Birthday girl demands friends split $6800 bill equally at fancy restaurant

It's raised an age-old etiquette debate: Should you divide the restaurant bill equally or only pay for what you ate?

A viral TikTok video showing a heated argument among friends about splitting the bill for an expensive birthday dinner has sparked a wider online debate. 

The video, posted by a user named Victor Christian, sparked the age-old etiquette discussion about whether the bill should be divided equally or whether each person should pay only for what they ordered.

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Image: TikTok

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"I'm only paying for what's on the check, I'm not splitting the bill"

In the clip, which has now been viewed 16.2 million times, Christian expressed his stance, saying he would only pay for what was on his portion of the bill.

"I'm only paying for what's on the check, I'm not splitting the bill," he said before revealing the total came to $A6800.

He made the point that he and another friend didn't drink, so they shouldn't have to pay for expensive alcohol ordered that night.

The TikToker also pointed out that some people ordered more expensive food than others. "You got lamb chops, you got steak," he said gesturing to people's empty plates on the table.

"We come together, we split the bill"

Meanwhile, others in the group argued in favour of splitting the cost evenly amongst everyone. 

"We come together, we split the bill, period," one argued.

"We didn’t order all that," Christian replied. "I’m not paying for all that, that’s theirs."

As the shouting match continued, the birthday girl added another layer of complexity to the debate, demanding that she shouldn't have to pay anything because it was her birthday. 

"It’s my f***ing birthday, why should I have to pay for something on my birthday?" she asked her friends.

Christian replied, "What I’m saying is, why would I pay for something that I didn’t buy?"

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"It's always the person who ordered the expensive things who want to split"

The comment section was divided, with many people supporting Christian's stance that each person should only cover what they ordered. 

"Why pay $500 when I only ate a $20  salad???" one person asked. 

Another commented: "Splitting the bill for me is you pay your stuff I pay my stuff end of story. 😂"

"I’ll never understand splitting the bill… like why would someone pay for half of someone else’s food?? That’s so weird to me," admitted a third.

And a fourth joked: "Imagine having to split $6.8k and you only got mozzarella sticks and water."

Then this person made the point that "The only time I'm splitting the bill is if we all ate the same thing (pizza, wings, seafood, etc)."

"Ordering food you can’t afford based off the assumption you gonna get to share the price with someone else is CRAZY," concluded a different user. 

And then another person pointed out that, "It's usually the person who ordered the most expensive things that want to split the bill. 😅"

Clear communication beforehand would have avoided this

On the other hand, some people said it would have been a kind gesture to cover the birthday girl's meal, while a third group suggested that since she likely invited everyone, she should cover the cost for the entire table.

Lastly, plenty of comments said that clear communication and establishing the bill-splitting method beforehand avoids these sorts of situations. 

Originally published as Birthday girl demands friends split $6800 bill equally at fancy restaurant