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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed at the blardy silly woman who took faffing to a new level over splitting the bill at a restaurant this weekend??

145 replies

yorkshirepudding · 06/05/2008 11:22

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OP posts:
DirtySexyMummy · 06/05/2008 11:25

Oh my god I would be mortified. What a strange woman!

Well done to you though, you have the right attitude.

cornsilk · 06/05/2008 11:25

Bet she's on the PTA.

vbacqueen1 · 06/05/2008 11:25

this is why I am a hermit

funnypeculiar · 06/05/2008 11:25

I'm more shocked at grown women having calculators from Claire's Accessories....

aGalChangedHerName · 06/05/2008 11:26

God i hate that!!

I have been for drinks and or dinner and just had soft drinks and 1 course. Have never minded in the least splitting the bill equally between everyone.

Silly cow!!

Youcannotbeserious · 06/05/2008 11:28

I can't stand it when people do this........ Just split the ruddy bill and be done with it!!!

Mind you, what's equally as bad is when you get 2+ blokes all trying to pay for the whole bill and waving £20s around!!

That's just as embarrasing!!

Psychomum5 · 06/05/2008 11:29

oh god, I'll bet that was someone from my family.....my aunt does this.

she also always checks plates to ensure that she has as many peas (for eg) as the next person, as if she doesn;t, then she pays less!!!

she is the reason I always ensure that I give my part of the bill regardless of if I have had alcohol or less to eat etc......tis the easist way and in my mind, what goes around comes around, and next time I may have the most and still just pay the same share!!!!

Original poster
yorkshirepudding · 06/05/2008 11:29

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OP posts:
mrsruffallo · 06/05/2008 11:30

This is one of my pet hates.
It is completely unsophisticated and provincial to do anything but split it 8 ways.
What a philistine.

wildhorses · 06/05/2008 11:32

cos they are muppets

We all went out for a friends birthday 3 weeks ago.Where 2 of us got drunk (not clever)But we didnt eat .One of the group a woman kicked off the following MOnday at school saying the meal was shit and it had cost a 100.00 per couple what a waste of money bla bla and then had a go cos I was drunk she said she felt like she had paid for all my drinks.Now we all put in 100.00 and then my dh put in extra to cover the wine my friend and I had drank The cheeky cow has a short memory for when it was her birthday we all went out (I DROVE HER SO SHE COULD DRINK) She picked a mega expensive restuarant bottles of champagne plus a wine from her year of birth: It cost us nearly 300.00. Hasten to say we are all going out again this weekend But she isnt coming

GooseyLoosey · 06/05/2008 11:33

I have had this with dh's work colleagues. There were 15 of them and after an hour, I went up to the till and paid the whole lot. When I got back to the table they asked me what I had done, I said I wanted to go home not to argue for another hour and everyone could work out what they thought appropriate and give it to dh the next day. I then flounced out (dh was changing jobs anyway). It was very liberating!

Lauriefairycake · 06/05/2008 11:37

I have done that (gone up and paid the bill) and told people to sort it out later cos I can't bear discussing/arguing in front of waiters. For some bizarre reason I get really embarassed

onepieceoflollipop · 06/05/2008 11:38

It is bad when there is a fixed service charge, e.g. in Pizza Express they automatically add one if more than 8 people are eating, and people "forget" that when calculating "their share". I don't mean leaving a tip is bad, I mean the fact that in groups people often ignore the fact it is often appropriate to leave a tip.

I always say in a loud voice "oooh the service was really good at this end of the table, did you guys really think it was bad enough to withold the tip?"

We all have friends who try and work out their share, round the amount for drinks down (e.g. a £3.95 glass of wine rounded down to £3) completely forget they had 3, rather than the 2 they pay for etc etc...

themoon66 · 06/05/2008 11:42

Love Goosey's way of handling it. Must remember that.

Beetroot · 06/05/2008 11:45

Goosey I have done that too.

Ruins the meal

certian members of my family do that and it ruins the meal as I get tense before it has even started

kayzisexpecting · 06/05/2008 11:48

Whenever we go out we do what you orginally were going to do. We divide the amount by how many people are there and then pay it. Its so much easier.

mears · 06/05/2008 11:50

I hate the haggling too and prefer to split the bill, however I have been in the situation where some people in a group have ordered numerous bottles of wine and drinks expecting the bill to be split. I think that is unfair for those not drinking alcohol and in that instance I insisted on the bill being individually split. Would have been much better for the drinkers to automatically offer more but that wasn't forthcoming.

mollymawk · 06/05/2008 11:53

Am also puzzled by the fact you can get calculators from Claire's Accessories. Do they have sequins?
But ROFLing at psychomum's pea-counting aunt!

Carmenere · 06/05/2008 11:53

I just don't allow that to happen in my company. If I sense this is on the cards, I just take the bill divide it and tell everyone to pay their share and if they object I will tell them either to stop being so bloody penny pinching or if they really kick up I will loudly tell them to pay what they think they owe and get everyone else at the table to put in an extra pound to cover the short fall.

My thinking is that if this mortally offends the misers, well no loss to my social life really I used to be a waitress and this was a hugely irritating part of the job, particularly when stupid women (and it was always women) who were really pissed were professing only to have had one glass of wine

Original poster
yorkshirepudding · 06/05/2008 11:54

Message withdrawn

OP posts:
chefswife · 06/05/2008 11:54

I?ve worked 20 years in the service industry and many of those in fine dining. I learned very quickly that when a large table of broads (and large groups) come in, I make a note of what everyone eats and split the bill myself accordingly. It?s very easy, plus my tip increases because I?ve done the painstaking work for them and it is much appreciated; by those like yourself Yorkshire pudding who doesn?t see the point of fussing about (like me too) and those who want to make sure everyone pays what they spent. Ask the server to do this. Most POS systems have this feature, but the servers don?t tend to be to on the ball here. Just be sure not to move around from your seat. Your seat is your number for the server.

Carmenere · 06/05/2008 11:56

In the case of one or two people not drinking and everyone else imbibing to excess it is fair that they just pay for their food and the rest of the party divide it. It is the ones who bleat about only having a starter and a dessert and two glasses of wine that really piss me off.

Original poster
yorkshirepudding · 06/05/2008 11:56

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OP posts:
ninedragons · 06/05/2008 11:56

The pea-counting aunt is definitely the weirdest thing on MN today. You should take her for Chinese so she has to count grains of rice.

honeybehappy · 06/05/2008 11:56

i complained to pizza express after our last visit.they said because we had 8 at our table we had to pay 10% of the bill as a tip which was £18 and i didn't think the service we received deserved £18.Also one of the 8 was a baby and not eating.
I emailed them to say i wasn't happy and received a cheque for £15 and £40 in vouchers 2 weeks later.