Who's First
We start with the most commonly-encountered rule of round etiquette. In a regular Group Of Drinkers, the person that buys the first round should differ for each outing, but can be determined by such factors as: who gets to the venue first, who doesn't need to go to the bathroom, cigarette machine, ATM, etc. From a tactical perspective, buying the first round can have financial benefits if the round is going to grow in size before the end of the first round. We'll discuss this more in The Growing Round.