It's really fun to spend time with family or friends, whether by holding events or eating out together. Especially when an important celebration is coming, like the new year. For Jagoans who often eat out with friends or family, of course you are familiar with bill splitting. But, did you know about splitting the bill etiquette? And, the Jago application can help you split the bill easily.
Split the Bill: The Etiquette
1. Agree from the start
Communication is an important key before orders are made and bills arrive. For example, if you and your besties agree to have dinner at a restaurant. Before ordering a menu, you can first ask your friends how to pay the bill. Is it split equally or does everyone pay for what they order individually?
If there is a concern regarding the splitting of the bill, for example because you don’t have a lot of budget for eating out, you can say to your friends that tonight you won’t eat too much so it is better if you ask for a separate bill. Make sure everyone has agreed to it so that later when the bill comes there won't be any misunderstandings.
2. Sensitive to situation
The etiquette applies when you have agreed from the start that the bill will be split equally. However, the situation can change so quickly when you start ordering food. Some friends may order more expensive menu, so the bill will be larger than expected.
If it happens, you need to be sensitive to the situation, especially if you have a friend who doesn’t have the financial capability to pay such a large bill, even though it has been split equally. If so, you can take the initiative to cover the portion of the bill that the friend has to pay.
3. Tax is also split according to the order
The etiquette applies if you and all agree to pay for what you order individually. The more expensive the menu ordered, the greater the tax that needs to be paid. Therefore, it is only fair if tax is also split according to the order.
The amount of tax to be paid is usually at the very bottom of the bill. You can calculate how much the tax rate is, then multiply it by each order. In this way, those who order more affordable menus don't pay taxes that might be bigger than the amount of their orders.
4. Feel free to ask for payback using the Request Money feature in the Jago application
When the event is over, usually one person pays the bill for the sake of practicality. But what often happens is, not everyone involved in the event transfers money directly.
Some forget to pay due to busyness, while some others just forget completely. You are hesitant to ask for payback because you do not want to offend them or for other reasons. However, if you don’t remind them there is a possibility that they forget to pay.
In order to remove hesitance and to maintain friendships, you can take advantage of the Jago application and its Request Money feature. The Request Money feature allows you send requests to several people at once.
You can also calculate the bill yourself. Want to split bills automatically? Can do. Want to split manually? Choose the available semi-manual option. After, Jago will send a money request notification to everyone involved. So, you're not the one who requests money directly because Jago does it for you.
Apart from that, you can also track the status of money requests so that not a single transaction is missed. How cool is the Request Money feature?
5. Manage money together easily with the Shared Pocket in the Jago app
Another feature in the Jago app that can also help you split the bill easily is the Shared Pocket. With it, you can manage money with the people of your choice more practically.
Create a Spending Pocket then personalize it as you wish. After that, you can invite friends or family members to join. The Pocket will turn into a Shared Pocket.
All friends who had the dinner with you can transfer money to the Shared Pocket. The Shared Pocket comes with a Pocket Number that functions as an account number. In fact, you can transfer money directly from your Main Pocket or any of your Spending Pockets to the Shared Pocket. So, there is no need to remember the Pocket number.
The Shared Pocket maintains transparency.You and every member of the Shared Pocket can see the transaction history, both money in and money out. This way, you don't need to ask friends one by one whether they have transferred the money. Simply check the transaction history of the Shared Pockets.
You can now split the bill easily and request money without hesitance with the above-mentioned ways. Agree Jagoans? The Jago application can be downloaded here for those who don't have it yet.