AIBU to think using their voucher only on their share was rude?

[Dinnerdrama]

We were invited out to dinner with friends at the weekend.They planned to visit a particular restaurant and asked if we’d like to go along.
We had a nice enough meal, couple bottles of wine, liqueurs. All quite pleasant for a Friday night.
When the bill arrived one of our friends presented a voucher and asked for the bill to be halved and the voucher taken off theirs. The waiter seemed slightly bemused and repeated back the request. Our friend repeated and clarified they wanted the bill split and the voucher taken off their half.
I almost died of second hand mortification. Is this not CF of the highest order?! I wouldn’t dream of doing this when I invited people out. If I was that skint, I’d use the voucher as a couple and
not invite others along.
For the record, I have been out for a meal previously with them where I have had a voucher and I had the voucher taken off the whole bill and split the remainder.
Cannot believe the brass neck, it has put me off going out with them again. Massively embarrassed on their behalf, not sure why, they didn’t seem to be!!

But you understand that £100 vouchers cost £100 right?

Just read all her posts, she’s clearly answered it

If someone had given them £100 cash for Christmas and said “use it for a meal out on me” would you have expected them to share?

I think they were wrong to accept you using a voucher to take money off the total previously though, I’d definitely refuse a friend giving me half their gift.

How long ago was the meal you used your voucher for?

We were gifted a generous voucher for Xmas for a fancy restaurant. We booked the restaurant. Friends heard and joined us last minute. We used the voucher on our bill. Friends knew this was why we were going there in the first place. They knew we weren’t paying for them. They were perfectly happy with this.

Oh my word!

It wasn’t a percentage voucher it was straight cash gift

The person who had the voucher didn't buy it for themselves though. It's not £100 that they have already spent loading up a pre-payment card.

I'd be mortified at the idea of someone using a gift card they'd been given to pay for all or
part of my meal
I probably wouldn't use one in these circumstances as its a faff for the staff but wouldn't bother me in the slightest if a friend did this. Makes absolutely no difference to me, my meal still costs what I expected it to cost
I get yours is a bit different given you've used a voucher of a similar amount towards a table before, but I wouldn't have liked you doing that, though I get it was the easiest way got you to use your voucher and not inconvenience the waiting staff

How is it any different to putting a £100 note towards their meal?

You split it equally, they just used a different payment option?

What about if they were given £100 for Christmas and had that in cash?

Since when do people buy others gift cards and expect gift cards to be shared out amongst friends though? If they’d given cash and said spend it at x restaurant and they did that would be ok? But because it’s a gift card it should be shared amongst everyone who wasn’t the recipient of the gift?

That still doesn’t mean the op is entitled to half of it.

Yeah, I would have seen this as rude. IMO the biggest issue here was that it was an even split of the bill instead of each pays what they ordered (I appreciate with wine etc you can’t just each pay yours).

I’ve been to double date dinners where each couple paid their own, which was easy enough to calculate. Having to say out loud to the waiter to halve the bill and then take off whatever is what makes it awkward.

In these circumstances I’d treat my friends and use the gift card/voucher combined, then halve the amount.

No that is odd. Were the vouchers the same type and value? Did they realise the voucher had been used to reduce their bill? Do they remember that a voucher was used to reduce their bill? What was the source of each voucher?

@SkinnyOatFlatWhiteForMePlease

that sounds like she did share the £150 off with you - otherwise she would be paying nothing

Exactly clear communication needed

So honestly, would you accept a friend part paying for you with her voucher at one meal and then use your own voucher just for yourself when you had one?

Defo. I’m mortified for her.

The weird thing is announcing it before the bill split.. just ask for half of the bill and then pay with whatever means you have , cash/voucher. It’s fine to treat it like cash. I don’t go to a clothes shop with a friend and then offer to give her half of my voucher for the shop.

Sharing the voucher is incredibly generous and fine to do but it’s basically paying £50 of the other couples meal which is a bit of an odd thing to do.

It's quite funny how differently people see it. I can see why others seeing one way but it doesn't change how I see it.

Regardless of any further argument I remain happy in both viewpoints. That for me I wouldn't dream of not sharing it and I don't see it the same cash at all. But as I am able to accept others feel differently I would feel that strongly about someone choosing not to share it.

what a ridiculous post.
Where do you stop?

If the cash comes from their paycheck, it's ok to split the bill
but if the cash is a birthday gift from a relative, they should pay for yours?

what about if they sold stuff on vinted? Is it their money to spend, or do they need to share with you too?

why does it make a difference to you, where their mean of payment come from?
You invite people to join only when you are spending your salary and nothing else?

come on😂

I think it's cheeky for OP to expect the voucher to be shared - that's basically expecting your meal to be paid for by someone else. Whether it's a voucher or cash, it's just a means of paying for a person's share.

Expecting a voucher to be split is the same sort of behaviour as people who insist on splitting the bill evenly when they've had steak and expensive drinks when other people have had salads and cokes. Just cheeky as fuck.

So they asked you to go with them knowing it would cost them under £40 but knowing you'd pay over £100? That's so rude. I wouldn't go out with them again.

How do you know that? The OP hasn't actually said whether the voucher was a gift, or something they had previously bought themselves....

Same as we also don't know the value of the vouchers the OP previously used on a meal with this same couple. OPs vouchers could have been a '20% off' voucher, or a £10 voucher and therefore completely incomparable to the £100 voucher in this scenario, yet there are people claiming that her friends were so rude because they didn't share their voucher like she shared hers.

I would share too OP - whether it was a gift voucher or a 20% off code. I would see it as a bonus for us all. Happily my friends are the same.