h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"each round is a few quid to the benifit of the person drinking the expensive juice."

Slightly

My uncle once complained to my dad and their elder brother about having to get a round in once. My dad pointed out that the complainer's preference for lager over bitter meant that he'd cost the other two brothers enough for a decent holiday over the past 30 years.

He stopped complaining after that.

If everyone has had a good time, why spoil the evening quibbling over who had what and who didn't?


Split the bill equally and add a little extra for the tip.


lil x

(This definitely needs to be an old-style collaborative entry by the way. Any volunteers?)

'Tavaron - sounds like there's far too much maths involved there.'

Well, yes, but only for the waiter. When the waiter comes with the bill you say 'I had a beer and a steak' and they calculate for you how much you have to pay. Then the next person says 'I had a coke and pizza' and the waiter again calculates how much money that is. Also everyone gives tips individually so I guess in the end it's more money for the waiter.

Do you think there's enough in it for an entry?

Happy for anyone to try, but it seems there aren't really that many ways to do it, and the general consensus is "split the bill and put up with it if you drink less". More of a sentence than an entry.

Does anyone have any innovative ideas for this?

You could pay first and then see how much food and drink you can get for the money?

Icy - There's a few good anecdotes here. Plus, we have the following ways:

One person pays in a fit of largesse
Split equally and damn the consequences
Gluttons throw in a few bob, then split the remainder
Awkward folk pay theirs separately while everyone else splits
Everyone sits around with calculators arguing about which bits of the bill they ordered
Everyone gets separate bills
Tav's friends get one bill between them and then make the waiter split it based on what everyone orders

Plus there's 2legs' "wise" words on the perils of drinking in the round system

Variant of the first "one person pays" is that if it's a regualr outing of teh same group, then they take turns to be that guy.

Also, what about the person whose leaving do or birthday it is? Do they pay or do the others cover for him or her?

We've been known to cover for the birthday boy/girl. And at work, we have a whip round for any leavers so they can get their round in without spending their own cash.

Anyway it's about time we changed this antiquated practice. Don't show your age, get with the modern style - the video conference banquet and curry night out

(it's not just me and my friends, it's the usual thing to do where I live)

Where I work the person who leaves usually invites all the others for lunch, but they get a present in return which is usually worth more than the lunch.

There is, from what I vaguely recall, a North/South divide (UK), on the birthday question; In the South, I believe, it is more typical for the birthday boy or girl to pay, whereas uup North, it is more typical for the rest of the friends to cover the birthday boy/girl's portion of teh drinks and food bill

The entery could be made into a more decent size, with a narritive style...... "So you've gone out, with friends, to celibrate an occasion, and...." or something *thinks* insufficient coffee consumed for thinking at this point error code 3.

You could of course also just go to an 'all you can eat' restaurant, where at least the food for everyone costs the same. That leaves only the drinks to be devided in some way.

The "paying for the birthdayboy/girl" is of course much easier when splitting the bill. Just divide by one less person!

FB

"There is, from what I vaguely recall, a North/South divide (UK), on the birthday question"

Aye. We pay for the birthday girl because we're nice folk who like to treat our mates on their birthdays. Where as you lot like to pay for everyone on your birthdays because you're flash b'tards.

*hides behind her Northern Matt*

I've nearly always lived in the South of the UK and have never encountered a birthday boy/girl treating everyone else on their birthday.

I think you might want to move south of the English Channel for that sort of thing to be culturally common.

maybe its something more specific than a North/South divide, maybe differnt countys... or town/citys even Or maybe its more a middle/working class thing, as I've probably somehow got mistaken for both at various points in my life and mixed in circles to which I have very little in common... Hmmm... there really isn't a 'circle' into which I fit...

Hmmm. It depends. If I'm out and on a tight budget, and I've chosen to eat and drink according to that budget, I would *really* object to being expected to chip in at a higher budget level set by somebody else. Some months, in this house, every fiver matters.

But then, I rarely drink alcohol when I'm out. And what I do drink, I drink very slowly - a mineral water can last me *hours*. So for the same reason, I tend not to get involved in buying rounds, or having drinks bought for me.

It's never caused a problem, though. Probably because I choose not to go out very often. Not really my bag.

Mol

When 'our lot' go out we have two seperate bills. One for drinks and one for food. Four of us drink like and eat like sparrows so we order the drinks, bottles of wine, soft drinks for the drivers and non drinkers, the coffees at the end and we share that bill. The food is usually split between the others, the food bill is rarely any more per person than the drinks bill and the tip gets added on afterwards, with us all chipping in the same amount.