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?

fromage that is brilliant

Another vote for Objector being a CF.

If this was me I'd have used the gift card and split the rest equally. I think Karen is the cheeky one tbh. She should have just went for a meal alone or with her partner.

Eh? She paid her share from the gift card and then gave the remaining £40 left on said gift card to the group to deduct from their meal.

How on earth is she cheeky? She paid her share with actual cash on the gift card, not a money off voucher. She then gave what was left on the gift card to the group instead of taking it back to be used again.

What is not to understand?

I understand completely. And I honestly think it is cheeky. I'd have used my gift card towards everyone's meal and split the final cost equally. Infact I have done before. It was a gift anyway so I wasn't out any money. My friends and family would do this aswell, and have done also.

If this was me I'd have used the gift card and split the rest equally. I think Karen is the cheeky one tbh. She should have just went for a meal alone or with her partner.
@Morgan12 Please, please, could you explain your logic on this? I really don't understand you (or Ian). The gift voucher is equal to a certain sum, and is the equivalent of a cash amount, but it is just in the form of a gift token, as it were. Karen was very generous in spending the whole of the gift on this meal, so that others benefited from a gift she had been given. How on earth is Karen being cheeky in this?

But cheeky in what way? Who’s she getting one over on, IYSWIM? Who’s being taken advantage of?

@morgan12 - I might be missing something so don't want to resort to sounding rude but why should the OPs friend lose her gift card and then effectively pay twice? Sorry, but that's bonkers and beyond!

@Morgan12 would you think the same if Karen paid for the gift card herself?

It's not even like they were work colleagues in which case I might understand the CF's expectation slightly more (though I still wouldn't agree with it).

Fromage your suggestion is genius

First post covers it nicely

However, I eoukdnt use a gift voucher in that scenario I’d use it when it covered the entire bill or it was just me & DH ETC

BUT Karen’s use of it was fine and generous the other woman was ridiculous & rude

Ian is def out of order. Karen has probably paid tax as a benefit in kind as well n I.

I would be unnerved if someone used a voucher to pay their share

This made me laugh out loud
Unnerved ? Seriously ?

Karen was in the right. A gift card is no different than a cash gift, it just can only be used in a certain place. She was very generous to use the balance of it to pay for a share of other people's meals.

If Karen's mum had given her £100 and said "Get yourself a nice dinner with this, dear" and she had taken that cash to the restaurant and made the same offer (paying for her meal and contributing the rest for the other diners), would everyone still say that she shouldn't use the cash because it was the cash was a gift or that the cash should be split equally between the diners then Karen should then ante up for her share of the bill from 'her money'?

And who cares if someone uses a gift card as long as they cover their share? The point of splitting a bill is that so no one gets 'stuck' paying for someone else's meal, not that everyone spends some cash.

Splitting the bill in the UK was such a strange concept for me when I lived there. Where I live, they type in your orders individually at a table so when the bill comes out it's automatically split into what each person had and their own individual total plus a group total at the bottom. If you're a couple paying together and mention it, they can easily combine two totals together. No faff. Makes going out with friends simple, everybody pays for what they ordered.

So posters would rather pay MORE than allowing someone to use what they haven't got themselves.

how sad do you have to be with that attitude!

The polite thing to do would be for Karen to ask for the gift card to be deducted from the total, and then all the diners (including Karen) pay an equal share of what remains. Absolutely barking!!
I think you must be Ian!!

I bet Karen wishes she never went out that night!

Ian’s hard work isn’t he?.

I’d drop Ian, he’ll be a millstone round your neck.

Obvs the objecting diner is in the wrong!!

Someone is going to have to explain to me, slowly and clearly, what is wrong (unnerving) about using a gift voucher of a certain sum to be specifically used in a restaurant, to pay for a share (and more) of a meal eaten in the restaurant where the gift voucher is valid. Am clearly hard of brain as I don't understand the horror (or social faux pas) of using a restaurant gift voucher for the purpose it was intended.

I would be unnerved if someone used a voucher to pay their share
But no one did!

If that unnerves you you best stop at home!

I also want to know what the others said. I hope they put him in his place and accidentally miss him off the next group email.

The only possible way that Karen is in the wrong is if she had invited everyone saying 'let's go here, I've got a voucher for £100 off!' When everyone wanted to go somewhere else or somewhere cheaper. Then it would be a bit off as she has saved them a tenner each but maybe they spent a lot more than that in getting there or choosing more expensive food as they thought they all had money off. In that scenario it would be a bit mean to put everyone else out and keep all the money off yourself.

If it was just a meal that they all arranged and she happened to have a voucher then fair enough

We had very similar at work recently.

We all went out for lunch at a well known pizza / pasta place. The bill (for the sake of maths...) was £150 for 5 people.

Person 1 had a 25% off all mains voucher - wahey! says everyone, thank you Person 1! Bill now £112.

Everyone splits the £112 five ways, so £22.50 each.

Person 2 had a gift card for £30, can only be used at this restaurant. Person 2 says - you know what, I'm not going to come here again before the gift card expires, why don't we use that £7.50 to go towards the tip.

Thanks Person 2! says People 1 3 4 and 5, who now work out that they need to pay (incl 10% tip) around £25 each, thanks to Person 2's generosity with their remaining £7.50.

Everyone ends up paying £25 rather than £33 each.

Everyone is happy with Person 1's 25% off discount code, and Person 2's extra money towards the tip.

No one enquires why Person 2 has a gift card - maybe it was a present? Maybe they got it as they could get a discount on gift cards online, and only paid £25 for a £30 gift card? Maybe it was a Christmas bonus from work? It's just their way of paying for their share.

If it were my close/best friends going out for dinner I would take the gift card amount off the whole lot so that everyone pays less. If they were say, a group of school mums I'm not as close with, or colleagues, I'd do what Karen did.

Ian is the twat in the scenario anyway for bringing it up. In his shoes I would think "Yey, money off my bill!"

If I was Karen, I’d refuse to eat out with IAn again or if I did, I’d insist on seperate bills in case he has other bonkers ideas about bill splitting