Every time my friend group splits the bill at dinner, somehow I owe the most.

By @ineskk · Friends

We go out to dinner a lot, and someone always just pulls up a bill-splitting app and divides the total by the number of people. It sounds fair, but I almost always just get a main and water while everyone else is getting multiple cocktails and appetizers.

The full story

My friend group has this unspoken rule that we just split the bill evenly whenever we go out. It started in college when we were all broke and it just made sense. Fast forward to now, we're all in our late 20s with real jobs, and the habit has stuck. Here's the problem: I'm not a big drinker. I'm usually the designated driver or I just don't feel like it. So when we go out, I'll order a pasta dish and a water, and my bill is maybe $25. Meanwhile, the rest of the table is ordering three rounds of espresso martinis, a shared calamari platter, a cheese board, and their own entrees. Their individual tabs would easily be $80-90. But when the check comes, one of my friends will inevitably say 'I'll just split it!' and divide the $400 total by five people. Suddenly my $25 meal costs me $80. It happens every single time. Last week was the final straw. We went to this nicer place for someone's birthday. I got a chicken caesar salad. That's it. Everyone else went all out. The bill was astronomical. When the split came back and I owed $95 for a salad, I almost lost it. I feel like it's insane to keep doing this, but I also don't want to be the difficult one who makes the waiter split the check seven ways. Am I being cheap or are they taking advantage? I feel like I'm subsidizing their cocktail habit. It's getting to the point where I don't even want to go out with them anymore, which sucks because they're my best friends.

How people voted

Readers are split: “Needs Context” leads with 40% — 117 votes and 5 comments so far.

What people are saying

Keep reading

Vote now on BeSoForeal