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Split the bill equally or just pay for what you've eaten?

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Reply 80

NutellaLatte

Pay for your own. I usually always get a lot of food and it would be awful to have others pay for it!

Reply 81

doodle_333

Original post by TimmonaPortella

Well I'd just point out that we seem to be talking about quite a specific, fairly tricky situation here. I'd note again that the woman in the article in OP isn't a student, but a fully adult woman with a husband and children. But, I dunno, it sounds like in your case your friends are decent and everyone's behaving reasonably. I think I'd still feel bad if you were missing out on the drinks everyone else was having, particularly if I'd played a part in making you go somewhere you couldn't really afford. In fact really considering it I think I'd claim to love pizza express to avoid the whole issue. It's nice to go to nice places but it's not that big a deal, I'd rather be somewhere everyone's comfortable. Whatever works for you, though.

But if you were my friend I wouldn't let you know you were causing me financial hardship (because any decent friend would try and help).

I don't think it's that unusual... either all your friends happen to be equally wealthy OR they're also putting up with the situation because people tend to be embarassed about money stuff.

Reply 82

HistoryWhiz6

Usually pay for myself, especially if in a big group and different people have vastly different amounts of food

Reply 83

TimmonaPortella

Original post by doodle_333

Yeah, but if you were my friend I'd probably pick up on signs of it tbh. One such sign might be if you order conspicuously lightly and don't drink in restaurants, unless you're a light eater and teetotal otherwise.

It's not that it's usual for people's friends to be equally wealthy, it's just that, once you graduate and become employed, your friends will tend to have graduated and become employed, and it won't be usual for the sort of sums involved in splitting a restaurant bill to be that big of a deal for you. I'm sure it's common for there to be friends with issues with what I'll call normal mid-market restaurant prices among students, but that itself is a particular situation. As I keep saying, the woman in OP was a fully fledged adult, and yet was upset about a £10 difference in a £30-40 bill. That's what my initial comments were aimed at.