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?

@HeronLanyon I have!

It's a discussion and I have counter argued your points, is that not allowed?

Do those who object to a voucher because it is a different payment method to everyone else

also think it unacceptable if one person puts their share on a credit card when everyone else is paying cash ?

This voucher is like a pre-loaded store card
It can only be used in one place, but it is "real" money

If you have read the full thread plaster you know my answer. I’ve said it repeatedly and respected the contrary view explicitly each time. Take another look.

I was in a similar but different position recently where work colleague wanted to get together to pay for a gift for another colleague. I had a gift voucher for that shop. I offered it up and we split the rest of the money between us. I could very easily have not mentioned by gift voucher and kept it to spend on myself. One thing I wouldn’t have done though is offer the gift voucher in lieu of paying my share of the total... that would have been frowned upon I imagine although I’m sure no one would have done an Ian and shouted at me. I just wouldn’t.

I was recently Karen. Had a generous voucher which was 3 times the amount of my bill so I put in and said I was happy to throw in the remainder. The others tried to insist I keep it for myself but I used it and took a nice chunk off everyone's meal. Hardly unsocial!! I did regret it a bit afterwards though! 😂

Can I ask this ..
If the group went to a spar day and it was £900 each person.
Bill is £3,600.....
Karen had a gift card from work for the spar, but she was not the one who choose where she went...
She handed over the gift card and said the group could have the £100 for the tip...
What then ..should she still have paid with.

Your OP reads like the complainer is objecting that Karen wasn't paying less after using the whole card ??

@mummy2017 If she’s giving it specifically as a tip then everyone still puts in £900 surely?

I should add that in my case I said to throw in my whole gift card and the others said 'Well we will pay the rest'.

Karen sounds lovely .

Cloudyy, if I understand that last post correctly, your situation was something like this:

Gift costs £100. Your gift voucher is for £50. You use that. Your friend then puts in £25 and you put in another £25.

Now, if that was through Groupon or some other discount scheme, fair enough, you never had the cash to start with, you're sharing a discount with your friend.

But if you actually mean gift card, you've paid £75 for the gift and your friend has paid £25. That doesn't make any sense to me unless you wanted to pay more than your friend and/or your friend is very hard up. You had £50 to spend as you chose. That's exactly the same as having £50 in cash or spending £50 on a credit/debit/charge card.

Err if this had happened to me. I’d have told Ian ok then, let’s pay seperately, use the gift card for myself and the others. Keep the balance.
He can put his grubby hands into his own wallet and pay for entire meal himself .

@Cloudyyy.

Sorry missed phrased it..
£1,000 gift card...
Karen paid her £900 share of the bill fron the gift card and said the £100 left on the card was the tip....

What Gaspode said.
Why, Cloudyyy, would you effectively have paid for more than your share of the gift? You had a gift card. You could have used that to buy something for yourself, i.e. it had monetary value for you. You put it in AND then extra cash, half of what was left.

Personally I think that's nuts - you've paid more than you needed to. And if the other person would have frowned upon you putting in the gift card as your share, then they're nuts too.

Karen would be unreasonable if she ever went out in the company of this diner again!

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.

Well yes I could’ve kept quiet about the gift card and just paid my half (and I would have done that if I felt so inclined) but it happened that I didn’t really fancy anything from the shop at that time and preferred to make colleague’s present slightly less expensive for other colleague and me to buy. My point was just that it isn’t the same as money, it’s a gift card. In that scenario, both me and colleague paid less so it was a win-win for us both. If I wanted to keep the gift card, I should’ve done so by myself and not in the same transaction as her paying. It has monetary value, yes, but it isn’t cash that can be spent anywhere and it would feel wrong to me to put that in and expect others to use cash to pay. That’s just social etiquette in my opinion.

That seems to be what a few pp object to "only a gift card that she didn't pay for."

but that was a preloaded gift card from her employer, a bonus on top of her basic pay

She earned it
It's not a BOGOFF newspaper voucher that requires other people to buy something

If she received a £500 bonus or commission, would that still be "against etiquette" ?
or is it ok if the bonus is cash instead of a preloaded card ?

@mummmy2017 in that situation there really isn’t anything I would do except pay my £900 share. If I was one Karen’s shoes though, I would offer my voucher towards the whole bill so we’d each have £250 off. I would say though, because it is a lot of money I would only do this if going with family/ best friends. In a group of other friends, I would just pay my £900 share and keep the voucher quiet to use another time I imagine.

It's still money that she earned

@Cloudyyy seriously, why do you not consider a gift card to be the same as cash? I’d actually be really disappointed if I gave someone a gift card and they used it in the way you’re describing, it’s been given to you for your benefit, it’s not a discount voucher you’ve ripped out of a magazine.

Why is a voucher from her employer different to any other form of bonus ?

It's just like a pre-loaded store card

@StripeySocks29 It’s a gift card, not cash?! The money has already been spent (on the gift card). It’s more equivalent to me putting a box of chocolates on the table in the restaurant and them myself because I brought them along. Share them or leave them at home and have them to yourself there?

It’s a gift card, not cash?

Given as a firm of remuneration from her employer therefore equivalent to cash

It’s more equivalent to me putting a box of chocolates on the table in the restaurant and them myself because I brought them along. Share them or leave them at home and have them to yourself there?

Your attempts to mischaracterise the situation are getting odder.

An actual equivalent situation would be something like this:
There's a work away day and someone goes to buy a sandwich for everyone. But you don't need one because you've taken your own with you. And because you're nice, you've made some cookies to share with everyone. But someone then has a go at you and thinks you should put money towards the sandwiches because everyone else is.

@Cloudyyy.
Ok... So really your willing to hand over the gift card if you can afford it or you know it won't be used.....but once the amount the card is worth more, really your the same as the rest of us and would rather get the use of the card ....