Who picks up the tab?

I tend to steer clear of large group meals but the last time I went there was a very awkward moment. When the bill arrived, I saw two individuals tapping away on a calculator app before announcing the exact amount of money they were prepared to put on the table. ‘I didn’t have a starter,’ chimed one. ‘I only had one cocktail,’ said the other tightwad.

We were at an inexpensive Mexican restaurant, with two cocktails for the price of one, yet this pair insisted on working out to the last penny what they had each consumed. No one else minded subsidising the others, because that’s what happens when you go out for dinner in a group – somebody always orders the most expensive wine and drinks way more than anyone else, the ribeye steak costs twice as much as the mushroom risotto – and some poor bugger only has the green salad and tap water.