Dodging Rounds

[johnwilliams77]

paulwirral said:

I've got a couple of mates who dodge rounds , I end up keeping an eye on them until their round and just tell them out loud it's their round and make sure everyone else hears .
One of the cheeky bds once sat in the restaurant , waited for the bill to be shared out equally , everyone else paid cash and included a tip , 12 people , and announced as he had no cash he would pay the bill on his card . No problem you would think but that's all he did , pay the bill , he kept the tip for himself ! One of the party had noticed this but didn't say anything at the time .

These people are utter scum. I would not want to spend another minute with them

[Tonsko]

paulwirral said:

I've got a couple of mates who dodge rounds , I end up keeping an eye on them until their round and just tell them out loud it's their round and make sure everyone else hears .
One of the cheeky bds once sat in the restaurant , waited for the bill to be shared out equally , everyone else paid cash and included a tip , 12 people , and announced as he had no cash he would pay the bill on his card . No problem you would think but that's all he did , pay the bill , he kept the tip for himself ! One of the party had noticed this but didn't say anything at the time .

Yeh I've never encountered that. A few people have mentioned this - it's underhand. Really underhand. Kind of flabbergasted that it actually happens, but hey. I probably wouldn't say anything at the time, but would either have a quiet word at a later date or simply cease asking them to come out, depending on how well I knew them.

[Digga]

Tonsko said:

paulwirral said:

I've got a couple of mates who dodge rounds , I end up keeping an eye on them until their round and just tell them out loud it's their round and make sure everyone else hears .
One of the cheeky bds once sat in the restaurant , waited for the bill to be shared out equally , everyone else paid cash and included a tip , 12 people , and announced as he had no cash he would pay the bill on his card . No problem you would think but that's all he did , pay the bill , he kept the tip for himself ! One of the party had noticed this but didn't say anything at the time .

Yeh I've never encountered that. A few people have mentioned this - it's underhand. Really underhand. Kind of flabbergasted that it actually happens, but hey. I probably wouldn't say anything at the time, but would either have a quiet word at a later date or simply cease asking them to come out, depending on how well I knew them.

Agreed.

Many's the time when someone or other will top up what's left of the kitty with their own money, in order to get another round in. I've done it and I've seen others do it and it's the sort of minor generosity that makes everyone's life a tiny bit easier and more enjoyable. Stinginess impoverishes all.

[castroses]

Sheepshanks said:

FrankAbagnale said:

I was recently away (Spa GP) when there was a work night out, so called in the evening and arranged a round for the table back in London.

Why would you do that?

This.
You phone in to buy a round for a night out that you're not even on? When did that become 'a thing'?

Sounds like you've as much of a problem as the round dodger.....

[austinsmirk]

ok, how about this for tightness. a bloke at work, lets call him Kevin, is tight on a scale that he could appear on a CH5 documentary.

One Xmas at work, we have a whip round, get loads of beers in and around lunch start drinking. No one can remember Kevin contributing.

Anyway, the beers are going really quickly, in fact we seem to be out of bottles of Stella far too quickly.

hey ho, it's now about 3pm, lets all hit the pub (we're all right in the city centre)

So we hit the crowded pubs and Kevin seems to have been served really quickly- he's supping his bottle of beer. No one is surprised he hasn't got a round in.

Bit of time passes, Kevin's getting through bottles at a nice rate.

Next thing that happens is a bouncer has hold of him "listen mate we don't serve bottles of Stella in here, get out, you're drinking your own beer"

"no I'm not mate"

Bouncer rips his coat open- Kevin's got a bloody great coat on- to use a Yorkshire term, its a poachers coat with massive pockets in for sticking nicked game in. Think of the Spiv from Dad's army.

Its full of bottles of stella.

Our bottles of stella he has nicked from his workmates, from our office whip round/kitty.

Kevin is duly chucked from the pub.

[FrankAbagnale]

castroses said:

Sheepshanks said:

FrankAbagnale said:

I was recently away (Spa GP) when there was a work night out, so called in the evening and arranged a round for the table back in London.

Why would you do that?

This.
You phone in to buy a round for a night out that you're not even on? When did that become 'a thing'?

Sounds like you've as much of a problem as the round dodger.....

How is buying a round as a gesture/apology for not attending the night out I wholly organised as much as a problem as habitually avoiding buying rounds at all?

[Tonsko]

austinsmirk said:

ok, how about this for tightness. a bloke at work, lets call him Kevin, is tight on a scale that he could appear on a CH5 documentary.

One Xmas at work, we have a whip round, get loads of beers in and around lunch start drinking. No one can remember Kevin contributing.

Anyway, the beers are going really quickly, in fact we seem to be out of bottles of Stella far too quickly.

hey ho, it's now about 3pm, lets all hit the pub (we're all right in the city centre)

So we hit the crowded pubs and Kevin seems to have been served really quickly- he's supping his bottle of beer. No one is surprised he hasn't got a round in.

Bit of time passes, Kevin's getting through bottles at a nice rate.

Next thing that happens is a bouncer has hold of him "listen mate we don't serve bottles of Stella in here, get out, you're drinking your own beer"

"no I'm not mate"

Bouncer rips his coat open- Kevin's got a bloody great coat on- to use a Yorkshire term, its a poachers coat with massive pockets in for sticking nicked game in. Think of the Spiv from Dad's army.

Its full of bottles of stella.

Our bottles of stella he has nicked from his workmates, from our office whip round/kitty.

Kevin is duly chucked from the pub.

Outrage! Lol.

[Alex_225]

I worked with a guy who was a bit odd in some respects and never ever bought a round.

I recall inviting him out for some drinks for my birthday and he was there early and met up with my and my girlfriend at the time. He asked me if I wanted a drink so I had a pint. He walked off bought me and him a drink and didn't get my girlfriend a drink. Which I thought was pretty off and staggering brazen as there was only the three of us there at that point.

Over the course of the night he didn't buy a single drink for himself or anyone. Yet whenever he was asked if he wanted a drink he stated a DOUBLE vodka and coke. We went out for a meal at which point he ate more than anyone else, helped himself to wine people bought and then when we split the bill he tried to put £10 less than he was meant to.

To be honest it was just embarrassing and actually a massive p*** take of my other friends whom he'd not met before. After that I stopped any kind of socialising with the guy.

[so called]

I had a little sympathy for one of my colleagues 'round dodging.
I used to have regular trips to Montreal with 1 or 2 guys from the the German office.
We used to have to take our Montreal agent for dinner which always resulted in a $1500 to $2000 bill.
One of our guys always disappeared at payment time.
Eventually found out that the staff guys couldn't claim back tip money
That would be about $300 on a $1500 charge.
I, being a consultant was able to invoice for the entire amount.

[Fast Bug]

Disastrous said:

GCH said:

Genuine question to the people getting wound up at this... do you also dislike splitting the bill when out for dinner and instead prefer to get the calculator out to work out exactly what everyone has spent and not a penny more?

I can't STAND bill totter uppers.

My friends younger brother always used to complain that we should work out how much our own food and drink cost rather than divide the bill. One day we relented and told him to work his out and we'd divide that balance between the rest of us. His was an extra fiver so we made him pay it

[LordHaveMurci]

A group of us used to eat out together regularly, there was one chap who always bhed about splitting the bill.

It ended up as an in group joke, 'who had the mushrooms' was used regularly to shame him into paying his way!

[anonymous-user]

FrankAbagnale said:

How is buying a round as a gesture/apology for not attending the night out I wholly organised as much as a problem as habitually avoiding buying rounds at all?

It's not, at all. Ignore the miserable buggers - sounds like a nice gesture to have made and would no doubt have been appreciated.

[J4CKO]

We have a guy at work who will turn up to any work meal, as long as it is payed for by the company, hen usually orders the most expensive steak ont he menu, starter, as many drinks as he can.

We have taken delight in going out and letting him assume it is payed for by the company and then asking for everyone's cash, he isn't poor, him and his wife earn well, kids independent, nice car etc.


I do know a round dodger, he would never, ever buy a drink and if by a miracle he did he would want one of equal value in return, always gets his parents to pay if they are around.

With my mates it is trying to stop them buying yet more booze and we have one who is very generous and sometimes comes back with chasers, but has been known to buy us Stella and get himself a cooking lager shady, he knows who he is....

[PurpleTurtle]

SeeFive said:

pork911 said:

I've got to ask...seen much of them since? What's son in law like?

Actually, no we don't see them strangely enough. Anyway couldn't for a while until he got out of hospital as I was typically at work in visiting hours.

Son in law is a seriously good lad, not at all like the rest of them. Almost a shame that he and my daughter separated almost exactly a year into their marriage and are now divorced.

Yes, I know. About £3k a month is quite an expensive wedding . I won't be doing it again for her next one...

As I was reading your original post I was thinking "Blimey, wonder how long this marriage will last .... "

I got stung on a much lesser scale at our wedding. We had a band playing, who I had found playing the ski bar circuit in the Alps and happened to be based local to us in the UK. Great bunch of lads, so after they'd set-up and soundchecked I let them know via my best man and twin brother that there was a tab behind the bar for the band

At the end of the night we came to leave the venue, a barn in the middle of nowhere with a midnight curfew and 50+ people waiting on a coach I'd laid on back to the hotel I was presented with an itemised bar tab for £387! Not really much time for me to stand there and argue over the small print with all those people waiting and I couldn't really disprove it. The band had only had a few pints (one of them was driving) so I did a double take, then looking at the amount of Jager/Tequila on there realised that the message had somehow got, ahem, 'lost in translation' and my mates had weighed in on the 'tab behind the bar for everyone!'

I coughed up on my credit card and chuckled at it being one of life's lessons. How we laughed at breakfast the next morning. On the plus side, we had a venue that allowed us to provide our own wine during the meal with no corkage and we had massively over-estimated, so had wine for the best part of a year at home that had come as an unexpected windfall. Swings/roundabouts.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Thursday 1st December 12:38

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Thursday 1st December 12:38

[Vocal Minority]

had ham said:

FrankAbagnale said:

How is buying a round as a gesture/apology for not attending the night out I wholly organised as much as a problem as habitually avoiding buying rounds at all?

It's not, at all. Ignore the miserable buggers - sounds like a nice gesture to have made and would no doubt have been appreciated.

Exactly - little bit of generosity, I think it's odd that people are criticising you.

With regards to rounds, people think they are getting away with it but it's always noticed.

With mates its always a round each, but we are all so bloody English it gets into one of those silly rounds of insisting we do....even though we all eventually do anyway. A bit odd on reflection.

If it's out with work, I always think it's a bit of etiquette that the most senior person steps up to buy the first.

It's a little bit more free flowing after that, but, for example, I don't like seeing the department grad/sandwich year guy spending their money at a work thing really (especially so if there is someone senior who hasn't gone yet!)

Edited by Vocal Minority on Thursday 1st December 12:38

[PurpleTurtle]

Centurion07 said:

Slightly more on topic: what's the etiquette regarding late arrivals and buying rounds?

When I go out, I will walk into wherever we're meeting, locate friends, walk over and check if anyone wants another drink.

One of our group, without fail, will NEVER locate the group first, preferring to go to the bar, get his own drink (two bottles invariably as they're 2 for a fiver) THEN come over. Having bought 2 bottles it now means not only did he not top up the table, so to speak, on arrival, but he won't be getting up to get the next round as he's now nursing 2 drinks!

Acceptable or nay or is this just another incidence of my twisted logic?

I always ask on arrival. I think it's polite - provided I'm not arriving as last orders approaches and joining a massive round. Then I'd just get my own.
My own personal rule if asked is that if I've got less than half a pint I'll accept the offer from the round joiner, more than half then it's "no,I'm OK thanks".

One of my mates - who is not tight per se, but I suppose you could say 'careful with his money' always says yes to the offer, even if he's just blown the throth off a brand new pint. What makes it a bit worse is that because he's from Belfast he uses his local vernacular of "I'll take a pint of XYZ" - an expression I'd not heard before touring Ireland, but fairly common to hear over there. When he's sat with a full pint the 'take' element of the not-really-necessary-right-now second pint comes across as 'yes, I am bloody taking' in the pubs of the Thames Valley.

[paulwirral]

I've just been reminded of another time , it's Xmas a few years ago , we are in our local when in walks my wife's mate with her lesbian couple friends , one is the nicest girl you'll ever meet , the other is army style flat top haircut , dungarees and a real bad attitude .
Wife offers to buy the drinks and it's a glass of fizz and 2 pints of larger , she buys them , hands them over and the butcher of the 2 with the attitude hands over both pints to her girlfriend and announces that as she's driving her girlfriend may as well drink her pint ! She didnt bat an eyelid doing it although the nicer of the 2 did look very embarrassed.

[Tonsko]

Nope, I don't follow, sorry.

[Toyoda]

TEKNOPUG said:

I know people who will order the most expensive premium beer on tap when it's someone else's round but buy themselves a coke or whenever when it's theirs. Dicks.

I hear what you're saying but it doesn't matter what they order themselves, as long as you order yourself an expensive premium beer on their round.

TLDR - I see this has been discussed at length from page 4.

Edited by Toyoda on Thursday 1st December 14:28

[Centurion07]

PurpleTurtle said:

I always ask on arrival. I think it's polite - provided I'm not arriving as last orders approaches and joining a massive round. Then I'd just get my own.
My own personal rule if asked is that if I've got less than half a pint I'll accept the offer from the round joiner, more than half then it's "no,I'm OK thanks".

One of my mates - who is not tight per se, but I suppose you could say 'careful with his money' always says yes to the offer, even if he's just blown the throth off a brand new pint. What makes it a bit worse is that because he's from Belfast he uses his local vernacular of "I'll take a pint of XYZ" - an expression I'd not heard before touring Ireland, but fairly common to hear over there. When he's sat with a full pint the 'take' element of the not-really-necessary-right-now second pint comes across as 'yes, I am bloody taking' in the pubs of the Thames Valley.

Anybody wanting another drink when they have an almost full glass gets told to fk off.