割り勘

Well, taking turns paying for meals is what I prefer, but then there are those people that just never get around to treat you to dinner or something and it just makes me kinda bummed out sometimes...

Ive had too many fiddly experiences trying to split a total bill, especially when its not itemised on the reciept, and one person has a super expensive meal.

I always prefer to pay individually, but most places would prefer not to do that - especially if youre in a huge group...

I prefer to split the bill...easier that way.

For me, it's a variable. I have paid separately before. I like doing that as it relieves guilt from all involved. Not that taking turns paying doesn't, but I've been on the "paid for" side of things, my guilt complex is enormous.

i dont really know myself umm i tend to pay for the whole party everytime i go anywhere (im extremely gullible and well just have a tendancy to do this type of thing almost habit lol)

:P i usually am the first to pay for the bill and then everyone else starts to be nice all of a sudden and i end up getting all free meals from then on out... weird but then again i do alot of nice things and then people do alot of nice things for me....

i have this habit of opening doors for people (lots and lots of people like spend 10 min holding a door for an amazingly long line)

anyway now i walk around.... dontgit i got off topic again lol i have a horrible habit of starting to ramble and well yu get the idea

Normally, we pay our own unless it is a special occasion like a birthday (where the birthday-ee pays for everything =P )

I go to dinner with my friends all the time, and I much prefer everyone chipping in for one bill. I find it easier that way.

hmmm....It is a norm here for those ppl that go out with frens especially student to paid their own bill!

Onli if u bring ur GirlFriend or ur discussing a business with some ppl! Then onli we paid all!

Me and my friends pay separately when we go out to eat. We do that for everything ^^.

There isn't a rule or norm about that here in Brazil... but usually, when you go out with friends, people pay separately.

Sometimes when you get invited by someone's family, and you're the only person not from the family, they'll pay the tab for you.

On someone's birthday, it's on his/her bill, though this is not that much common anymore.

Sometimes people will also add everything up and split equally, just to make things easier.

it depends on the occasion and to the group but most of the time we pay separately ^__^

when me and my friends go out one of us foots the bill but we will pay for what we had to that person later.

Here, everyone goes dutch, unless you're with really close friends or relatives.

Normally it's 'betsu betsu ni' over here, to sit around and wait for someone to pay for your meal would be considered rude. Unless if a guy or gal insist to pay for everyone.

with my friends, we usually take turns to pick the tab

I prefer everyone to pay separately.

Of course when every person has to pay for his/her part, it makes it a bit less convivial and more on the money-conscious side (I pay this, you pay that... This is mine, this is yours, etc.)?
Separate bills seem to be the ideal to me.

Thus I like it much better than sharing the bill. Why is that? Because if you have inconsiderate guests, they may eat in excess and you practically end paying more of their part. This unless you have foreign family or friends and that it's a really formal event (like them visiting you, etc.)

Cold and rational I am, as always.

*Seem ideal to me

And I forgot to say it depends on culture too.
It is funny to see that in the Chinese culture, guests tend to fight to pay the bill. This is something that still surprises me each time I see it.

Anyway, I don't eat outside except on rare occasions, so it's not really something I should be worried about (still I am aware of those concepts)

Betsu betsu for me

Seperately ftw! Unless of course you're on a date.

I guess since I make money from my own company instead of begging for it from a boss, I tend to pay the bill ~_~

When with my family, we pay the whole thing. With my friends, it's separate. Guess it's cause our family "shares" the money, and my friends and I obviously don't.

At one time I always liked everyone paying for their own. Unless it was a special occasion or such, then I take care of the bill.

Now, it depends on who I'm with. I have a couple of colleagues that I often go out with and we take turns picking up the bill. I usually pay for my boss and I, even thought she makes more than I do. ^^; Of course I still pay for special occasions and such.

Thinking about it now, I still like the everyone pay for their own meal. Usually it's more fun since the group loses the free loaders and boring people. Interesting how the boring people never want to pay the bill...

depends on where my friends and i dine.

if we dine in a restaurant, one of us (usually the host) will pay first. after we left, we will divide the bill among ourselves and pay back the host.

if we dine at a food court, we will buy our food individually ourselves.

See, I really dont care. If I am out with friends, I will just pick up the bill and start to pay. People generally throw some money in if they think they should, and sometimes I accept that. Now, if you are out with a woman, I was raised (Grandfather) that you ALWAYS pay for the bill. My girlfriend fights me all the time on this, so we came up with a cool game for it. It was that or throw money at the waiters when they got into range.

Paying separately is more convenient, but is a nice feeling when you're treated, or you treat someone, you know?

For Chinese, its considered rude if you're not verbally and physically fighting to pay the bill and attempting to stuff bank notes into the other person's pockets-- or forcing it into their children's hands.

If I got out eating with friends, I'll always prefer paying separately when ever possible. I just dislike the process of sorting out who is paying who, how much is each person going to have to pay, and etc....

I'm that freeloader that everyone hates. :P

CyruzDraxs, I hate you. Lol... no, seriously.... maybe.

When i got out to dinner with my friends, we actually fight over the bill.
Fight over who gets to pay it...because all of us want to pay.
^_^

I only go to dinner with my best friends, so i don't mind paying for them and vice versa

As people have said before, Chinese people fight to pay the bill quite often. One time one of my aunts secretly when up and told a waitress that another guest (forget who) often paid with counterfeit money. The guest was wondering why the waiter insisted on the aunt paying for it. He wasn't too happy about the explanation lol.

A couple times people go up to pay for the group before they come with the bill. I think it is just considered polite to offer to pay for the bill, and when like old friends meet again they feel better if they pay. Never seen people fight so much over paying the bill in the US.

I usually split the bill(I eat to much). Unless its a date, then i pay all.

usually pay seperately, except on my birthday, i rarely eat with my friend. kinda find alone is more convenient when walking outside. weird me -_-

i prefer party paying rotation when i got the money..but sometime if ur frens want to pay for it..it is more than welcome.. ;-P but its better with party paying, as long as the same party members are in it...

Yeah "Betsu betsu ni onegaishimasu" was one of the few first phrases I learnt when I was taking Japanese classes. During that time I was like this is really interesting that when paying you can ask for separate bills

One lesson I learned from paying for everyone, it may burn a huge hole in your wallet. It'll have to depend on the kind occasion tho.

same as 0shift,

I split the bill with my mates when we go out. If it's a date, then etiquette dictates that I will pay for the lot.

i like the idea... in singapore esp .. when we are still students. we will split it up but after 1 person pays the full bill and the rest return it to him... there are many problems this way like the person paying first lose money as the price in the menu does not include GST and sevice charge. which will go up to 17%.

When me and my friends go out we usually just pay together by splitting up the total between us, but thats aslong as we are having buffet. If someone wants to eat seperately then they can but they will have to pay for their own food. It works out fairly in the end.

Always pay seperately.... but sometime... which happens quite often with some of my coworker, when we go to lunch, ALWAYS short on the amount... ALWAYS paid their meal without including the tax and tips... grrrr..... @_@

Here it's usually just one bill for the entire table but we always pay for what we had separately and someone just collects it. Troublesome for the one who collects our payment though since he/she will be dealing with the problem of giving change to each one of us. ^^

In here, we stay in flats. I always go eat with my flat friends every time, so we split the bill, and the restaurant usually wont mind if we pay the bill separately and give change to each person ^^

If its a daily thing like lunch with colleagues, usually we'd split the bill equally regardless of what we eat. If its an evening out with friends, usually we "go Dutch" that is to pay for what you eat with added tax/tips to the amount.

If its a date with a hot girl, then of course you'd treat her. ;)

Here in Dublin, it's exactly the same. Most places ask you "Pay together or separate?"

Some restaurants don't do that with larger parties, say more than 4 people or something. If they do, it's generally written somewhere visible on the menu.

i would normally pay in just one bill to avoid the mess it might caused during the process..

I would prefer to pay separate unless its with close friends. It usually very troublesome to collect back the $$ and i have met people who just act dumb.

I like paying seperately myself unless the person I am with insists on going half and half or something like that, I think it's more fair to all parties involved to pay seperately because then you only pay for what you bought.:D Btw Danny, glad to see you feeling a bit better.:D

Half and half. Sometimes it's nice when another person treats you, but I would never take advantage of that. Who the heck is such a shameless cheap skate who won't even pay for the food they put in their mouth?

if we cant split the bill, we usually let someone pay for it and afterwards we'll pay him what we owe him. (anyone will volunteer for it, cause we always pay for it)

Yeah, cheap dead-beats are never fun. I don't mind being treated and on occasion I'll cover someone's meal just because. But I generally prefer to pay separately.

It all depends who I'm with. Sometimes if I'm not paying for the whole bill, I'll leave the tip.

In Hong kong everybody always want to pay the bill, it was ill mannered if you dont want to pay i think. But it depends on the people you are eating with, if they are close friends I would pay the bill.

When my friends and I go somewhere it's either we split or some cheapskate "forgets" to bring money and the rest ends up having to cough up extra. When a girl is with us the guys just pay extra to cover for the girl. Cases where one person pays for the rest always ends up with me paying, gah.

I'm not earning my own money ^^ Still a secondary student. So I don't have lots of money to spend and that means I have to SAVE to buy stuff I want. That's probably why I usually pay separately when I eat out with my friends.
Even if I start to work, I might just learn the value of hard-earned money more... and even refrain from wasting money eating out lol.

I think that it's much more of an issue in Japan because there are more social situations where one would have to eat with people they're not familiar with. Afterwork social obligations (drinks, karaoke, repeat...), Go-kon, etc dominate J-social compared to western people tend to socialize mostly with their friends.

Well... in the US, if there is a visitor (or if you are meeting a friend you haven't seen in a good while) there is a very good chance someone will fight to pick up the bill. The same is true if you are eating with co-workers or for business purposes. However, if you are eating with friends you see day in and day out, it is very common to see people split the bill.

Generally we split the bill depending on what we ate ourselves. However, sometimes one of us will pay the whole bill since it's easier then splitting the bill equally on 3 different credit cards. In the end we assume since we eat out together it equals out in the end because next time someone will cover the whole bill. Western style restaurants are generally easier to split the bill. Chinese restaurants it's always too much of a hassle if we're all paying by credit card.

I feel if everybody eats about the same price dishes and drinks then it's fine to split it evenly. If on the other hand I have a hamburger and my friend has a steak then it would definitely be Betsu Betsu desu nipa~!

It depends, but normally one pay his/her meal in my group

Usually pay separatly

usually if I am with people I trust like family and close friends, we will all chip in and pay.
usually ,I like to pay seperately though

I've never had one party pay the whole bill, everyone either puts in what they had or the total is divided by the number of people at the table (that actually makes a lot of people unhappy unless they know each other well.)

Maybe this is just a thing in Maryland.

Guess germany is just like Japan in that case.

When my friends and me went to eat in a restaurant all fancy and stuff - mo matter if a sushi restaurant or normal german one - we were asked if someone pays it all or seperated.

Usualy we all went for seperated UNLESS someone had birthday, then the one who had birthday paid - but of course got a load of presents anyhow so yea. ;)

It depends.

In big fancy places I have never seen anyone do that, or done it myself.

In those fast food joints or bookstores I can request for it.

I like to pay separately but if we can't do the math we just half it or something

It really depends on the situation, I guess...
If it's a sorta family dinner, or something a bit more formal, we'd have those arguments about who's going to pay the bill (each party WANTS to pay for it, mind you)
But if it's just me and my friends, we just split it (everybody chips what they bought)

I much prefer that each person pay for their meal. Even in North America when out as a group we ask for separate bills. If it's a business meal where someone will be writing everything off on their taxes, then I can see it being worthwhile for one person to pick up the tab.

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What's REALLY unique is that when you date Japanese girls they'll offer to pay half - meals, movies, DisneySea, etc. That threw me at first but now I think it's their way of keeping control. If they pay their half, they don't "owe" anyone anything - and staying the night is their choice, not debt. Offer to pay for dinner, when she says it's not fair, tell her that if she feels badly she can buy breakfast. When she laughs, have a great night.

Hmm...usually depends on the situation I guess. But most of the time, it is split it to make things simple for everyone.

With relatives and sometimes close asian friends, there's kind of a fight to see who pays the bill. With normal friends and unknowns, everything's split kind of even-ish.

So they go dutch, huh? Nice. I tend to prefer having a separate bill when I go with friends, and just pay when I am on a date.

Man... Now I am wishing I could live there. X3

It's better to pay separately, I think.
This way, you can ensure that everyone pays and for those who can't, it's easier to help them when you know they need help (instead of surprises XD).

Depends on which "friends" I'm with at the time. Usually it's "dutch-treat".

If you want to split the bill then just divide the total by the number of people; I've been doing it this way for years and it's much, MUCH easier.

For the guys who whine or intentionally get the lobster, covertly short the check and have everyone else make some excuse to leave quickly so they're responsible to pay the balance at the register. They usually get the message pretty quickly and either get w/ the program or cease going along.

My friends will never agree, because I highly doubt they will pay for my share, since I just eat WAY too much.

Having worked at several restaurants as a waiter and cashier, I personally believe that it's a hassle and creates more work for the waiters/cashiers if you pay separately.
At times, it's down right frustrating that they want to pay separately; a perfect example would be if they all got the exact same thing and the total would be the same for each of them. A huge party of 8+ ordering their food individually, and then at the last minute, they say, "Oh, could we get separate checks?" down right pisses me off. If they have mentioned first hand that they wanted to pay separately, we could have rung up all the orders as such. So, if you're going to pay separately amongst your friends, the least you could do is mention it before ordering. If possible, skip paying separately in its entirety.
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My best friend's mother is a waitress at a restaurant, so he knows it's ups and downs as well.
So, whenever my friends and I go out and eat, what we do is; one person pays for everything, be it a credit card or cash, and we do the math on who pays for what ourselves. No need to be a penny pincher, we usually estimate around ~$2 or so and we're satisfied, including tips of course.
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These comments are of my personal experiences and views, and I'm not saying what's right, wrong, better or worse. Also, I live in California USA, so there may be cultural differences to be noted.

I prefer to take turns when paying the bill, but sometimes you can see (and its seems as usual) paying only what you order. I think it depends of how much the bill is (and if you can afford it).

Here, me and my friends usually have one person pay the bill and we just pay that person for whatever the cost of our meal was. Sorta like paying separately and paying as one at the same time. heheh! ^^

Since I'm a poor Singaporean student, I usually pay only for my part... But sometimes we all pitch in to pay when one person doesn't have enough money to pay for his meal...

in my country, italy, when a person pay separatley we say "Alla romana". Paghiamo alla romana? We pay at romans way (sorry for bad translation)

Normally when I've been out with my friends we pay seperately, like after we've been to Wagamama's, we get the bill and fork over the amount for what we had. Tis better that way I think.
But for drinks usually the guys buy the first rounds, then maybe if we're there long enough girls pay for them too.

Chinese Culture- I pay for everything lah and I will fight for it even if you don't want me to pay for it.
I really cringe when my parents do this. I don't know if my group of friends would do this but for the mean time, warikan is the way we go.

For very close friends we pay in turns, otherwise we split up the bill or pay together for the meal.

I met some people online who live in a place where it is demanded that if you are in a group at a pub, you must take turns buying rounds for the whole table. When I brought up the concept of paying separately, they lauded the idea and insulted my ridiculous American ways, saying it was incredibly selfish and rude. Even though they have no qualms about paying separately when liquor is not involved....

friends argue over who should pay the bill...[we're all too modest...=.='' It's like "I'll pay for it", "No need, I'll pay for it!" etc...]

Here the most common and the better for my taste is everyone pays his/her part.

I like how in Japan there is no tip and paying separately is quite normal. It leaves out the hassle and saves time. The girls however always expect you to pay ^^

split the bill.