Comments on: Meticulous Bill Splitting

By: Kenna Ferraro

Kenna Ferraro — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:35:31 +0000

Thank you for your blog post.Much thanks again. Want more.

By: Urban fox hunter

Urban fox hunter — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:05:08 +0000

A competitive sport, just brilliant and so true. After some time in London we have banished this trait and happily seek to maximise our return, possibly because we now have some cash and just throw the credit card at the bill and accept the 12%+ tip along with everyone else. it is funny though to see some fresh of the boat kiwis worrying about what to order and what they had, although the current exchange rate should ease the pain of a trip/move to London

By: Molly

Molly — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:33:13 +0000

i’m an immigrant married to a very stingy kiwi and this cracked me up. i tend to subscribe to the view that among friends, there’s no need to be too financially detailed as it will all even out in the big picture. i have noticed that attitude making my hubby sweat. once he has a few drinks, however, he’ll treat everyone. thanks for the comic relief…

By: Loquax

Loquax — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:46:04 +0000

I LIKE splitting the bill by what I actually ate, it keeps the gluttons in check. Otherwise you have to judge the group you’re with, and have several menu selections at the ready in case someone starts taking the p*ss with lobster (or venison, or cocktails…) which completely takes the fun out of it.
And it ain’t bill-checkers who are the stingy c*nts, it’s the people who eat their dinner and then expect the rest of the table to pay for it! BLUDGERS!

By: Matthew

Matthew — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:27:44 +0000

Indeed veges are often instigators of the ‘fair’ bill split, as are non-drinkers. And then there’s the vege-non-drinkers… oh that’s right, my partner’s one of em.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:37:35 +0000

Meticulous bill splitting is also extremely Swedish. Of course the restaurants don’t like it, and many have signs indicating “one bill per table please”.

If you go out with a Swede but for whatever reason don’t actually split the bill “correctly”, a debt of thanks (“tacksamhetsskuld”) arises, never to be forgotten. It will be repaid, possibly many years later, with the comment “you paid last time”.

Even offering something as simple as “my shout” in a small group will cause some consternation as everyone tries to figure out whether they’ll manage to drink enough to even out the bill by the end of the evening.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:15:41 +0000

I apprecieate this posting because only last night I got super screwed at a group dinner. It was a birthday gathering. My entire meal and drinks came to $30 but ended up having to put over $70 when they just wanted to split it evenly. If I complained I would have been dampening the birthday girls spirits so I just shut up and put money in.

By: Pick N Mix – Week Starting 9 November 2009 | Cupcakes and Mace

Pick N Mix – Week Starting 9 November 2009 | Cupcakes and Mace — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:28:22 +0000

[...] true, us Kiwis are ridiculously polite (or just ridiculous) when it comes to paying for meals at a restaurant, particularly when you’re in a party larger than five. We’re hyper [...]

By: MW

MW — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:21:35 +0000

Oh, I forgot:
If we (Germans) actually decide to split the bill evenly, we usually have one person around the table take the lead, collect everybodies share and pay the waiter in one sum … makes live so much easier (for the waiter)

By: MW

MW — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:19:07 +0000

Splitting the bill (evenly) seems to be a very British / Kiwi thing.
My experience in most countries (not only the US) actually is to have the waiter go round the table and collect seperately from everybody (unless the meals were really shared like you’d sometimes do in a Chinese restaurant). And I don’t think most waiters actually mind. Rather than having to wait until a group has sorted out how to split the bill, they would usually also get a higher (collective) tip out of it.
The worst experience a waiter could have is what I have seen recently (in the UK):
A group of about 12 business people, some from the UK, some from Germany (including myself), some from the US, shared dinner in an Indian restaurant.
We decided to follow the suggestion from the British to split the bill evenly (which was ok as we shared most of the side orders and the main courses were all roughly the same price). So far so good, the waiter got the same amount from everyone. However, this being a dinner of traveling business people, everyone payed by credit card and the waiter had to actually write 12 bills because the UK and US guys needed them to get reimbursed by their companies (it is different for business travelers from Germany (we do not get reimbursed based on what we spent) but that’s another story).
To summarize: Wait until the group has decided on splitting the bill, agreed on the tip, write 12 seperate bills, collect each bill seperately via credit card …