"P.Aitken" wrote:

> Seriously, though, people do it because at the end of a group meal
> people tend to forget who had how many drinks, how much each course
> cost, and so on.

And it's no coincidence that it always seems to be those who had the most who
conveniently forget.

> It's a lot easier to split it evenly than to go to the
> hassle of getting the menu to check prices and so on. Some people pay
> more, some less, but in theory it averages out over time. In theory.

In theory?
Go out to lunch with my brothers. I am no teetotaller, but there is no way I
could keep up with their beer consumption. If we always split the bill I will
always be paying way more than my share and one of them is getting a lot of
free beer.