Mealjacked
Do you work in an office building and get roped into co-worker lunch parties? You know, someone says “Hey, it’s Larry’s birthday so we’re going to take him out to lunch to celebrate!” So you and a rag-tag band of 15 office mates all go to some really mediocre restaurant like Chevy’s that accomodates ridiculously large groups in search of sombreros and bland and over-priced Fresh Mex.
Do you then order something humble, so as not to rudely make your fellow diners subsidize your meal? Of course you do. You order bread and tap water. Then the bill comes. Your bread and water costs $30. That’s because a few happy go lucky folks in the crowd decided to go to town with their lunch, knowing full well this bill would be split evenly.
Do you know what happened to you? You just got mealjacked, my friend. It happens where groups gather to eat together and split the bill. Someone in the gang decides to live it up and you shoulder the cost. Mealjacked.
May 26th, 2005 at 8:40 am
okay, that’s true, my friends do it too. But we come to that agreement up front. We all know that if we are going to attend one of these “parties” we are going to live it up. We all order whatever we want and as much as we want, and at night outings, as much booze as we want. I have found this to work out pretty well. I no longer live in fear of being meal-jacked. I know I am going to spend about $70 but I know each and everyone at that table got their money’s worth and so did I.
May 26th, 2005 at 10:30 am
It’s definitely an epidemic which takes many forms. I recently attended a group brunch where I knew I couldn’t stay long, so I literally had only a glass of water and left after about 20 minutes (I know, why bother even going…) I later found out that the restaurant was charging a fixed price per person, and the restaurant insisted on charging for my seat. Fortunately, after much argument, reason prevailed in this one, but clearly restaurants are starting to implement their own version of the mealjack.
May 26th, 2005 at 1:52 pm
I get screwed on the meal jack every time!! We go to some birthday function outing, even although i only have 10 dollars to my name but you HAVE to go because c’mon it’s SoAndSo’s BIRTHDAY. So you go. And knowing you only have 10 bucks you order some kind of burger or melt. Then you see your coworkers hauling in the fish cart and tapping the bar. Before you know it, you realize you are not just covering your own meal, no, that would be too much math on a lunch break, you are all splitting the bill and your burger and beer cost $25 bucks. Mealjacked! and you only brought ten… this is when your coworkers chip in for you and now you feel like an ass. but you’re really just pissed off because you didnt eat $25 worth of food in the first place!
May 27th, 2005 at 9:58 am
I avoid office lunches unless Im wearing pants with an elastic waistband. Mostly the women group in the kitchen and eat Panda Express. This makes the whole office smell like orange chicken. Then I think I want orange chicken when what I previously wanted was a burrito. Or a turkey sandwhich. It that mealjacking, too?
Sometimes there are free pastries. Then the women walk back and forth to the kitchen several times during the day taking half a pastry at a time. I grab what I can fit in my pockets. My office is at the far end. The north end. I feel like a retired greyhound by the end of the day if I have to make too many trips to the south end. Plus, my copy machine is far superior to theirs which stops and starts like a vibrator with low batteries and beeps too often.
Once there was a huge bowl of walnuts in the kitchen. And a nutcracker. My boss, who is fond of nuts, who plucks trail mix out of my tupperware snack case like a squirrel, didn’t bother with the uncracked nuts. He is lazy like that.
May 29th, 2005 at 4:28 pm
I like the phrase “meal jack” but I’m afraid if you only order bread and water and agree to split the bill you are a jack ASS. Just kidding! I mean I’m not kidding that I don’t think you should pay for everyone else, but I wanted to use the word jack in my answer so I said it more harshly than I meant it. If it takes me this long to explain my comment I should probably have just not said it. But seriously, Eli. Why are you paying for it? And if your co-workers are making you pay for it when they know you didn’t eat much you work with a bunch of douche bags. Also, don’t you work from home?
June 1st, 2005 at 3:13 am
Meal jacking is a true all-American phenomenon. You can either accept it, reject it, or participate grudgingly. I choose to accept it when I’m in the mood, order whatever I want, and when the bill comes, suggest to the rest of the table that those who didn’t order much or were not drinking should pay less. Usually, the persons it applies to look at me with a sigh of relief, and everyone else agrees to them paying less (so as not to seem as meal jackers). So, fellow splurgers, do the non-splurgers a favor and speak up! You’ve probably been in the same situation yourself and wished that someone would have stood up for what is fair without you having to look like a cheapskate. So do your friends a favor - after all, you’re all splitting the bill, so it will probably only be 2-3 bucks more for you. And, you can sleep well knowing you did a good deed….