A clip that recently went viral and spurred a larger, almost Curb Your Enthusiasm-like debate about restaurant payment etiquette has expectedly been determined to be staged.
You’ve likely seen the clip in question, which made its way from TikTok to Twitter by way of the typical prompt setup. The short video, which appears to have originally been shared by @viccgotti on TikTok, opens mid-argument as several diners explain their stance on the issue of splitting an alleged $4,600 bill at someone’s birthday get-together.
“I’m only paying for what’s on the check,” one person says at the beginning of the clip. “I’m not splitting the bill. That’s crazy.” Another person then chimes in, pointing out to those in favor of bill-splitting that they all ordered varyingly printed items such as lamb chop and steak.
“Look at what all they got and they talking about splitting the bill,” one person says, prompting a response in favor of splitting toward the end of the clip.
“We come together, we split the bill. Period,” another person says.
By Monday morning, the clip had been deemed “staged” by Twitter and Reddit. Moderators of the PublicFreakout subreddit removed the post, saying in a pinned comment that “staged videos are not allowed on this platform.”
On Twitter, the Reddit determination was echoed with a “Readers added context they thought people might want to know” label.
As for the key issue at the center of the staged clip and its ensuing discussion, the prospect of bill-splitting when going out as part of a large group is, more often than not, quite the polarizing subject. However, to avoid some truly Curb-esque developments in one’s personal life, broaching the topic before the check hits the table is certainly an option worth consideration.
