Be honest, who has ever done this?

[Moomin8]

I've seen this happen soooo many times. Just why do people think it's ok? To clarify, it does not happen with good friends usually. It's usually when there's a 'party' of some kind or meal made up of either work colleagues or mums from some kind of school or hobby group.

Everyone goes out, some people know each other better than others and earlier on in the evening a sizeable number of people slink off leaving others to foot the bill. Quite often it's those who can easily afford to pay!

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever done it? Because it seems to happen quite a lot ime!

Nope. Never happened to me. I just wouldn't stand for it. Wouldn't let them slope off. Or if they did would tackle them immediately about it the next day at work.

Yes - went out with a group of girls one in particular spent £60 others spent about £15 she asked if we could split the bill between us all. Nobody agreed

Why should everyone else have to pay an extra £5-£10 because she ordered x3 drinks & a very pricey main with truffle fries

This has only ever happened at a work meal and I could never imagine friends doing this to each other.

I wouldn't worry about who had coke and who had wine and who had a starter and who didn't.

I actually would worry about this as the differences really add up and wouldn't pay for anything I didn't order - but I am usually one of the poorer friends in our group.

I honestly don't think I ever have. If I have to leave early, I make sure I leave adequate money first.

No people that leave early always leave money but there always ends up not being enough to cover the bill !

It hasn't happened to me specifically, I just hear a lot that it happens to other people.

So why put in your OP I've seen this happen soooo many times ???

No. Like most posters, it's never happened to me. That's in decades of going out for meals with all sorts of different groups.

I haven’t got experience of this but I do have experience of going out with friends that when knowing the bill is going to be split, will order the most expensive thing on the menu, even though they wouldn’t usually. They will also order bottles of wine etc and have the lions share of those too.

So you haven’t actually had any experience of this happening? Why then post as if you have?

If you think I'm a troll, feel free to report the thread.

Ha! I go out with a group every Xmas. Some always leave before the bill arrives, and chuck a bit of money on the table. Completely forgetting service charge, drinks, nibbles etc. I made a massive fuss when it was being arranged this year and I'm not letting anyone leave before the bill comes. If you are last at the table you always get stung.

eh ?
No-one is troll hunting, just wondering why you open your thread with a great big lie ?

This happens to me a lot. I tend to organise different events and dinners out for wait for it....church things... and every single time there is a shortfall in the bill and I end up paying for it - as I have organised it and feel responsible.

I am not doing it any more.

@MrGsFancyNewVagina get in there first and ask the staff to keep your good bottle wine behind the bar and order glasses of it during your meal. Explain to them that it's not for the table, just you. Then tell the cheap wine drinking friend you're on glasses as you don't know if you want to drink much tonight.

Never had this problem, but then again when I eat out it's somewhere where you pay when you order.

Large infrequent gatherings and everyone just orders and pays for themselves - at smaller more regular meals we often just take it in turn to cover the whole meal: I go out approx once a month with three different groups of 4-8 people, and if anything people argue that it must be their turn to pay this time (A paid last time, B's just got a promotion, C's birthday is next week, D's out of work - so I'm paying).
Tips are only given at the end of the meal if service is above standard (not American), and half the time the wait staff will say they don't accept tips - would we like to donate to X charity instead?
We never tip if we've been interrupted during our meal to ask us to donate though, and it's unfortunately becoming a very common issue near me, it's bad enough being chugged on the high street!

I did once slope off from a huge MN meetup without paying - I really, honestly, truthfully, just forgot

Had a terrible lightbulb moment later & posted on FB & found who had paid for me & paid them back (everybody was amused, luckily)

But literally can't imagine the mindset of multiple people deliberately leaving

No it's never happened to me and I'd never do it to anyone either

Years ago, a group of schoolmums .
A few said they had to leave early and at least two didn't pay. The rest of us ended up putting extra in to cover. Don't think we ever got it back.

just wondering why you open your thread with a great big lie ?

Do you have nothing better to do but accuse people on a Internet forum, posting a pretty unremarkable thread of lying? Get a life... people keep accusing me of being a journalist but those comments have been deleted so go & pick on someone else.

Some posters had said find better friends etc. Whereas I actually did say in my OP that it's not friends who do this but acquaintances. For example, I was there when it happened on 2 occasions - mums from reception class and mums from a hobby...around Xmas! but since then have heard that this has happened a lot of my RL friends too...also around Xmas.

FacebookRager I swear I love you! I would never have thought of that and the next do is in a rather over priced nice restaurant, so the wine will be particularly over priced nice.

Not sure why you are talking about me "accusing" you.

You posted two completely contrasting sentences.

Can't get my head round why yo would start a thread saying something has happened to you soooo many times, when you later admit It hasn't happened to me specifically

MN is such a fab site. People ask for advice, people ask for support. People ponder about things of little consequence. People seek help with desperate situations. The site is full of wonderful people who make us laugh and make some folk well up. It helps people get things clear in their own mind. It gives people others to chat to rather than being alone.

I don't get the motivation for making things up - you could ask about anything you want without having to lie.

I did this once, many (many) years ago. Or rather, we deliberately went to the loo and stayed there for a very long time when they were bringing the bill.

Mitigating circumstances though - we had been asked to come to dinner (pretty much work related, they wanted some women at the table to break up the business speak/make it seem less like a work event, I suspect) And it had been promised to me and other friend that in no way would we have to pay (we were young and broke) The colleague who had insisted we come then left early and we realised we were screwed. So we had to hide in the loo.....awks.

Op said she’s “seen” this happen soooo many times not it’s happened to them sooo many times

Seen/ heard of means the same thing. I'm not going to engage any further except to say that if you think I'm lying, you think I'm a troll. So report the thread if you want to...