PocketDiner - Free Dining Check Calculator

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.talismanmobile.com/pocketdiner/' target='_blank'>http://www.talismanmobile.com/pocketdiner/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Ever notice the guy that orders the $25 steak at group lunches? Do you feel screwed when they split the bill and you both end up paying $20 even though you only had coffee? Relax. It's not that they're evil greedy bastards out to get a free lunch. Much like you, they're LAZY. If five people eat, the easiest way to figure out who pays what is to double the tax for tip, and then divide by five. PocketDiner eliminates the hassle. This is not some ordinary tip calculator that multiplies your total by 15%. PocketDiner calculates to the cent what each person owes. You pay for exactly what you eat, simple as that."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040809-PocketDiner.gif" /><br /><br />I'm definitely going to have to try this out. One of the double-edged swords of working in New York is the fantastic selection of restaurants; there's probably a dozen decent places within a few blocks of my office. However, this always means we puzzle over the check. Don't even get me started over birthday dinners! I'm glad someone else had the time to write a solution up. 8) Note that it's written in eVB, so WM2003 users will have to install the eVB runtime (a link is provided on the linked page, along with the download). Of course, if you go out to dinner <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2101279">with truly evil bastards</a>, then even this is not going to help.

[OSUKid7]

Free is good. :D

[Perry Reed]

The price is certainly right, but in order for it to work, do you really have to key in everything everyone ordered, by person, with the prices???

Geez, that sounds like a lot of work when everyone just wants to pay and leave! I think I'll stick to doubling the tax and divvying the total evenly...

[Steven Cedrone]

Heh, those screen shots a pretty funny... Those names are so familiar, anyone like the movie "Office Space" :wink:

Steve

[ntractv]

Concept is good, free is even better, but, I really don't think it's a good idea to whip out your PDA in a restaurant and starting writing down what everyone orders. I know I would feel a little awkward.

[bjornkeizers]

My people *invented* going Dutch, (as in, splitting the bill) but even we aren't such cheap bastards :D

[rhmorrison]

I had a friend at college that was notorious for truncating instead of rounding.

Dinner $7.99 that's $7,
Appetizer $2.95, plus $2,
Drink $1.50, plus $1,
Dessert $1.75, plus $1,

Thats $11 that I owe!!!

Tips he also never added.

[Sven Johannsen]

It'll cost you a buck, but eTip Calculator by Torrential Designs seems to do what most folks would prefer. You put in the total bill, the % you want to tip and number of folks antee-ing up. It spits out the equally devided damage.

[24va]

Do you tip on the tax or do you tip on the total food order?

[GoldKey]

Our office goes out to eat quite a bit. We never have a problem just getting seperate checks. Assuming everyone tips properly, this usually works out better for the server too because most people I know round up their tip to the even dollar. 8 people rounding up is better than just one rounding up on the entire bill. This also works well in your group if some don't tip well, that way it is directly attributable to ther person rather than the group. Helpful, if you are a regular and tip well.

[Janak Parekh]

The price is certainly right, but in order for it to work, do you really have to key in everything everyone ordered, by person, with the prices???

Geez, that sounds like a lot of work when everyone just wants to pay and leave! I think I'll stick to doubling the tax and divvying the total evenly...
For small lunches/dinners, sure. But when there's 10 or 15 people, we invariably end up spending about 20 minutes doing the exact same thing on the back of the check. This sounds a whole lot cleaner to me, but we'll see how efficiently it works. ;)

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Our office goes out to eat quite a bit. We never have a problem just getting seperate checks.
I guess this is a social habit that's just not done. I should bounce the idea off my social circle.

Nevertheless, it doesn't work in situations where you have lots of shared food, e.g., going out for pizzas. (Believe it or not, it's possible to run up a non-insignificant pizza bill in NYC, where thin-crust is the specialty.)

--janak

[david291]

Just ask for separate checks. The software that runs the restaurant does all this work automatically.

[david291]

Nevertheless, [asking for separate checks] doesn't work in situations where you have lots of shared food, e.g., going out for pizzas.
Not true. Again, the restaurant software will do this automatically too, splitting the shared item among the separate checks so each person only pays for his portion.

[GoldKey]

Our office goes out to eat quite a bit. We never have a problem just getting seperate checks.
I guess this is a social habit that's just not done. I should bounce the idea off my social circle.

Nevertheless, it doesn't work in situations where you have lots of shared food, e.g., going out for pizzas. (Believe it or not, it's possible to run up a non-insignificant pizza bill in NYC, where thin-crust is the specialty.)

--janak

Shared food should then be just a matter of dividing it up equally. Unless you are down to the point of allocating the bill by the slice. :D

[Janak Parekh]

Not true. Again, the restaurant software will do this automatically too, splitting the shared item among the separate checks so each person only pays for his portion.
You've never been to a classic NY pizza dive. Restaurant software? What software? What computer? ;)

That said, your point makes sense, and I'll bring it up at my next dinner at a place that does have real restaurant software.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Unless you are down to the point of allocating the bill by the slice. :D
Admittedly, no. ;) But some of us get alcohol and some of us don't, and I don't like paying for that as it can rapidly add up.

--janak

[GoldKey]

I guess this is a social habit that's just not done. I should bounce the idea off my social circle.


The social anthropoligist part of me wants to know why? :?: I would think this would be prefered. This also lets each party pay how they want. (Some cash, credit, debit, check, etc.)

[dean_shan]

Nice, I've been looking for an app like that PPC. I had a free on for my old palm but when I switched it was a program that was lost in the move.

[sylvangale]

You can do the same thing really easily and quickly in pocket excel... once you make your formula/calculations they are there when you need them.

Simply put:
Cell 1 is the cost of food. (Cell A2)
Cell 2 is the tax of said food (Cell B2: "=A2*8.25%)
Cell 3 is the tip of said food (Cell C2: "=A2*15%)
Cell 4 is the total of all (Cell D2: "=SUM (A2:C2)

I also have additional cells where I can put in how much money I get and what change is due. ;)

[sylvangale]

::stutter:: :roll:

[david291]

Not true. Again, the restaurant software will do this automatically too, splitting the shared item among the separate checks so each person only pays for his portion.
You've never been to a classic NY pizza dive. Restaurant software? What software? What computer? ;)

That said, your point makes sense, and I'll bring it up at my next dinner at a place that does have real restaurant software.
If the restaurant doesn't run by software, then ask your server to do the splitting of the checks herself manually, including apportioning the shared items. That's part of her job. Enough of those requests and maybe that restaurant will get software to run their business -- that'd be good for my company. Maybe they'll even get a system that uses Pocket PC handhelds to do the ordering and splitting of checks -- that'd be good for me :)

[Perry Reed]

The price is certainly right, but in order for it to work, do you really have to key in everything everyone ordered, by person, with the prices???

Geez, that sounds like a lot of work when everyone just wants to pay and leave! I think I'll stick to doubling the tax and divvying the total evenly...
For small lunches/dinners, sure. But when there's 10 or 15 people, we invariably end up spending about 20 minutes doing the exact same thing on the back of the check. This sounds a whole lot cleaner to me, but we'll see how efficiently it works. ;)

Yeah, I'm sure some might find it useful.

And I should say that it was not my intention to rip on this software. After all, someone saw a need, wrote a solution and then decided to give it away for free! Regardless of whether or not I'd find it useful, they deserve thanks for that.

[marlof]

Hmpf. When I go out with friends, we just take turns in getting the entire bill. If someone has less money than the others, he pays fewer times. We work on a base of trust and friendship, and so far so good.

Next to that, if I had a good time, I don't mind partly paying for someone elses drinks at all. IMO it's not about calculus, it's about quality time.

So I guess this is not for me. ;)

[Janak Parekh]

If the restaurant doesn't run by software, then ask your server to do the splitting of the checks herself manually, including apportioning the shared items. That's part of her job.
Perhaps, and while in most NYC places the service is very friendly and accommodating, there are certain places that give you the "stereotypical New Yorker attitude" that you really don't want to bother. Trust me on this one. :P Too bad their food is so good... :lol:

--janak

[victore]

has anyone actually INSTALLED this app? according to their website, if the program is going to run on a wm2003 (and i assume a wm2003se) device, it will need the Microsoft Embedded Visual Basic runtime installer.

[Jereboam]

Hmpf. When I go out with friends, we just take turns in getting the entire bill. If someone has less money than the others, he pays fewer times. We work on a base of trust and friendship, and so far so good.

Next to that, if I had a good time, I don't mind partly paying for someone elses drinks at all. IMO it's not about calculus, it's about quality time.

So I guess this is not for me. ;)

That's fine with good friends, we often do the same in my circle, but when you go out with a bunch of people you don't know that well, or retentives like the truncaters, rounders and boozers mentioned here, I don't want to have anything to do with paying their way - so then this sort of app is pretty handy. No eVb on my device though....

J'bm

[Janak Parekh]

has anyone actually INSTALLED this app? according to their website, if the program is going to run on a wm2003 (and i assume a wm2003se) device, it will need the Microsoft Embedded Visual Basic runtime installer.
Note I said that in the post right up front. ;) I haven't yet, but I probably will. Not for everyday use, but as Jereboam implied, for those large gatherings where splitting isn't really an option.

--janak

[victore]

doh! you're right, i should read before posting.