Quote:
Originally Posted by Grunt
Sometimes I like to treat my friends when we go out for beers, or for lunch, or whatever. When I throw parties I always have a boatload of alcohol onhand that everyone is welcome to enjoy. I like to think that small tokens like this pretty much always even themselves out. I do try to remain cognisant of the times when my friends have paid for me so that I can get them back, but it's obviously not a hard tally that's maintained since, as I said, I think it all evens out in the end.
I recently went on a road trip with a friend of mine out to Salmo, BC and we agreed to split the gas. I paid for all the gas on my credit card for easy tallying at the end. Fast forward to today... it's been over a month since our trip and I've been lazy about asking my friend for the money, but today I remembered. I originally thought he owed me $100, but it turns out that he only owes me $80.
His response (over messenger): "whew... so.... can I knock off $15 from that for flat of beer I bought?"
In my mind, it's completely ridiculous and inappropriate for him to suggest this. To me this is being really cheap, nitpicky, and kind of insulting. On our trip, and throughout our friendship, I've certainly paid for beer or other things for him and never dreamed of asking him for repayment. His comment made me feel like going through my credit card statement and pointing out small purchases that we could also split, since we're getting down to the nitty gritty.
Instead though, I just said "lol... I guess so..." to avoid petty arguments about ridiculous things like $15, and since I'm a nice guy / sucker.
My question to you Calgarypuck is: Is his request for the $15 completely normal and standard, or out of line?
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Grunt I'm glad you brought this topic up. I'm always doing extra for my friends and chipping in way more than I should on our collective tabs when we go out. Always drive too and never charge for gas under the assumption we split parking and everything else from there. But I always have 1 or 2 cheap friends who go so far as to bring $5 in their pockets when going out, then when we go to the bar or club to order a drink, they'll be right behind you when you're ordering only to feel obligated to constantly buy them a drink. A few weeks back a coworker was having a birthday, so we went out and I brought my most cheapass one out of desperation, and when one of my female coworkers offers to buy him a drink, he takes the money from her hand and buys his own...with her money! I really got pissed (one thing to jip me, but embarressing me like that is not good). Haven't really talked to the guy since (don't think he gets it anyway), and if I ever invite him out again, it'll be for non-monetary based events. I'm like most of you guys though, don't have the balls to say anything to keep the friendship, but over time, you really lose a lot of money like that at the expense of some guy who makes more than you, benefitting from your generosity. In the end, one or two times is fine, but if your friend really can't understand the concept of returning the favour, or he's a daft idiot and you have to tell him, it's better to keep the moocher away. You'll be happier in the end IMO, and breaking ties with these people isn't all that difficult you'll see.