"It Was Only $35" — Customers Show What Happens When They Tried to Split Bill in France
Updated Aug. 10 2023, 7:55 a.m. ET
We've heard a lot about "tipping culture" and how wildly it can differ on a country-by-country basis, a state-by-state basis, or even a case-by-case basis. Some people offer tips based on the quality of service provided while others feel entitled to their tips to a fault. The response to tipping can be wildly different depending on who you ask. Apparently, the same can be said of paying the restaurant bill at all, even before tip comes into play.
As Rosaria Sarnacchiaro on TikTok (@rosarrrria) discovered while on vacation, habits for paying the bill alone can be lost in translation depending on where you're dining. While vacationing in the South of France, Rosaria and a friend ate at a French restaurant. When all was said and done, she asked for their server to split the bill between the two of them. You won't believe what they did for her.
These customers revealed what happened when they tried to split the bill in the France.
In early August 2023, Rosaria began posting to TikTok about her glamorous-looking vacation in the South of France. While her trip has been filled with gorgeous sites and delicious food, she received the biggest culture shock ever when eating at a restaurant.
At some point on her vacation, Rosaria ate out at a restaurant with a friend. After the meal, she asked the server to split the meal between everyone in her party. Normally, this could be considered a pretty standard request when eating out, and the server even complied. Just not in the way that you might think at first.
In a true-to-life Amelia Bedelia moment, the server split the bill for them. That is, the server actually tore their bill down in half and gave it back to them to pay.
"Splitting the bill" as we know it generally refers to dividing up the payment at a restaurant among everyone who dined there in the same party. The server may not have been used to this terminology and took Rosaria's request literally.
Understandably, people in the comments section were utterly flabbergasted to see what the server had done to their bill.
"I think there was a language barrier," one person guessed.
However, another person who claims to be French in the comments wrote, "We always split [bills] and never had issues," suggesting that the server themselves made the hilarious foible all on their own.
Interestingly, most commenters expressed shock to see that Rosaria asked to split the bill over a grand total that wasn't exactly grand. The bill is clearly visible at the end of the video, and it shows that the whole meal cost exactly 38 euros, which amounts to approximately $38 USD.
"Splitting 35€ is so sad," one person remarked.
"Just Zelle each other 17 dollars," another person suggested.
As laughable as a literal split bill might be, this little farce has gone so far as to expose people's spending habits when eating at restaurants. Would you split a bill that was only $35? And if you were a server, would you tear up a bill if you were technically asked to do so?
