Eating out with a friend - when the bill comes

[Elite]

I don't know; I'm a pretty disciplined guy with my money, but when it comes to food and eating out...

- At work, usually the senior person picks up the tap and it's expensed.  I'm senior about half the time. 
- At home, with family - wife, kids - I pay 100% of the time.  If my oldest wants to, sometimes he picks up the tab, but usually it's me.
- With my close friends, we've been together for 35+ years; it all evens out in the end, IMO, even when it doesn't.  I have friends that have short arms and long pockets, and it is what it is.  I'm friends with them for other reasons. 
- With "new friends", like DTF meetups, usually I will open a tab.  Honestly, I'm not losing a friendship over the price of a beer or a sandwich.  If no tab, I will throw cash in.  I'm sorry, I'm not singling out anyone here, but I am NOT EVER figuring out my share to the penny; I will invariably overpay in those situations, but again, for me it's not a "cash transaction" like buying a CD or paying for an oil change.  If I'm meeting up like that, it's supposed to be "fun" and that's for me the price of that fun.

And, not going to lie, I sort of like the feeling of picking up tabs. Not ego, like I'm a bigshot, but rather as a gesture of friendship.  Like I'm sending the message that "I'm not letting $$ get in the way of our friendship" kind of thing. 

This is a good mindset to have and when doing stuff with friends I like to think I’m the same way. Absolutely agree on the last part. A couple of bucks for a drink or some food are completely unimportant in the big picture of friendship. (Of course, there’s probably a limit in there somewhere, but friendship is a two-way street).

[Herrick]

I do not go out with people very often. Sometimes they've paid for Herrick but that's when I paid for their concert or movie ticket.

99% of the time when other people are in on the food, it's a lunch order at work. We always figure out what we owe and send The Orderer the money. This is very easy to do. Just go on the website, make your own order, look at the total and send that amount to The Orderer.

If I give them cash, I do not expect to get exact change. However, If the meal is around $15 and I only have a $20 bill and for whatever reason The Orderer does not use money transferring apps, then I prefer not to be in on the order and just get my own food.

Phoenix87x bringing the exact amount for his own food is perfectly acceptable methinks.

Edit: I voted for separate checks but I think having one person pay with a credit card & sending them money or giving them cash is basically the same thing. I'd rather not ask for separate checks especially if it's a large group.

[Dublagent66]

Eating out a friend?  I guess it would depend on the friend.  Oh wait...eating out with a friend.  Ok, read that wrong. 

[hefdaddy42]

Normally, separate checks.

[cramx3]

Since this instance is just a friend, implying a 2 person meal, then seperate checks makes the most sense.  THe server needs to break it to two checks already and it's not asking much more work since it's just two people.  IN a large group the splitting checks may work better.  For me, there isn't a person that I consistently go out to lunch with to rotate who pays, but I can see that scenario for some.