/coupon cut out from the paper which hasn't cost anyone anything.

I was about to say the same thing. Clipping a mass-published random 20% off voucher from the paper (or even having been directly handed one) and claiming that, as it’s ‘your’ voucher, that covers your contribution, rather than throwing it into the pot for everybody, would be in very poor taste.

However, if you've been given an actual cash-equivalent voucher as a gift and/or perk or recognition of work done, it’s just like being given a cash gift or pay bonus. It’s just tax efficient to give an employee a voucher rather than cash, which they would have to pay tax on. I’m guessing that the employer told Karen they wanted to give her a voucher, asked her what voucher she’d like and Karen said “I’m going to XXX restaurant at the weekend, so a voucher for there would be lovely, thanks.”

I also think that Ian probably made sure he got top ‘value’ for his money – deliberately choosing the lobster and cocktails whilst the others had salad and a coke – and then said “Let’s just split the bill”. Then, not happy with being subbed by the split and also by Karen’s kind extra tenner, he decided to brazen it out about the voucher. Apparently, the voucher that Karen had was of no particular intrinsic value yet, curiously, it was also magically able to cover a very large part of the joint restaurant bill.

I also wonder if he's one of those people who confuses kindness (the offer of the extra tenner each) for weakness and goes in for the kill. Or one of these fair-weather communists who sees somebody working extra hours when they’re available to boost the coffers in advance, or buys in bulk to save money – and then reacts by saying “Well, you clearly have plenty to spare, so we should both use yours.”

Supposing he’d gone above and beyond –although he really doesn't sound the sort to do so-- for his employer and he’d been rewarded with a Burton voucher, which he’d used to buy an expensive suit to wear for the meal. Imagine if the others had demanded that he sell the suit the following day and pay a much greater share of the bill in anticipation of what the suit would fetch. That would be completely absurd – but it’s no different at all in principle.

Yes, the one person who is constantly saying it should be shared, is the same person who keeps calling it a voucher, which indicates complete confusion as to what a gift card is. Because if they were clear, they wouldn't refer to it as a voucher.

I think it might have been more prudent and less devisive if Karen had offered her balance to reduce the bill for everyone else after her share had been covered.

Should she have felt obliged to sub the other people by the remaining amount in her bank account after she'd paid with her bank card? Or donate her change to reducing the others' bills if her share had been, say, £41 and she'd only had three twenty pound notes?

Can't believe this is still running. The gift card acted as cash, the bill was reduced by the appropriate amount and the remaining people had a lot less to pay. No difference to OP's friend paying cash (except they got a bit towards their own contribution). It's cut and dried. Shimples...

Of course objector is in the wrong - it’s nobody’s business where your share of the payment has come from! Karen could have kept her gift card balance and it would have given her another meal out (4 x £10), so she has chosen to share rather than treat herself.

Ian is not only a twat but also very thick . The gift card is equivalent to cash , Karen kindly used the card to pay more so bill is cheaper but he didn't see that

Source: am Dutch grin It’s what we do here.

A side point obviously but this isn’t where the expression “go Dutch” comes from. It doesn’t mean “do it in the style of Dutch people”. It comes from the phrase “Dutch treat” meaning a treat which isn’t really a treat because you’re paying for yourself, a false treat. Just a Dutch courage is false courage (from alcohol), Dutch gold isn’t really gold, a Dutch uncle isn’t your supporter. All originated in the 17th C Anglo-Dutch wars and were based on the idea that the Dutch were untrustworthy (no offence- I’m part Dutch too )

I'm guessing the gift card was for £100, and the bill between 5 was £60 per head.

So in Karen's scenario, she covered her £60 with the gift card, and the remaining 4 people got £10 off, making their contribution £50 per head. In addition to using her £100 gift card, Karen also paid the tip, at presumably £30 to £37.50 (10 or 12.5%).

In Ian's scenario, the total bill was £300. Using Karen's gift card to reduce the bill to £200, ie £40 each. The tip should be divided equally between 5, at £7.50 each. So the other 4 people would have paid £47.50 each, as opposed to £50 each in scenario 1. Karen would have paid £147.50.

Either way, Karen is being very generous. Ian's quibbling makes him a penny pinching knob. Especially as the differential to him is £2.50.

Op I'd love to know if my calculations are correct.

I see nothing wrong with this. Let’s say the giver of the gift card had given Karen cash. Karen still wouldn’t have paid for her own meal but the moaner just wouldn’t realise as it’s cash not a card. Karen covered her own share and have out £40. Sounds fine to me.

I would get genuinely angry at this if someone objected like that. I would have said in that case I'll pay cash and come back another time with the family and you can all pay more then courtesy of the entitled CF.

Although as a side note - this is why gift cards are annoying!

The diner who object is obviously dumb, thick, stupid ( add any other words meaning not intelligent when explaining to her in case she doesn't understand). I would have made her pay the full share

Although as a side note - this is why gift cards are annoying!
It really isnt.
It's just some people are both CFs and as thick as pig shit at the same time. Avoid them and there wouldn't have been a problem.

Actually I often use a gift card in certain restaurants when we go out. This is because my dp company have a deal with alot of businesses whereby employees get a 5-10% discount if they top up and use a gift card.

Ian is a knob.