I agree that it isn't fun to subsidize someone else's food, especially when you are having soup and salad and they ae having lobster and Dom.

What I meant, essxjay, is that people often think, "Let's see, I just had a salad that was $10.00, so I'll put in $12.00".

That would be great if they hadn't had an iced tea for $3.00 and had thought about the mandatory 20% gratuity and the 8.8% tax that is enjoyed in some of our favorite travel spots.

That scenario puts their real total over $16.00 and leaves a negative of $4.00. Multiply that by 20 people and you end up $80.00 short without anybody realizing that they didn't contribute enough. For this reason, I think it is important to agree upon a solid payment method in advance and would like to have generally understood guidlines to reduce and funny feelings at our happy gatherings.

I think Belle's idea is good and I also think it is a good idea to pay in advance (with no refund for no shows) when a minimum is required.

What about buying bottles of wine? How do you divide the cost? Should everyone be aware of the cost before hand and agree or should the purchaser be responsible if there is no prior agreement?

Maybe someday I'll win the lottery and then I'll buy.


[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 09-07-2001).]