I’ve got no comment on the rest of the thread but I wanted to say this kind of shit always really depresses me. I dunno, people should be aware of what their dining companions can afford.
Truer words. I am getting a great laugh out of the thread, though.
I’m interested in attending, if only to meet the World’s Worst Writer (ret.).
Scuba_Ben, will you be in town?
Here are my views on paying the tab. There are three, and only three, acceptable methods:
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The waiter splits the check. If all or some of the party want this method, they should get the waiter to do it and tell him/her about it before he starts ringing stuff up.
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The parties split the bill with each person paying an equal share.
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Credit card roulette (i.e., give all your credit cards to the waiter, who randomly chooses the “winner” to pay the bill).
The whole “lessee, one iced tea plus a filet and an espresso and tax and tip . . . hmmm . . .” is absolutely ridiculous and should never be done.
I’ve done basically that for 10 years with my group whenever there has been a large difference in what people ordered, price-wise, and 99% of the time it’s worked fine, at least once I bring it to the attention of people who have ordered much more expensive stuff that that is the case. And there are lots of restaurants that don’t want to deal with separate checks for large groups.
Yeah, I’d basically just never eat out on a regular basis in a group that does that. I just find it obnoxious as hell.
This is just my opinion, I’m not saying you are Hitler because you eat dinner with a group that does that, just saying that it irks the crap out of me.
The general rule I’ve always followed/seen everywhere I’ve been except for New York is “look at the bill, and put in what you think you owe.” Usually, that ends up with us having the bill plus a 25-30% tip at the end. With close friends, the protocol is often “I’ll get this one, you get the next” with no actual tabs being kept. The evenly split checks I’ve only really seen done with regularity in New York. Nobody I know from my part of Chicago does that.
I’ve been to 3 of the last 4 Chicago Dopefests that I know of, and each one was quite pleasant and there was no trouble splitting the bill at all.
So in Chicago they pee on the seat and spit on the bill?
Yeah, I think Sarahfeena has got the right of it. I have been to the same number of Dopefests, I think (though I caught one she wasn’t at and vice-versa), and there was no trouble at all, that I’m aware of.
50 posts, no one has even suggested a date yet, some have already said they can’t make it, some have disinvited others – this is SO my family!
This is so functional compared to my family.
(I’m glad I married up)
I dunno about the spitting on the bill, but I have a theory about the toilet seat.
In some public toilets, the flush is so strong it actually sprays the bowl water up and around, sloshing some onto the seat. I can only think that this is what happened because a woman peeing on the toilet seat and NOT being aware of it (and not wiping it off) grosses me out completely.
I don’t mind evenly splitting the check, but if I only arrived for coffee and y’all have had a huge meal + wine, no way am I chipping in for all that. I’ll help out or get the tip. And I wouldn’t expect anyone else to pick up such a disparity of mine, either.
then again, I am also irked by the to-the-penny-totting-up that can go on in groups…
Sarahfeena–I don’t remember any difficulties, either. And it was nice to meet you!
I know that happens a lot. The River East 21 movie theater toilets are notorious for that, so much so that when I get up I automatically lift the seat up, stand to the side, then put it down again when the flush is over, because I don’t want the next person coming into the stall to think I peed on the seat.
No, in this case, the droplets were deep yellow. Definitely pee. Definitely from someone who doesn’t drink enough water.
As far as no one ever having a problem, that’s great, but I seem to remember a thread from awhile back where someone mentioned that at a ChiDope gathering Manhattan had to put in a bunch of money because the bill was way short, so it’s happened at least once before the time it happened to us.
Unfortunately, some women are so ignorant/paranoid that they refuse to touch their delicate naked flesh to the (gasp) public toilet seat (which is actually one of the cleanest surfaces in the entire bathroom). Instead, they hover over it, which (a) results in urine all over the seat and (b) is bad for their urinary tracts, anyway. They then also don’t clean up after themselves, because that would also be too gross, so they just leave the previously-clean seat now spattered with their urine for the next person.
Your join date is 2006. The stuff I alluded to is truly ancient history.
ETA, nice to see you, Jane d’Oh!
It can be arranged… just as soon as someone gives up and selects a date.
Okay, fine. Be that way.
I suggest the evening of the 22nd. I don’t care where we meet, as long as it’s easy to get to on the Blue Line.
I would merely express a preference for something around the outskirts of the city, since getting all the way in to downtown by car can be such a hassle.
Also, something with a decent hotel nearby. The last time, the room I got was such a dump that I ended up getting back in my car and driving back to Madison after midnight.
So that rules out the neighborhood around 4800 W Irving Park Rd. The neighborhood itself was ok, but the hotels were absolute shitholes. From last year’s thread, here’s the result of the searching I did.
I should say – rules it out for me.