A thread about the intricacies and etiquette of round-buying?

Drinking speed is a complicating factor. This arrangement may require Z to get a flier before the next round. But it's better to buy inot the round and then get your flier if necessary than to get your flier then find that - oops - you're not ready to buy the drinks next time round.

Of course if X is feeling especially generous or welcoming then he or she can get up and buy Z a starter drink which makes it all easy. Z should then endeavour to buy the next round, drinking speed and alphabetisation notwithstanding.

But in reality Person Z should get his own, and then its Person Y's round next. But (and this is where it gets tricky) who gets the round after that.

Secondary question. Someone in the round has asked for wine. The bar staff ask if you want large or small. What's the answer?

DV system works well and ought to be employed when there are above say, four people drink and definately when people are floating in and out.

Also large wine = about a thousand pounds in most pubs.

If so they are generous but slightly over eager to please.
If not they are alcoholics.

In the original example, Z should get their own drink (asking the others out of courtesy, though they will both say no). The next round should be Y's *or* Z's, depending on who finishes their drink first.

Next time I ask for a shandy and the round-buyer makes a fuss, I shall take back my order and ask for a bottle of champagne instead.

I agree - people jumping up to get pints for latecomers is a step too far in my book.

Then yeah, Person Y buys a round

Yup.

But (and this is where it gets tricky) who gets the round after that.

Person Z! Obviously. So yeah, if they stopped drinking at that point then Person Z will have paid for 4 pints and only drunk three. And Person X will have got one free pint out of it. But that's hardly a great imbalance in the great scheme of things. Look at it as a penalty for being late, or a bonus for being early and first to buy (with the risk that you'll never even get your first round back if everyone wants to go home early).

There are bigger inequities to nail. Basically the way kind people who offer to buy drinks for all and sundry all the time are freeloaded off by people who always accept but rarely buy.

What about cheap house doubles?

I think small with wine. IME a regular glass of wine takes the same time for a wine drinker as a pint for a beer drinker.

But then just before the sweet spot, I get involved in a discussion about Mark Lamarr/the KLF/ScooterInflation in Germany between the wars and when I look up again everyone has more booze, so actually I'm a skinflint.

Yes, but sadly game theory comes into play, Tim. You are a good and generous round buyer but I have seen you get shafted by others who exploit this.

My golden rule: err on the side of generosity except when there a million people in a group, half of whom have no idea about round-returning ethics.

I often wonder whether people who are recalcitrant round buyers or regular round-avoiders think the rest of us don't notice.

(And the main reason is my being poor, to be honest.)

It's a drink inserted between rounds when it's plain that it's not the drinker's turn to buy another round.

i think a major thing ppl have missed here is ppl sitting in pubs WITHOUT A DRINK (alcoholic or soft, christ, even a coffee!) OF ANY KIND which is a personal bugbear of mine.

Carsmile you are a pub nazi. If you don't want to be constantly imbibing liquid you shouldn't be forced to! I bet you love pubs run by Hitler.

I must admit to being hopeless with rounds, so I ask if it's my round, and am trusting of my friends.

*may explain my mild headache this morning

i think this stems from watching large groups of people (often, but not exclusively, styooooouuuuudents) going into pubs and taking up seats when they have no intention of purchasing *any* product from the premises, thus leaving solid drink buying folk without seats...

Also, one is usually exempt from the round buying duties on one's birthday.

I think once there are more than six people, a round ought to be just for those who need drinks. This plays into the hands of the fast drinkers, but that doesn't really bother me. I'm quite halppy to sit a round out if I don't need a drink. Unles sits being bought by a notoriously poor roundateer.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of non drinking you mean. In your gang of students scenario I'd agree but I don't think I've ever seen a group of people where the majority weren't drinking anything.

hmmm, try quite a few sinister things where I've been embarrassed by the huge number of people sitting round not drinking.

you've certainly been in the same room as tom, dunno if you know him though.

i assume that it is because we all have jobs that allow large chunks of downtime to kill on the internet, rather than they are curious and fascinated by my 'other' life.

(xpost-- kate, he only reads what i show him...i hope! eek.)

Haha my wife is never drinking with you people again! She has a very strict "I never buy drinks" policy born of being raised in the chivalrous South (which on a certain level I can understand; when we go out, we are a unit, we have one source of income, plus she drinks a LOT slower than everyone else in the world).

granted i'm a bit slow this morning, but why is this offensive?

This is a big part of it, I think. To this day my wife hates carrying money/a wallet and we've been together as a couple for 11 years. I think she sees it as a sign of our couple-tude.

Dave means if when it's other people's rounds, you're asking for a more expensive drink than whe one you buy for yourself on your own round.

I reckon there's only been about ten times in my life where someone at the table has got up to get me one. It's not the norm.

And I thought he was... ... popular.

but if you're buying OTHERs the drinks which are more expensive... i mean if it's

round 1
A lager (buying)
B lager
C lager
D long island iced tea

round 2
A lager
B lager (buying)
C lager
D long island iced tea

round 3
A lager
B lager
C lager (buying)
D long island iced tea with ice

round 4
A lager
B lager
C lager
D tap water (buying)

then yeah ok. but is it that wrong to be frugal towards yourself if you're buying the others what they ask for?

"Feeble" is an overstatement. Haha I wonder how the expats are getting on in New York.

round 4
A long island iced tea
B long island iced tea
C long island iced tea
D X (buying)

then it's fair whatever X is.

Then it's A's round.

(i) If B buys drink 1?
(ii)If B buys drink 1 but not drink 2?
(iii)If C buys drink 1 and 2?
(iv)If D cops off?

also: in the summer i quite often fancy a pint of hoegaarden, but i've yet to find a way of accomodating this within round buying; either you cause offence by asking people to pay for it, or you cause offence by offering to make up the difference. or you order halfs, obviously, but that's clearly rubbish too.

That's the whole point.

"Feeble" is an overstatement. Haha I wonder how the expats are getting on in New York.

Au contraire. Last night the ultra-chivalrous Tim H. took a break from buying drinks for everyone in his line of view to ask me how much tip he should leave.

Do I:

A - just buy a round for the people sitting round the table at that time
B - ignore the people at my table and buy drinks for those who have already bought me one
C - buy drinks for both groups of people
D - buy drinks for everyone at the FAP below the Cheeky Line

I think I tend to end up plumping for Option C - am I being a mug? Or occasionally A - am I being tight?

This seems crazy to me. I would definitely choose A. The way social drinking situations work, people are floating around to different tables, standing at the bar, playing pool, getting it on in the bathroom, and/or standing outside smoking, and you would have to make the rounds to personally deliver a drink to each person, just because they sat at your table at the beginning of the night?

I would choose option A in the hopes that it would all work itself out in the end. The one time I might chase someone to the end of the bar to buy them back a drink is if I knew they were relatively poor and could definintely use to have a drink bought back for them.

A propos of the 'cheeky line' (my new favorite term) is one required to ask someone with a drink above the cheeky line if they would like another? I have done (to be polite) and was informed yes (!)...Unless you are Carey and like to keep two drinks at the ready at all times, I think this is foul play, especially when the person 'offering' has no money and is only doing it to be polite.