'The View' co-hosts know how to handle your deadbeat friends

The co-hosts of ABC's dishy daytime chat show The View recent turned their attentions to the annoying issue of friends who don't pay their fair share when you're out at a restaurant together. And wouldn't you know it? They had some good ideas.

In between patter about the niche topics of the female G-spot and slimmer undergarments for men, the ladies (I'm not being patronizing -- that's what ABC calls them) served up some tactics (click here for video) that could actually apply to all of us.

What was so fascinating about their tips for tactfully forcing freeloaders to pay up -- beside their ingenuity -- was the fact that each one of them seemed to reflect the specific personality traits of each TV hostess.

Sherri Shepherd, the semi-obsessive people person, suggested gracefully dividing and conquering your group while still appearing to be helpful. "If it's more than six or seven people, I ask the waitress to split it up into three people," she explained. "Three people on each check. And then that way, it doesn't get as mixed up."

Joy Behar, she who so often tossed the conversational hand grenades that resulted in Rosie O'Donnell's unfortunate explosions, revealed a wily manipulative streak by suggesting you snatch the check up the minute the waiter puts it down. "You pick up the check and look at it and say, 'Okay, here's mine. I owe 50 bucks.' Put it in, and that's the end of the conversation," she suggests. (Maybe I'm passive-aggressive. This is the method I like to use.)