Paying at a Restaurant: Vocabulary & Culture

Hello. My name is Emma; and in today's video, we are going to talk about

restaurant English. Specifically, we are going to talk about the "cheque" or the

"bill" — I'll explain what those words mean. We're going to talk about who pays

for the meal at a restaurant, and: What is the culture or the traditions

surrounding who pays? And then we are going to practice some common words we

might use at the end of the meal to talk about the bill or the cheque. So, let's

get started. So, I have here two words: the "bill" or the "cheque". These words

mean the same thing. You can use either of these words in a restaurant. What do

they mean? Well, the "bill" or the "cheque" is that little piece of paper

you get at the end of a meal; it tells you how much money you need to pay. So,

the "bill" or the "cheque" is the money you pay at the end of the meal. How do

you ask for this at a restaurant? Well, at the very end of the meal, you might

put your finger up — that's the custom here — and you might say: "The bill,

please". You might say this to the server, or the waitress, or the waiter.

Say: "The bill, please". Or you might say: "Cheque, please". Okay? Sometimes

you might not even say anything; you might just do a hand gesture to show

what you mean; especially if it's a really busy, loud restaurant. But these

are the two words you would use to ask for that little piece of paper that

tells you how much money you owe for your meal. So, here is the big question

— drum roll; doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo —

who pays for the meal? So, imagine this: You're going to a restaurant with a

bunch of people, and at the very end of your meal, the bill comes. Who pays? So,

this is actually quite a complicated question and answer. The answer to: "Who

pays?" is... it's very cultural, and it really depends on the situation. So, I'm

going to give you some examples now of who might pay the bill at the

restaurant.

Okay. So, I said it depends — who pays. So, what does it depend on? Well, let's

look at some different situations. The first one is a business dinner. So,

maybe you've been invited to a dinner for work. Who pays? Well, usually it's

the person who invites everyone out, or the boss, or the host. Okay? So, if

you've been invited to a dinner, usually the... the host will pay. If you're

going to dinner, or lunch, or... or you're going to a restaurant with

co-workers or your friends, then... and, again, this is very cultural — in

general, in North America, you can split the bill, which means each person pays

the same percentage of the bill. So, everyone pays, you know... if there's

three of you, maybe one person pays a third, a third, and a third of the bill.

So, that's one possibility: To... to split it. You might also just pay for

yourself. That's very common, too, where everyone just pays for themselves. Or

some people don't like paying for themselves; they find it awkward — so

what they might say is: "I'll... I'll cover it this time. I'll pay for the

meal this time." And someone else will pay next time. I have a friend; my

friend, Laura — her and I do it this way. Whenever we go to a restaurant,

some of the times I pay, and some of the times she pays. So, we take turns. With

other friends, I will pay for myself only; and then with other people, I

might... just where we all pay equally; we split the bill equally. So, it

depends on your friends; it depends on your co-workers. I find I do all of

these things.

What about romantic dates? Okay? So, you are on a date with somebody — who pays?

This is not an easy question. Even for people from North American culture, this

is still a really tricky, complicated question. Again, it depends. Some of the

options are: You might split the bill, where you each pay half. This is called:

"going Dutch". So, that... that can be one option: You... you split the bill

50/50. Sometimes the man pays, and the woman offers to pay. So, she says: "I'll

pay" or, you know... "Let me pay" and the man says: "No, no. I've got this."

So, that can happen sometimes. Sometimes you pay for your own meal; the... the...

one person pays for theirs; you pay for yours — that can happen on a date, too.

Or sometimes you might take turns; you might say: "I'll cover dinner; you cover

drinks. I'll cover the movie; you can cover the... the bill at the

restaurant". So, that is another option. Again, it depends on who you're going on

the date with. Some people, who might be more traditional, might want the man to

pay and the woman doesn't pay. Some people, who are maybe of the younger

generation, or you know... different... different groups of people — they might

actually do 50/50. So, it really depends. And, again: "Who pays?" is very

cultural. So, we've talked about what the word the "cheque" and the "bill"

means, we've talked about who pays the cheque or the bill, and how to ask for

it. Now what we are going to do is we are going to learn some other important

vocabulary when we're talking about the bill. We're going to talk about how to

argue to pay the bill. This is also another custom in North America. People

often argue who will pay. Okay? So, this makes it even a little bit more

complicated. I'm going to show you an example of an argument, and the

different words people might use to do this... this fun argument.

All right. So, let's look at an example of a friendly argument, where two people

discuss who pays for the meal at the restaurant. So, I have here are my two

friends, Adrian and Debbie. Now, imagine Adrian and Debbie are on a romantic

date. This is the kind of conversation you might hear at the end of the date.

You might notice some of the words are in blue; these are the words I want you

to really learn. And the reason is: They are very common words we use in

restaurants. So, let's get started. This is what Adrian says — he says: "This is

my treat". "My treat" means: I'm going to pay. "This is my treat; I'm going to

pay". Debbie says: "No. I want to cover dinner". "Cover" means: Pay for. So,

Debbie's saying: "No. I want to cover dinner". This means: "No. I want to

pay". Adrian says: "I insist. Dinner is on me". "on me" means: I'm going to pay

for it. So, "cover", "my treat", "on me" — they're all the same. They're all

different ways to say: I'm paying. So, Adrian says: "I insist. Dinner is on

me". Debbie says: "Are you sure?" So, that's what she says, but in her head I

think she probably expected this. And Adrian says: "Yes". Then Debbie says:

"Thank you. I'll cover the tip." Or Debbie might say: "Thank you. I'll cover

drinks", or "I'll cover the next time we go out". What Debbie's saying is that

she's going to pay the tip.

So, what is the "tip"? That's the next question. In North America, you get your

bill, and usually the tip... it might be on the bill; it might not be. But what

the "tip" is, is it's a little bit of extra money you're going to pay that

goes to the server, or the waiter, or the waitress. Okay? So, the "tip" is

something that we often do in North America, where we will tip fifteen

percent of the bill. So, you have your bill; and then, on top of the bill, you

pay an extra fifteen percent, and that goes to the waiter, the waitress, or the

server. In North America, in general, a tip is required. It is customary; people

expect it. If you don't give a tip, it's seen as very impolite or rude. So,

almost everybody tips in North America. What about in places like England, or

Australia, or New Zealand? The truth is: Tipping is very different from culture

to culture. I'm not an expert when it comes to what people do in England, in

Australia, or New Zealand. I know that it is very different than North America

when it comes to tipping. So, what I recommend is: Wherever you travel — find

out what the tipping custom is. I can tell you that in Canada and the United

States, you usually tip fifteen percent; or you might tip more if it's really

good service, like twenty percent. But it's almost mandatory here. Nobody says

that, but it actually is expected.

So, we've covered a lot today. We've covered words, like: the "bill", the

"cheque"; we've talked about how to ask for the bill or the cheque; we've looked

at who usually pays the bill or the cheque; and then we've learned some new

vocabulary, like: "my treat", "cover", "on me", "tip"; and we've talked about

tipping customs and what they are like in North America. So, thank you for

watching this video. To practice more, I recommend you check out our website at

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resources. So, thank you so much for watching; and until next time, take

care.