An astonishingly number of years ago (before I met Udhay!), I was part
of a group that met at the same venue for lunch every Thursday. At least
one other silklister was part of this group, from time to time.
The venue was always the same, but the people who attended came and go.
Alcohol was involved, and not everyone drank. Some people drank a lot.
The number of people who attended varied by as much as 50%. The bill was
not split.
After much faffing about at the beginning, the rule became "throw twenty
dollar bills at the bill until it goes away!". The finer print: if you
feel like you paid too much last week, be a little slower this week.
This was ... a revelation to me. It completely changed my attitude
around this kind of problem, and somewhat around money in general - from
an attitude where every penny mattered to realizing that the pennies,
and a few dollars, didn't really matter at all.
I was, I admit, at a point where a few dollars *didn't* matter. But I
hadn't shifted my mental model to realize this.
I realize that this won't work for everyone. Overall, this experience
made me a more generous person, and I'm (still) glad of it.
On 1/24/24 7:45 PM, Udhay Shankar N via Silklist wrote:
This is a topic that comes up every now and again. Speaking as someone
who regularly organizes group meetups,
1. We usually split the bill evenly, because (at least as far as food
is concerned) the entire table ends up sampling whatever is ordered.
2. The people I tend to meet with tend to order things which are
roughly similar.
3. Liquor is where this model faces challenges. A teetotaller (or even
a beer drinker, such as myself) might feel hard done by, if asked, on
a regular basis, to partly subsidize someone ordering much more
expensive spirits.
The solution isn't easily achieved. At least in India, separate checks
aren't the norm, and most POS systems aren't set up for it. Also,
keeping track like this is a tedious and mood killing chore at the end
of a pleasant evening.
What are the thoughts of the hive mind?
https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/splitting-the-check-is-no-longer-restaurant-etiquette-in-2024-its-every-diner-for-themself/articleshow/107123596.cms
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((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @pobox.com <http://pobox.com>)) ((www.digeratus.com
<http://www.digeratus.com>))
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