What would you have done?

Good grief what is the matter with you? For a couple of quid you could have cost that young man his job or at least the price of a bottle of wine. Grow up.

Its just a few quid , and he could of had to pay for it himself out of his probably minimum wage . I'm glad your friend did the decent thing.

I would have felt mortified for not checking the bill properly before I left and would have paid up without hesitation.

Pay up of course! It would have been dishonest not to, if you had been in the car and realised then that the wine had not been paid for, then that would have been a choice for you, but a member of staff telling you about the mistake gave you no choice.

Presumably you drank the wine. You should have checked that it was on the bill in the first place. Of course you should pay up.

You are winding us up aren't you?

Pay up and give him a tip.

It's still the school holidays

Oh

Not badly written enough

Whoever was given the bill should have checked it and drawn attention to such an obvious omission. And even if the omission have been overlooked by your party, you should have paid without hesitation when he drew it to your collective attention.

Similar thing happened to us several years ago. A friend wanted to pay by credit card so it was agreed he would pay this time and we would pay the next time we went out. On the way home the friend started laughing and said the wine had been left off the final bill. DH who was driving turned the car round and drove back to the restaurant. The friend was adamant that it was the restaurants fault and we didn't need to pay but DH insisted on paying up.

Pay up , the young man would have had to pay for the wine out of his minimum wage wages . Its awful that you would even consider not doing .

We have had similar incidences where we have acted differently . First instance, desserts we had eaten were not on the bill. We pointed out the error . Waiter was very grateful. Second instance, in a group of six, our main courses were not on the bill. This was in a pub where we had to go to the bar to pay. DH said to the lady behind the bar that there was a mistake on the bill whereupon she rudely replied " I don't think so , I don't make mistakes". Exit six customers.

Clicked too soon. In the OP situation I would certainly have paid up.

If I were friend 1, I would find two new friends

Pay up and wonder about the honesty of yourself and friend 2.

We once had three main meals and when I checked the bill we were only charged for two. I went and told them and paid up. Then the waitress came with a piece of gateau divided into three and said it was complementary from the management!
Perhaps the original post wasn't genuine with a name like burrowdigger! Surely no-one would be so dishonest.

We too had a bill where the desserts had been missed off. We pointed it out and pub landlord was grateful. However, at another eating place we realised something was left off (can't remember what it was) and when we pointed it out, the girl treated us like imbeciles for being honest!

If it's a pub or a small business, def pay up. If it's a huge chain... Hmm not so sure! Probably would say nothing. And count ourselves lucky!

In fact, I'm sure, if it was a big concern, I would say nothing.

jinglbellsfrocks somtimes your like a wonderful blast of fresh air

Oh, thank you!

We walked out of Lidl with an item we hadn't paid for. It was pouring with rain, I had just injured my knee and was limping, but I went straight back, explained and paid up. All I got was a blank face and "£5.99". No smile, no thanks.
Out with my DD last week, in a different shop. She'd put a couple of items in the shopping tray of her pram, then we had coffee, wandered round the shop a bit more afterwards. It wasn't till we got to the car that she noticed the items, unpaid for, so she rushed back and paid for them. Once again, no reaction, they just took the money with no acknowledgment of her honesty, no smile.
I will always pay up in such a situation, but it would be nice to have a smile and a thank you for being honest!

I'm shocked that the OP would even consider refusing to pay!

I feel quite self concious walking out of clothes shops eg, M&S, with clothes just on a hanger (to mean to buy a bag)