who's hosting this shindig, anyway?

[cranberry]

PS I'm another Aussie, but my experience has been different to everyone else's. 

[cocacola35]

You know - I am generally fine with paying my own way and part of the honoree's meal - if this is what is agreed upon in advance. Or if separate checks/bar tabs/etc are established. Trouble is, with this branch of the family, none of that will happen. And those of us who didn't eat as much or didn't drink as much (or who didn't drink at all) will end up getting stiffed.

Fair enough- I can definately understand your annoyance given that this is not something that is done by members of your family on a normal basis.  I would definately be a bit steamed if I was expected to pay a portion of the tab for food that I didn't consume or alcohol I didn't drink. 

[L1NDSAY]

I once went to a friends birthday meal at a curry house, as we were all students it was understood to be the type where you pay for your own food and drinks and chip in a few quid each towards the birthday girls meal. This is normally fine, but on this occasion a rather flaky friend (who I hadn't met before) showed up about an hour or so late. She had missed the ordering part of the evening but arrived just in time for the eating. She managed to get several spoonfulls of everyone's different curries and side dishes with a bit of rice, some spare naan and even a few glasses of wine from the bottles on the table! It was enough to be a full meal but when we were splitting the bill she didn't put anything in as she hadn't actually ordered anything.
This must have been about 4 or 5 years ago but I still think it was shoddy behaviour.

In response to the OP I would always expect to pay for my own meal regardless of who invited me or what the occasion was. I guess it's just something that varies with geography/age/income bracket or some other factor.

[FoxPaws]

Truly tacky. She should have at least pitched in for the wine and birthday person's dinner. I wonder if this is a regular routine of hers?

[Eastsider]

I had an experience very similar to LINDSAY's.  A large group (20 or so) went to this nice Chinese restaurant for a friend's birthday.  It was understood that we would all pay our own way and chip in for the birthday person.  One of the guys said he wasn't hungry so he just ordered 2 eggrolls which came before everyone else's food.  Then while everyone was eating, he complianed that about how boring it was to watch everyone eat.   Then he started asking people if he could have what they weren't going to finish.  This made me so mad because the portions were big so we usually had enough for lunch the next day.  When the bill came and we were figuring it our (small family owned restaurant so they didn't have separate checks) he kept saying how he only had eggrolls so he only had to pay this small amount even though he had eaten multiple people's food.  If he doesn't know the person you were talking about LINDSAY maybe we could introduce them.  I'm sure they'd be very happy together.  Or maybe not since there would be no food ordered when they went out.

[Evil Duckie]

.

[kherbert05]

I had an experience very similar to LINDSAY's.  A large group (20 or so) went to this nice Chinese restaurant for a friend's birthday.  It was understood that we would all pay our own way and chip in for the birthday person.  One of the guys said he wasn't hungry so he just ordered 2 eggrolls which came before everyone else's food.  Then while everyone was eating, he complianed that about how boring it was to watch everyone eat.   Then he started asking people if he could have what they weren't going to finish.  This made me so mad because the portions were big so we usually had enough for lunch the next day.  When the bill came and we were figuring it our (small family owned restaurant so they didn't have separate checks) he kept saying how he only had eggrolls so he only had to pay this small amount even though he had eaten multiple people's food.  If he doesn't know the person you were talking about LINDSAY maybe we could introduce them.  I'm sure they'd be very happy together.  Or maybe not since there would be no food ordered when they went out.

I would have no problem telling either of these people to forget it. Most restaurant servings are to big for me, so I plan on saving 1/2 for lunch the next day. Since I plan this out a week ahead of time, not having the left overs means I have to make other arrangements.

[Alida]

This is very far off topic but....

Can y'all keep a secret?   I'm ashamed to admit I've never even tried or seen sushi.

*SHOCK*  *HORROR*  Just kidding   I was in my 20s before I tried it.  DD, on the other hand, started young - Dave Matthews got her to try it when she was younger, telling her it was 'the secret to life' - she told him the secret to life smelled fishy.  Now she's a sushi fiend.  If she could eat hamachi 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, she would.

Edited because my daughter corrected me on what she'd been told