“Going Dutch” (Splitting the bill)
GoingDutch(sometimes written withlower-case dutch) is a term that indicates that each person participating in apaid activity covers their own expenses, rather than any one person in thegroup defraying the cost for the entire group. The term stems from restaurantdining etiquette in the Western world, where each person pays for their ownmeal.
In theUnited States, the practice of “going Dutch” is often related tospecific situations or events. During meals such as birthdays, first-dates, orcompany business lunches, an expectation develops based on social traditions,personal income, and the strength of the relationship between the parties.While “going Dutch” remains to be the default practice, it is also common tosplit the bill evenly to save some trouble if individual expenses are similar.Also typical: if someone is willing to pay the whole bill, friends andacquaintances often use Venmo or Zelle to pay back what they owe or splitevenly. Splitting evenly can be unfair, though, if someone orders 3 drinks anda steak dinner, and another person orders 1 drink and an appetizer.
AnAmerican’s perspective:
In Massachusetts, they won’t often automatically do separate checks. I recommend that if you’re with a large group and you’re not all close friends, it might be easier to request separate checks upfront (as soon as you first talk to the server). Not all restaurants are willing to do this, but it’s worth asking! Otherwise, you are left to figure out who owes what (and you can’t forget tax or tip!). It gets complicated, so I tend to avoid going out to eat with big groups unless I know them well and don’t mind splitting the bill evenly. Otherwise, it might take just as long to figure out the bill as it did to eat the meal! ~Dana
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