Cheapest restaurant patron I've witnessed
#62
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#63
Join Date: Apr 2008
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I avoid Restaurant Week at all costs. Even when I was just out of college and couldn't regularly afford many of the participating restaurants, I would rather save up to go at a "normal" time. For me, even today, a big part of dining out at a nice restaurant is the atmosphere / people watching, and it's not the same when it's packed with people who wouldn't normally eat there.
With regard to the turn in dicussion about splitting the bill, I don't mind if people want to split it according to what we each ate... but it needs to be SIMPLE. If you can't do the math on what you ate + tax + tip and are relying on a calculator/complicated discussions, then we're splitting it evenly. I can certainly do the math myself, but I would find it tacky to announce to the table "Joe you owe $31, Sarah you owe $18," etc.
With regard to the turn in dicussion about splitting the bill, I don't mind if people want to split it according to what we each ate... but it needs to be SIMPLE. If you can't do the math on what you ate + tax + tip and are relying on a calculator/complicated discussions, then we're splitting it evenly. I can certainly do the math myself, but I would find it tacky to announce to the table "Joe you owe $31, Sarah you owe $18," etc.
#64
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: AA, UA lowly commoner
Posts: 782
This was actually at a grocery store not a restaurant, but it was so absurd I'm posting it anyway. The guy in front of me at the checkout was buying a few items, including a pineapple, which is sold be weight. Right before his turn to check out, he ripped the crown off the pineapple (the leafy part on top) and shoved it in over by the gum and mints rack. As a portion of the weight of the pineapple, that must be nothing, saving him what, a penny? The cashier actually did scold him and he just kind of grunted in acknowledgement. Figure if you do something like, especially so shamelessly in front of others and just shoving the crown in with the gum, that you're kind of a sad enough person to feel sorry for.
#65
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
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I avoid Restaurant Week at all costs. Even when I was just out of college and couldn't regularly afford many of the participating restaurants, I would rather save up to go at a "normal" time. For me, even today, a big part of dining out at a nice restaurant is the atmosphere / people watching, and it's not the same when it's packed with people who wouldn't normally eat there.
Chris
#66
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Boulder, CO
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I'm a GM at a restaurant near you, and we're somewhat reluctantly doing restaurant week this year. We don't treat it as a way to make a ton of cash. We are trying to get a little more exposure during those 10 days. Instead of doing boring, crappy food and making a mint doing it, we set our price at the highest limit ($45pp) and we're doing food you won't see at any other restaurant in town.
Chris
Chris
#67
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But is it food you normally make/serve? For me, that's the trick - I'd rather just come at a different time of year and enjoy the full experience rather than something diluted. I would feel differently about RW if it were special food/etc, but to me it's all downside and no upside.
#68
Join Date: May 2013
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I'm a little surprised to see pineapples sold by weight. I don't think I've ever seen one that wasn't priced per pineapple.
This same guy probably shucks the corn and peels the outer leaves off the cabbage back in the produce department. Maybe even removes the outer skin from his onions.
This same guy probably shucks the corn and peels the outer leaves off the cabbage back in the produce department. Maybe even removes the outer skin from his onions.
#69
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#70
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
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But is it food you normally make/serve? For me, that's the trick - I'd rather just come at a different time of year and enjoy the full experience rather than something diluted. I would feel differently about RW if it were special food/etc, but to me it's all downside and no upside.
Chris
#71
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 948
If you judge people because they want to pay for what they ordered, and not what you ordered, I would assume you was the bas one in the group.
#72
formerly declinespecificinformatiom
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,140
Not sure I understand, but in the vast majority of cases I'm the generous one. And it's not that I judge them, it's that virtually everyone judges "that' person regardless of whether or not they're right in wanting to save a few dollars.
If you make sure to split down to the dollar and still have tons of friends/go out frequently--and they don't talk about you behind your back--then more power to you! They're your friends, not mine.
If you make sure to split down to the dollar and still have tons of friends/go out frequently--and they don't talk about you behind your back--then more power to you! They're your friends, not mine.
#73
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I don't keep track, but I am reasonably generous about buying people drinks and such like. It's what friends do.
#74
Join Date: Mar 2007
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When my friends and I were teenagers, working hourly jobs, our threshold was about 50 cents. If our meals seemed like they cost the same, give or take 50 cents, we'd split the bill evenly. If the difference was a dollar or more, someone would toss in extra. It just wasn't worth it to us to argue down past that level of granularity, even though we observed plenty of adults who'd whip out pocket calculators and argue down to the penny.
Now that I'm significantly better off financially, and most of my friends are too, our threshold is at least $5. Like when I was younger, we figure the difference comes out in the wash; yours is more this time, mine's more expensive some other time. It's not worth arguing over smaller amounts. If someone seems to be routinely taking advantage of others' good will we may not even argue then; we'll just not socialize with them as often.
#75
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I'm not sure it's necessarily to do with finances. In fact I often find that the reverse is true. Most of my good friends are students or hourly-wagers, and don't care about a fiver here or there. As you say it "comes out in the wash".
Sure, if I obviously drink 5 pints to someone else's one, then I'll throw in an extra €20, and if someone is obviously constantly freeloading, they will quickly find they get fewer invitations.
But we certainly don't work out the cost of each pint vs each slice of cake to the last 10c. No, it's the business people with the BMWs and €80k salaries who do that.
Sure, if I obviously drink 5 pints to someone else's one, then I'll throw in an extra €20, and if someone is obviously constantly freeloading, they will quickly find they get fewer invitations.
But we certainly don't work out the cost of each pint vs each slice of cake to the last 10c. No, it's the business people with the BMWs and €80k salaries who do that.