Should you split the bill evenly or should everyone pay just for themselves? It’s very likely that you’ve had this conversation with your colleagues at some point. Team lunches are an easy way to connect with your coworkers. However, tensions can ratchet up quickly if someone is being openly unfair. It can lead to a ton of resentment… and some brilliant ideas for petty revenge.

Redditor RealityCheck18 went viral after sharing how they gave their former colleagues a taste of their own medicine when they refused to let everyone pay for what they each ordered at their team lunches. Scroll down for the full story. Bored Panda has reached out to the author for further comment via Reddit, and we’ll update the article once we hear back from them.

If your coworkers aren’t concerned about splitting the bill fairly, it can lead to quite a bit of resentment

Image credits: zoranzeremski / Envato (not the actual photo)

A person opened up about how their former colleagues were strongly opposed to everyone paying for themselves at team lunches

Image credits: vadymvdrobot / Envato (not the actual photo)

Image credits: RealityCheck18

Someone who feels taken advantage of by their team might consider looking for a job elsewhere

Image credits: yanalya / Freepik (not the actual photo)

It is incredibly important that everyone genuinely feels like a part of the team at work. When there’s an authentic connection there, when you don’t feel left out, you naturally get better results.

On the flip side, someone who consistently feels left out and subtly pushed away might start considering whether it’s worth sticking around for long.

To that end, things like team lunches aren’t just about food. They’re about connection, communication, strengthening bonds, and being around your colleagues in a different setting than just the office.

However, those lunches can backfire if someone still feels isolated and stressed during them, whether due to financial issues or dietary preferences. For example, if you don’t earn as much as your coworkers, their choices of places to eat are less likely to overlap with yours.

If you’re earning little but your team decides to have lunch at a fancy place, naturally, you’ll have to be more careful with what you order. Similarly, if you’re vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian, etc., you might have a tougher time finding anything to eat depending on the place your omnivorous colleagues pick.

Meanwhile, it can feel really icky if you feel you’re forced to overpay for lunch because everyone orders a ton of food when you order very little.

These days, there are lots of quick and easy ways for everyone to pay for what they ordered

Image credits: Image by Freepik (not the actual photo)

Splitting the bill equally is all about speed and ease. However, it only makes sense if everyone more or less orders similar dishes and has very similar preferences. The entire system falls apart if there are any coworkers whose orders cost way less or far more than the average.

In this day and age, there’s really no good excuse for everyone not to pay for what they’ve each ordered. For instance, one person can pay and then use their smartphone to send everyone an invoice for the specific amount they owe.

But there’s an even better alternative. These days, many restaurants and cafes offer easy, accessible, digital ways of letting every single member of the group pay for whatever food and drinks on the bill they want. So, paying just for yourself is very easy.

Whether or not you should split the bill equally outside of team lunches, however, will depend a lot on the specific circumstances, as well as the dynamic you have with those people. A meal out with your family will probably be different from a group of close friends eating at home or heading to a bar, or meeting up with clients at a fancy upscale place.

If you spot something blatantly unfair, it’s vital that you speak up. It might be a simple misunderstanding

Image credits: Image by Freepik (not the actual photo)

In some cases, it makes sense for one person to foot the entire bill as a way of showing their respect for their guests. At other times, you might get involved in a social ‘game’ where everyone tries to pay for the bill. Meanwhile, there will also be situations where it might be considered bad taste for everyone to pay just for what they had because it implies they might be cheap(er than the other guests).

New York Magazine food editor Kiki Aranita explained to NPR that there should be “a sense of equality in how the check is divvied up,” whether you’re eating at a family-style place or at a fancy restaurant.

However, if for instance you’re dining out but you didn’t order drinks like the rest of the group, but they want to split the bill evenly, you can simply speak up. “Just be like, ‘Hey guys — I didn’t drink.’ Usually, that’s enough for everyone to reconfigure the bill to make it fairer. The problems only arise when you don’t speak up,” the expert says.

Meanwhile, Aranita notes that you should ask for everyone’s consent before ordering something like appetizers for the entire table to split. If you don’t bring that up before everyone orders, you’ll have to assume that you’ll pay for those appetizers. In short, if there’s an issue with the bill, your first step should be simple and straightforward communication.

What do you do with the bill when you’re eating food with your coworkers, dear Pandas? Do you split the bill evenly? Does everyone pay just for themselves? Do you have a rotation of people who pay for the entire thing? Meanwhile, have you ever been in a situation where there’s been some unfairness in splitting the bill? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Many readers loved the way the author handled everything and wanted to share their thoughts in the comments

The story was incredibly relatable. A few internet users wanted to share similar tales of their own

There will always be someone with a negative take on things. Here’s one person who had a very different opinion

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