To think you don’t get out of paying the bill because you don’t drink?

[ThatHardyWaspAgain]

I’m sure this has been done many times before by people in similar scenarios.

I went out for a bit of lunch with two friend’s and one of them brought another friend along that I’ve never met but was nice enough.

However, when it came to the bill, she said ‘’Can we please calculate it all with the alcohol you’ve had separately paid for? Because I only had classical cokes’’

So, we did as she asked. Added up everything but removed the drinks. So 3 of us paid for our drinks in a split, and then did another split for the rest with her and her food and classical colas.

The annoying bit is, she had 3 of them. And they weren’t really much different in price to most of our alcohol.

We all had the same roast and mango cheesecake.

I wouldn’t mind but she kept insisting we all had a dessert so she didn’t feel alone in having one. We’re adults after all but it is a bit annoying

Separate thread to come to see if I would be U to tell my friend not to bring her along again

She also didn’t tip.

I don’t read it like that. I think OP is annoyed that this woman didn’t want to contribute towards others drinks but wanted people to contribute to hers despite them being a similar price. I think the OP is annoyed about the principle not the money.

There was no reason for you to pay for her drinks.

You should have all paid for what you ordered so that everybody could order whatever they wanted and just relax and still stay friends afterwards.

Whenever one person isn’t drinking alcohol or is going to eat significantly less then it should be automatic that you don’t split the bill equally.

Was she driving ?

i would have pointed that out and had her out in just a pound less if important to her. She may not have realized?

Exactly, she said it wasn't fair to split and then proposed a different way of splitting which resulted in her paying less than her fair share.

Yeah I think most people are missing the point. Both of these are reasonable options: (1) Split the bill evenly if cost were relatively equal (which they were) and everyone is happy, or (2) Everyone pays for what they individually purchased. What OP describes is neither of these - it doesn’t make any sense for everyone else to split the classical colas! 🎻

Well I think she sounds tight and I don't get why you're getting a hard time OP. She wanted everyone to pay for part of her drinks, and their own drinks. Ridiculous. Not tipping is shit. Making a 'political statement' by not tipping just leaves the waitress short and changes nothing about the world. You want better pay for wait staff then lobby, petition, make some noise, don't just be tight and act like you're doing it for the morals.

Why did you pay for her drinks?

Either 'split so we each paid for what we had - or - not

As someone who’s worked in the service industry I appreciate your philosophy, however in the real world: please tip

It’s not her fault you (or whoever did the maths) fucked it up is it?

Exactly this. Take the drinks off the bill, allocate the correct costs to everyone (including the coke drinker) and then split the food by the appropriate number. Don't order dessert if you don’t want it.

Hard disagree 😂

Why do you not “facilitate” others to drink?

It’s not like it’s going towards a bag of smack.

@CottageGoblin Well, it was on the news recently that non drinkers ie those that drink coke or soft drinks are paying almost as much as those that are drinking alcohol now. theres not much in it at least

I don’t find this to be true, I only drink Diet Coke when we go out, my bills is always significantly cheaper than the people who drink wine or cocktails. You better believe I’m not paying for someone’s alcohol when I don’t drink. Everyone should just pay for what they had.

I don’t care if I’m only down a fiver, because if I’m going out a lot then I’m constantly subbing other people’s meals.

But it’s weird that she took off the alcohol but didn’t take off her cokes. If she wanted to split the bill and she did that I think I would have said oh don’t forget your £9 for those cokes will you

This, can't quite believe how many people have completely misunderstood OP's post 😂

No @ThatHardyWaspAgain YANBU, you either all pay for your own food and drinks, or, remove all the drinks (& each pay for what you had, so CF pays for all 3 of her 'classical colas"), and the food is split between you all. Not, you pay for your drinks and then split the food + colas between you all, that's not on

Everyone should have paid for what they had in this situation. Makes no sense take some items out of the bill and then divide the rest.

This. Why not pay for what you had?

Alcohol bill very low. A glass of wine in our area is £9 !!

Whoever split the bill messed up, she should have paid for her classical cokes.

I'm not convinced by the argument that coke is the same price as alcohol either. Even expensive places coke is about £3. Beer is £6/7, wine is £7/8 and spirits with a mixer more.

Why not solve by asking for separate bills from the start? 🧐 Is it really awkward to do that?
I'm in Canada and restaurants present bills already separated and have done it for years now.

You've misunderstood, you're wrong, and you're cheap AF

I can't drink so I'd resent paying for other people's alcohol unless I'm deliberately buying a round, but she didn't do it right by including her soft drinks as part of the split.

I don't understand why people don't just pay for what they've ordered. It's easy enough - the bill arrives, phone out, calculate what you had, pay that plus a tip, problem solved.

I don't think people are reading the opening post properly. It is definitely not right to split 1 person's drinks across the group and not someone else's.

I am a non drinker and don't really like it if I'm made to feel I have to chip in for lots of wine or spirits but when it's a glass of wine Vs a similarly price soft drink then of course I pay my share (either specifically or evenly as the rest of the group decide).

You've missed the point, she doesn't mind paying for her own alcohol, she doesn't see why if she is doing that she should pay for her friend's cokes.