On 29/05/2024 09:50, Alaric Snell-Pym via Silklist wrote:
On 28/05/2024 18:55, Suresh Ramasubramanian via Silklist wrote:
I and four of my old school friends just had a longish dinner with
drinks (beer or juices) and just split the bill five ways. It gets
to be fun when people agonise over the split so much. If you end up
a bit short in one dinner it’ll even out in the next ..
This works if everyone has plenty of spare money, but in my poorer
days I've had situations where I feel I need to go along to a group
dinner or miss out on some important networking. So I've eaten
frugally, staying carefully within my budget... but then if at the end
everyone wants to just split the bill equally I'd be in trouble.
So, especially if you're not sure everyone present is flush with
money, make sure it's not socially awkward for anybody who wants to
just pay for what they ate to do so :-)
I generally argue for, not against, even bill splitting but I try to be
sensitive about letting anyone who might not be Ok with that having a
safe space to say so.
As someone who doesn't drink alcohol, there have been several times I've
paid ~$100+ for a soft drink (or $200 for my ~$30 one course no drink
meal) thanks to "let's just split the bill". Sometimes people notice and
suggest I pay less, sometimes I'm OK raising it (it's usually fine if as
extreme as my examples), sometimes I just avoid being on the bill (i.e.
don't order anything), sometimes I pay over the odds having pre-decided
I'm ok if that. It's taken time (and being wealthier) to not have it be
an issue for me but I'm very aware it's still an issue for some.
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