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But I only got the soup! Thoughts on splitting the bill fairly
It's those dreaded words. "We're going to split the bill." The person divides the total bill evenly into everyone. You end up paying $60 for a group dinner even though you only ordered the soup. It is just not fair. Someone should do something about it. This ebook was inspired by that anger, that frustration, that there must be a better way. In 2008, I wrote an article on my blog about the problem of splitting the bill. I offered a brief economic analysis of the common ways people split the bill and suggested what I considered to be an optimal solution. The article was popular, getting mentions in LifeHacker, Slashdot, and the Discovery Magazine blog Cosmic Variance. But far from solving the problem, the article opened my eyes to world of issues I had never considered. This ebook contains my thoughts on the fair way to split the bill, --the reason why arguments arise --a proposed solution for parties --an email template for invitations --other ways to split the bill, besides evenly --mental math for how to calculate tips --how to split the bill with pre-paid vouchers (like Groupons) --a mathematical paradox of when it can be impossible to split the bill If you've ever been annoyed by a group dinner, you should read this book!
- GenresNonfiction
Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2012
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 12, 2015
This is more of a long blog post than a book.
Basically, he recommends separate checks so everyone can just pay for what they ordered.
I got the feeling that Talwalkar is a bit of a skinflint. He twice suggests that you dump friends who don't pay their share of the bill. He seems to suffer from privileged bias. He doesn't know what it is like to be poor. He assumes that everyone in the party can afford to pay what is asked but also he seems to be the sort of person who resents having to pay for anything he didn't personally benefit from. And he consistently pays only a 15% tip. He may not want to have me as a friend But I wouldn't want him as a friend either.
He never even mentions the possibility that some people don't have as much money as other people. At least the Friend's episodes about splitting the check dealt with the fact that Joey and Phoebe were poor and didn't order anything because they knew they couldn't afford it. Talwalker seems to think their friends should have dumped them for being poor.
The only thing I learned that I had not thought about before was that if you have a circle of friends who have a birthday dinner (or lunch) where the birthday person doesn't pay for their meal. Then if there is a meal where two people don't pay everyone else ends up paying more. If the meals cost the same for everyone every time. He did a nice simple proof. It costs more to pick up two meals than to pick up one and that difference doesn't even out over the other occasions. The two people who share the honor just get out of paying their share of the other persona's meal. Which is one way to solve that problem. Each of the birthday people could pay for their share of the other birthday person's meal. But really anyone who would care about a $5 difference is a skinflint, or very poor and can't afford two restaurant meals in one month.
Basically, he recommends separate checks so everyone can just pay for what they ordered.
I got the feeling that Talwalkar is a bit of a skinflint. He twice suggests that you dump friends who don't pay their share of the bill. He seems to suffer from privileged bias. He doesn't know what it is like to be poor. He assumes that everyone in the party can afford to pay what is asked but also he seems to be the sort of person who resents having to pay for anything he didn't personally benefit from. And he consistently pays only a 15% tip. He may not want to have me as a friend But I wouldn't want him as a friend either.
He never even mentions the possibility that some people don't have as much money as other people. At least the Friend's episodes about splitting the check dealt with the fact that Joey and Phoebe were poor and didn't order anything because they knew they couldn't afford it. Talwalker seems to think their friends should have dumped them for being poor.
The only thing I learned that I had not thought about before was that if you have a circle of friends who have a birthday dinner (or lunch) where the birthday person doesn't pay for their meal. Then if there is a meal where two people don't pay everyone else ends up paying more. If the meals cost the same for everyone every time. He did a nice simple proof. It costs more to pick up two meals than to pick up one and that difference doesn't even out over the other occasions. The two people who share the honor just get out of paying their share of the other persona's meal. Which is one way to solve that problem. Each of the birthday people could pay for their share of the other birthday person's meal. But really anyone who would care about a $5 difference is a skinflint, or very poor and can't afford two restaurant meals in one month.
Displaying 1 of 1 review