She Refused To Split The Bill At A Dinner With Her Freeloading Friends

Danon - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Danon - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you go out to a group dinner, order something much cheaper than everyone else’s meal, then still get forced to split the bill evenly. 

It’s a dining-out issue many people dread, and it gets to the point where you have to put your foot down and demand to only pay for what you ate.

One woman recently took special precautions to make sure she got a separate check at a group dinner with friends who are notorious free-loaders. Now, some other diners at her table are mad at her for doing so.

She was recently invited to a group dinner with eight other friends. However, in that friend group, there are two couples who always seem to take advantage of everyone else during these group dinners.

For instance, they’ll order the most expensive food and drinks at the table, then expect the entire group to split the expensive bill without a second thought.

Because of those couples and their history, she started attending these dinners less and less. But she was told those couples wouldn’t be there for this particular dinner, so she agreed to go. However, things went wrong rather quickly.

“Well, they were there,” she recalled.

“I didn’t bother asking what the story was because it didn’t matter. I knew what was gonna happen come check time.”

“So I excused myself, went to flag down my server, and asked if he would please separate my bill from the others. He agreed.”

Danon – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

When it was time to pay the bill, the server brought her a separate check, and she happily paid for exactly what she ate and left him a generous tip. The free-loading couples were very confused, telling her they thought the bill would be split.

She informed them that was not the case, and soon, two other solo diners at the table began asking for their own checks, and the waiter complied.

“After I paid, I told everyone goodnight and went on my way,” she explained.

“The next day, I got a text from another person in the group saying that I was a [jerk] for doing that. [She said] they normally split the bill, as it gives everyone a chance to have a nice meal they couldn’t otherwise afford and makes splitting the 20% group gratuity easier. I told her I would not be [made guilty for] staying within my means and not paying for moochers.”

Was she wrong to request a separate check, or is her friend being unreasonable?

You can read the original post on Reddit here.

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