November 9, 2024 at 2:20 pm

His Coworkers Thought Evenly Splitting The Bill Was Fair, So This Vegetarian Kept Ordering Food Until They Agreed To Separate Checks

by Mila Cardozo

Splitting the bill is usually not a good idea, unless you don’t care about spending a bit more or a bit less than your friends, through no fault of your own.

In this story, one vegetarian figured out that he and his colleagues were spending more than they had to during Friday lunches.

They didn’t want to change the payment arrangement, though, until he showed them the error of their ways.

Let’s read the story.

Why force me to share the bill, when I wasn’t sharing the food?

I started working with a new team and they had the practice of going out for lunch every Friday.

I was new to the job and I knew my pay was way lower than everyone else (and months later I realized I was paid unfairly low and I quit at the worst possible time as a revenge for a better-paying job).

I had loans to pay off, and was also at the beginning of my career.

Hence was pretty calculative of my spending.

Coming to the main story here, I was invited to join the Friday lunches and I liked it as well.

But, one thing that bugged me the most was, the bill was split equally.

The reason it was a problem for me was, I was the only vegetarian in the group.

So his meal was cheaper than the other ones.

Everyone else used to eat only non-vegetarian food and would order multiple appetizers, main courses etc and share amongst themselves.

I, on the other hand, would just order for me, one appetizer & one main dish.

They would take pieces from my appetizer & portions from my main dish as well to “taste it”, and many days I would leave the restaurant still feeling little bit hungry.

He was being exploited again.

Also, I was paying more than what I had even ordered.

Usually, I used to order food totaling about $15 and with tip it would be less than $18 (this was more than a decade back).

But when we split the overall bill, I usually ended u paying $23 – $25, and worst of all I was not even getting to eat what I ordered.

So, one day I subtly brought up the idea of separate bills or at least let me pay for what I order.

Most of them ignored what I said and the 2 who responded, shot down my idea immediately saying I was ridiculous.

He had enough and decided to spice things up.

So, that day I ordered 2 appetizers instead of 1.

The next week, I ordered 2 appetizers and 2 main dishes, and at the end of the lunch, I packed up the remaining veg food & took home for my dinner.

The week after, I tossed in a dessert in the mix & asked the server to pack one of the vegetarian main dishes straight in a to-go box.

This is when their alarm bells started ringing.

Oh, NOW they’re bothered by the arrangement.

I have been ordering food worth $40+ now (including tips) and since it was getting mixed with the bigger pool, everyone’s share had gone up to the upper $20s.

On the 4th week, when I was about to order, one of the guys who called my idea ridiculous suggested separate bills for veg & non-veg food.

That day, I ordered 2 appetizers & 1 main dish.

I think that sent a message.

I invited everyone to taste the appetizer and offered my main dish as well.

I left the lunch feeling full and did not have any to-go boxes.

Finally, things were fair and square.

In the weeks following, slowly the split concept was gone & everyone started paying just for what they ordered.

They would split the cost only for appetizers they shared.

Everyone ended up paying less than what they usually paid, as everyone was ordering more than needed as they assumed, since the bill is split equally, they were getting to pay less.

But this fails when everyone is doing the same.

I bet they thought they were being smart.

Let’s see what Redditors are saying about this turn of events.

A reader shares a similar experience.