Organising Meals Out For Groups

[hellywelly4]

A friend and I arranged a meal out at a local pub a week or so before Christmas for a group of 17. Everyone chose their meals from the menu beforehand and I took the list into the pub a few days before the meal. When we all got to the pub I checked that everyone knew what they were having (some people have been known to forget!).
One lady swore blind she hadn't picked what she had signed up for and that she had never seen a menu. It wasn't a problem as the pub are very accommodating but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Today I have seen the same lady and also another one and they both complained about the cost of the drinks.
I feel really cross and upset - we don't have to do this, and it can be quite time-consuming. I did actually challenge them which is not like me and said, well you organise it next time but of course they don't want to do that.
Sorry, but feeling upset -more upset than I should be, I suppose, but just needed to get it off my chest.

[boxtops]

Let them choose where they go for the next one, then they can research the price of the drinks beforehand! I organised a table at a dinner we went to recently, I kept everyone's notes asking which food they wanted and took it with me - no disputes there....

[237SJ]

I would tell them that if they have a problem with the price of the drinks, to take that up with the establishment themselves. You always get problems when large groups go out - people quibble about the bill/tips etc. You can`t please all of the people all of the time.

[Sqad]

LOL.....clearly you have never had a job where it involved the British public.

Forget it.

[craft1948]

I was social secretary for a sports club, one of the duties entailed organising the annual dinner/awards evening. It was without doubt one of the most thankless tasks ever.........

[redman41]

Had this problem myself in the past when organising outings for older people.
Get them to sign their names against choice of food, then they cannot argue against it. Mind you some are awkward sods on purpose

[Mamyalynne]

Rise above it - they are being churlish, in a group you will always get some. Fingers crossed they won't attend next year.

[mccfluff]

thank less task, you'll never win

ignore them, i doubt they are upset over it. Just don't do it next time, if they ask why tell them

[hellywelly4]

Thank you all. I do actually feel better for the rant! At l
east I know others have suffered the same problems.

[Alex_Higham]

Forget about the grumblers. Tell yourself that you have lots of friends in AB who are on your side.

Hope 2014 is a good year for you and you get lots of pleasure from posting into AB.

[Canary42]

Been there, done that. Stuff the moaners.

[sara3]

I don't know how many times I've arranged work meals.

"can I order something that's not on the menu?" "I didn't order that!" "but I don't like that restaurant" it goes on, and on, and on...

and yet I do it every time.. you can't please everyone!

[craft1948]

I remember going to a works Xmas dinner (3 of us went from York) the rest of the team were in London.
We thought it was the weirdest Xmas lunch ever as it was in a Belgian restaurant and consisted of mussels and chips. Having said that we were quite happy as the boss forked out for all the booze for 30 of us.........

[Dee Sa]

next time ...... take a vote on where people want to go and make a note of who voted for where , then give a copy of the menu and drinks prices to everyone get them to tick off which meal and highlite the wine prices.
Or leave it to some one else next time saying politely once was enough.
I once went to an OAP outing where the whole day was free for them, they had a silver service lunch at Brighton and claimed the roast potatoes were hard , they could not find anything else to moan about !Theres always one [or two !]

[Peter Pedant]

inevitable helly welly - just shrug it off.

the people who do this seem to start at the age of 16
and Never Give UP ! whining grizzling and complaining I mean