My friends are parents to two teens, and both are active in local kids’ theater groups. The groups are either in summer theater camp or the high school drama club. After the last show, many of the kids and some of the parents will go out to the local diner to hang out, eat some food, celebrate the success of the play.

My friends (the parents) usually go and I’ve gone a few times, too. The adults sit separately and the kids sit together. The adults pay for their kids (for those whose parents are there), or else the kids are responsible for their own orders. It might be 20 or 30 kids and a table or two of parents, so it’s a lot of people, somewhat chaotic.

Last weekend, I went with to the show and accompanied my friends to the diner. When it came time to pay, my friend’s husband got kind of agitated. His daughter came over from the kids’ table and she gave him her bill, and he paid for hers and theirs. My friend told me the reason for his agitation is because in the past, on several occasions, some of the kids skipped out on their bill, and he felt obligated to pay. They’re not affluent people, barely making ends meet, and the husband has a chronic illness so they’re literally just scraping by. In a large group like that, it’s probably virtually impossible to keep track of who left, whose bill it was, and the kids are not likely to want to rat on their friends.

Do you think the parents should be obligated to pay for the kids who are not theirs, if the kids skip out on the bill? Do you think the restaurant is just S.O.L (shit out of luck)?

If there are 5 or 10 kids who skip out, at about 15 dollars a pop, keep in mind we’re talking at least 70 to 150 dollars. Even if it’s two or three, that could be 50 bucks.

Is there a solution?

Topics: food, restaurants, friends, eating, children, bills, social, etiquette