Do kids these days "go Dutch" - using those words?
I haven't personally heard it but references in the media indicate it is still going strong. When you're still at school and your only income is from your parents, it's not cool to expect one person to pay for everything when you're on a date.
AJ
Today's kids usually go out in groups rather than one-on-one dates. They may hook up at the movie or the concert, but they travel in groups. That makes "pay for your own ticket" more acceptable. For a parent of teenagers, that also gives you a feeling of safety, or at least the illusion of safety. For a grandparent of the same teenagers, you know that they are missing out on a lot of fun!
In Australia and NZ they "split the bill". Some restaurants have a sign saying that they will not split the bill.
Out of curiosity, when restaurants refuse to split the bill is it seen as a way to intentionally exclude younger patrons without running afoul of discrimination laws or is it legitimately a procedure to cut costs? That is, so you see this in nicer restaurants or cheaper ones?
Out of curiosity, when restaurants refuse to split the bill is it seen as a way to intentionally exclude younger patrons without running afoul of discrimination laws or is it legitimately a procedure to cut costs?
It's usually done as a management of accuracy issue as most restaurants have a system of managing the services on a table by table basis and they do not have the system set up to handle individuals at a table, thus they refuse to split the bill and leave it up to the people at the table to sort out who pays for what.
And out of forcing the people at the table to split the bill rises the esoteric art of Bistromath (thank you, Douglas Adams).
I once worked with someone who brought a calculator with them, calculated their share down to the penny, and then set out exact change. Precise, accurate, and - in the end - entirely annoying. But he did succeed in besting Bistromath.
No one forces people to split the bill as that's something they work out and agree on before they enter the restaurant. No one forces them to go into any particular restaurant and no one forces them to sit at the one table.
However, there is a lot to be said for those 'Pay as you enter and eat all you want from the bistro' places.
Based on my experience in the US in dining with a group, the waiter/waitress set up the check by person or persons. However, I've also dined at places who would not or couldn't split the check leaving it to those in the group to sort it out. Often the group paid using several credit cards or cash, with those on expense accounts needing a copy of the meal tab.
Based on my experience in the US in dining with a group, the waiter/waitress set up the check by person or persons.
I'm in the US (upper mid-west). I've never encountered a restaurant that set up checks by person without separate checks explicitly being requested.
Based on my experience in the US in dining with a group, the waiter/waitress set up the check by person or persons. However, I've also dined at places who would not or couldn't split the check leaving it to those in the group to sort it out. Often the group paid using several credit cards or cash, with those on expense accounts needing a copy of the meal tab.
A decade or two ago it used to be quite an imposition on the server to split a check more than two or three ways. It was prudent to tell the server ahead of time if you wanted it split, so they knew to keep track of the bills individually. These days, a lot of restaurants have software that I think makes it pretty easy for them, even after the fact.
Things probably get more complicated when there are shared dishes, though - appetizers, pitchers, etc.
A group of men may split the check.
A group of women will dissect it, examine it with microscopes, and compute how many grams each ate.
That, friends, is why many restaurants refuse to split the check. There are hungry patrons waiting for that table.
It seems to me that you're arguing the opposite case.
Fastest table clear: divide evenly (very unfair, but fast)
Second-fastest: restaurant divides the check (more work for them, but people have their bill, pay it, go)
Third-fastest: men divide the check (has to be passed around, splits of anything need discussion, etc)
Fourth-fastest: women divide the check
Slowest: men and women together divide the check, with women telling the men how they did it wrong.
Yes, it's a joke based on stereotypes; the fastest person I know at splitting checks is a woman, because she's ruthless, efficient, and good at math (and has no concern about computing grams).
However, in my experience at least, the part of clearing the table which involves the bill gets done the fastest when the restaurant does it at the time of ordering. Second-fastest when they do it at the time of payment. Anything where the restaurant is out of the loop and it's not a fixed-price restaurant, the diners do worst. I've seen it go poorly even at fixed-price restaurants...
A group of men won't even look at anything but the bottom number, fight over who pays, and if it IS shared, there'll be a stack of twenties on the table to cover it plus a 30% tip, more if the waitress is cute, bubbly, and wearing a cheerleader uniform.
Women will pull out calculators, determine the individual charges down to the penny, and will determine a 20% tip accurate to two decimal places.
A group of men won't even look at anything but the bottom number, fight over who pays, and if it IS shared, there'll be a stack of twenties on the table to cover it plus a 30% tip, more if the waitress is cute, bubbly, and wearing a cheerleader uniform.
My regular breakfast with my friends on alternate Saturdays has, for twenty years, always been take the bottom line, calculate 25% tip (same waitress for the past fifteen years), then divide by the number of guys. No muss, no fuss, no arguments.
Ladies will allow the gentleman to pay.
And if it's a girls night out with 6 ladies and 0 men?