[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: Meal Splitter v2 for iPhone here

[garyi]

Jesus, is this for real?
Are americans this tight?
Haha.

[fstop808]

This appeals to me because I am usually the one ordering expensive wine and ordering appetizers and I am not comfortable when the group says "Let's just split the check equally."

[derekm]

Meal Splitter:
1) Tax is labeled as US only?
2) There is no spot for separate tax rates for food vs drink? In can sometimes be significant.
3) The label "food split" refers to food only, where "food total" refers to food plus drink. Dumb.
4) The graphic in the review shows a manual entry of 36 for drinks and it doesn't auto-format to 36.00? That makes it hard to read.
5) In this example aren't the non-drinkers paying a portion of the drink tax and tip?
6) If you're in a large group, chances are that the tip was already added. Assume that the added tip is accurate and so add or subtract from the final total instead of worrying about it beforehand.
For all that hassle, it would be so much easier to brute-force an answer after assuming the drinks are $36 + 25% and subtracting that from the grand total to be paid.
Or, if you only ordered one thing, take it and multiply by 1.25, put that money in, and leave to use the bathroom while everyone else bickers. Save yourself the stress and aggravation.

[MacBoy]

Unbelievable. There's a market for this? I can't believe people can be so cheap!

[Sa6eto]

It's not about people being cheap, it's more of people being fair, and the ones with the drinks who want to split the bill equally are being cheap.
The app itself seems bit confusing, but otherwise a great idea for Americans...

[rdas7]

Personally, I find it a little rude at the end of a meal to haggle over each item on the bill. Come on, you accept an invitation to eat out together, you split the bill equally — you're not just paying for the items you consume, but for the location, the chance to spend time together, etc. You can save your penny counting for when you're on your own. Better yet, why not let one person foot the whole bill, and the next time the other person can pay. That's equally fair.

[Dan Frakes]

rdas7 said:

why not let one person foot the whole bill, and the next time the other person can pay. That's equally fair.

For the sake of argument ;)

Person A: Doesn't drink alcohol, is a vegetarian.
Person B: Meat eater and wine lover.
Person C: Loves to sample lots of appetizers, drinks two or three cocktails with a nice dinner.

Person A orders a salad and a non-meat entree. Person B orders Filet Mignon and a bottle of wine. Person C orders several appetizers, a light entree, and three martinis. At a "moderately nice" restaurant, A's food would be around $25 to $30; B and C could easily be over $60 each.

Person A doesn't appreciate spending $50 to $60 for a $25 meal :P

[rdas7]

Dan Frakes said:

For the sake of argument ;)

Person A: Doesn't drink alcohol, is a vegetarian.
Person B: Meat eater and wine lover.
Person C: Loves to sample lots of appetizers, drinks two or three cocktails with a nice dinner.

Person A orders a salad and a non-meat entree. Person B orders Filet Mignon and a bottle of wine. Person C orders several appetizers, a light entree, and three martinis. At a "moderately nice" restaurant, A's food would be around $25 to $30; B and C could easily be over $60 each.

Person A doesn't appreciate spending $50 to $60 for a $25 meal :P

Ok, granted, this app caters perfectly for that scenario, assuming none of the three can handle basic arithmetic.

Having said that, still I get the message: "I enjoy spending time with you guys, but $20 on a dinner bill is going to change my life drastically enough I'd like to take out my iPhone and fiddle with it for 1/2 an hour at the end of this wonderful evening so I don't end up spending my money for anything you might have enjoyed."

It's kind of up to the members of the party to check their orders, it's just part of being socially courteous. You don't order the 3 course lobster special when the other person's having a salad and water.

[Dan Frakes]

rdas7 said:

It's kind of up to the members of the party to check their orders, it's just part of being socially courteous. You don't order the 3 course lobster special when the other person's having a salad and water.

If only everyone -- or even most people -- were so courteous ;)