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Message |
    
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 940
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 2:39 pm: |     |
If there's one thing I can't stand its cheap people especially when it has nothing to do with ability to pay. Offering to pay would have been a nice gesture, however, asking to pay one-half seems cheap to me. Susan sounds like the kind of person who would always order the most expensive thing on the menu and "expect" everyone else to subsidize her meal. Or like in my office the guy who agrees to go in on a pizza and claims he only ate one slice instead of two in order to save the dollar.
I'm with greenetree on this, Susan would definitely not be a lunch time pal for me. |
clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 144
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 3:42 pm: | |
sportsnut, your point about being cheap is especially on target because this was a Chinese restaurant. Chinese restaurant lunch specials are what - $5? $6? So this is a squabble over $3 at most. $5 at the very outside.
Somebody shoot me if I ever get that stingy. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2018
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 4:05 pm: | |
clkelley-
I forgot to mention that I looove this thread!  Thank you, Susan and Ann. BTW- I think I used to work with "Susan"...  |
Phil
Citizen
Username: Barleyrooty
Post Number: 752
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 6:19 pm: | |
Ann should have shared the nice, shiny, piece of metal. Susan should then have felt obliged to pay her half the cost of the meal in return, and picked up her own tab, too. |
Jason & John
Citizen
Username: Johnh91011
Post Number: 114
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 6:26 pm: | |
We have watched with amazement table full of people trying to figure out how to split up a bill. "But you had 2 drinks I had no appetizer and you had dessert". It is comical.
Whenever we go out we either get the restaurant to agree to give us seperate checks per couple ahead of time or simply divide by the number of people there. It all works out in the end. These are friends and hopefully you will go out as a group more than once.
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clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 145
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 6:38 pm: | |
Ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? I forget if it's the ship or the whole universe that is run on the basis of Bistro Math. |
Phil
Citizen
Username: Barleyrooty
Post Number: 755
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 6:56 am: | |
Bistromathics
The Bistromathic Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing vast intersteller distances without all that dangerous mucking about with Improbability Factors.
Bistromathics itself is simply a revolutionary new way of understanding the behaviour of numbers. Just as Einstein observed that time was not an absolute but depended on the observer's movement in space, and that space was not an absolute, but depended on the observer's movement in time, so it is now realized that numbers are not absolute, but depend on the observer's movement in restaurants.
The first non-absolute number is the number of people for whom the table is reserved. This will vary during the course of the first three telephone calls to the restaurant, and then bear no apparent relation to the number of people who actually turn up, or to the number of people who subsequently join them after the show/match/party/gig, or to the number of people who leave when they see who else has turned up.
The second non-absolute number is the given time of arrival, which is now known to be one of those most bizarre of mathematical concepts, a recipriversexcluson, a number whose existence can only be defined as being defined as being anything other than itself. In other words, the given time of arrival is the one moment of time at which it is impossible that any member of the party will arrive. Recipriversexclusons now play a vital part in many branches of maths, including statistics and accountancy and also form the basic equations used to engineer the Somebody Else's Problem field.
The third and most mysterious piece of non-absoluteness of all lies in the relationship between the number of items on the bill, the cost of each item, the number of people at the table, and what they are each prepared to pay for. (The number of people who have actually brought any money is only a sub-phenomenon in this field.)
The baffling discrepancies which used to occur at this point remained univestigated for centuries simply because no one took them seriously. They were at the time put down to such things as politeness, rudeness, meanness, flashness, tiredness, emotionality, or the lateness of the hour, and completely forgotten about on the following morning. They were never tested under laboratory conditions, of course, because they never occured in laboratories - not in reputable laboratories at least.
And so it was only with the advent of pocket computers that the startling truth became finally apparent, and it was this:
Numbers written on restaurant bills within the confines of restaurants do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the Universe.
This single fact fact took the scientific world by storm. It completely revolutionized it. So many mathematical conferences got held in such good restaurants that many of the finest minds of a generation died of obesity and heart failure and the science of maths was put back by years.
Slowly, however, the implications of the idea began to be understood. To begin with it had been too stark, too crazy, too much what the man in the street would have said, 'Oh yes, I could have told you that,' about. Then some phrases like 'Interactive Subjectivity Frameworks' were invented, and everybody was able to relax and get on with it.
The small groups of monks who has taken up hanging around the major research institutes singing strange chants to the effect that the Universe was only a figment of its own imagination were eventually given a street theatre grant and went away.
--------------- DON'T PANIC ---------------- |
just me fromsouthorange
Citizen
Username: Jmfromsorange
Post Number: 107
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 9:40 am: | |
to phil-
HUH!? |
Gene Z
Citizen
Username: Genez
Post Number: 12
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 9:43 am: | |
I think what Phil is trying to say is:
42.
Z |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 763
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 9:55 am: | |
But what was the question? |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2221
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 12:03 pm: | |
They both should have offered each other. Now Ann knows that Susan isn't a good lunch partner and should avoid such outings. Keeping score is not a key ingredient in friendship.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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shoshannah
Citizen
Username: Shoshannah
Post Number: 385
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 12:04 pm: | |
I have a friend who used to show up 30 minutes late for group gatherings at restaurants during our single years. His first stop was the bar -- to order and pay for a drink. Then he'd take his drink to the already-seated group of people (could be 6 to 12 people). When the bill arrived, he was excused from splitting the bill evenly because everyone else had two or three drinks and he only had one, for which he had already paid at the bar. He usually saved about $10 on his bill by doing this. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2222
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 1:39 pm: | |
And by the way, when splitting the tab, if we have decided to split based on the prices of our selections, I will add it up and then add 25% to cover tax and tip, to make sure my contribution is adequate. It's a slight overestimate, and too many people underestimate.
I wonder if Miss Manners has covered this sort of question. It's the type she likes to handle. Her answers are usually witty, clever and sensible.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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shh
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 945
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 2:34 pm: | |
I don't get the whole 50/50 split myself. If I order something significantly more expensive than my dining companion, I'd offer up my share and 25%. It's one thing if everyone eats about the same $$worth of food (within a few bucks), but why should anyone have to pay for someone else's extravagances? I remember dining with some particularly cheap friends, and anytime we'd eat out, we'd pay for what we ate/drank. One night, I wasn't hungry, so I ordered just an appetizer and several of my friends ordered the $22 seafood platter. When the bill came, they said "we'll just split it." 
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algebra2
Citizen
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 1654
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 2:52 pm: | |
Really? I would never ever not do 50/50. Since I've been an adult I don't think anyone's ever tried to not pay 50% of the bill -- how cheap is that! With my close friends we often just do the "I pay this time, you pay next time" and figure "what goes around comes around". I can see if you just had an app and they had something outrageous maybe then. If they're a friend why would you care if they're entree was $5 more or they had 4 beers and you had 2? |
clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 150
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 3:40 pm: | |
What kills me about this is that people have such strongly held opinions on the issue. Everybody perceives themselves to be the rational ones, and the "other guy" is the cheapo.
I just figure whichever method means I pay more, is the one I'm going to end up paying. I also over-tip. I would hate it if anybody were to think I'm cheap.
If we could figure out the mysteries of Bistro Math, we'd definitely have an answer to the question of the meaning of the life, the universe, and everything.
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sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 943
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 3:54 pm: | |
I subscribe to the algebra2 methodology mostly. Generally what comes around goes around and if when I die I paid extra who really cares. If you think about it if they are really friends what's an extra couple of dollars anyway. |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 944
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 3:54 pm: | |
I subscribe to the algebra2 methodology mostly. Generally what comes around goes around and if when I die I paid extra who really cares. If you think about it if they are really friends what's an extra couple of dollars anyway. |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 764
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:10 pm: | |
There used to be four guys that went out for sushi every Friday. Three of us would order the same thing but one guy who was a Bodybuilder used to order the sushi plus an extra meals. We told him twice that he’s got to throw in a little extra because he’s eating so much. So he decided we would divide the check by four and he would pay the tip. We agreed that that was reasonable, till he started tipping $1. Now it’s a three person lunch. |
gretchen
Citizen
Username: Gretchen
Post Number: 97
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:14 pm: | |
I used to be of the 50/50 school, but that was back when I had money. Now I can't afford to pay half of someone else's extra drink or seafood special. Most of my friends are in the same boat, so we're in favor of paying for what you ate. I'm not crying poverty--we just can't throw around $5 here $10 there like we used to when we had 2 incomes and no kids. You might call us "cheap"--I prefer "thrifty"!
On the other hand, if my dining partner said "let's just split it", I'd do that, unless I was the one who ate or drank more extravagantly. Then I'd insist on paying more. |
shh
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 946
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:23 pm: | |
I'm totally with you Gretchen and I would ALWAYS insist on paying more if I ate or drank extra.
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shh
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 947
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:26 pm: | |
BTW, my above story took place when we were still in college. I don't know if that counts as adults these days.  |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2022
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:30 pm: | |
At work, on the rare occassions when I go to lunch, we'll split. No big deal, usually, since it's usually a lunch special. However, if I order something more expensive (and it's usually me who does it) I always throw in extra. I had a coworker who was a lunchtime nightmare. She'd order a gazillion things & expect to split the bill. Or, even worse: people would tell her that they had to be back by a certain time for a meeting, she'd drive because her car was biggest & there'd be several of us & then, on the way back to the office, she'd "just run into CVS for a minute" & make everyone late. People stopped going to lunch with her.
OTOH - socially, we just split the tab. There was a couple we went out with twice. Both times, they ordered the most expensive things, appetizers, dessert, the works. The Spouse and I just don't eat that much. The first time, we were a little amazed that they never commented on how they ordered so much more than we did, but weren't too bothered because we did share some of the appetizers when offered. However, the second time, they clearly took advantage of the split bill thing by ordering extravagent meals & expensive wine (most of which they drank). We paid half, but never went out with them again.
Sometimes, with our closest friends, we just go with "you get it this time, I'll get it next time". |
sac
Citizen
Username: Sac
Post Number: 977
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 4:51 pm: | |
This is a bit like "right of way" in traffic (which is something that is "yielded", rather than "taken" - or at least that is the way it is supposed to be.)
Courteous people will offer to pay their share or more. They will also decline others' offers to pay more than their fair share.
Those who take excessive advantage of such situations will often find themselves left out in the future. |
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