https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...=.57759b6bf855

Dear Miss Manners €¢ When my husband and I go out to dinner with another couple, he thinks its petty either to request separate checks or to calculate afterward how much each couple owes. He believes the check should always be divided equally, and this is what we do with most friends..

The difference in price between what each couple orders is usually only $10 to $20, meaning that the couple who spent less only contributes $5 to $10 for the other couples food.

However, we are friends with one other couple who has always declined to pay for more than they ordered (for the record, my husband and I have always been the ones to order more), and my husband has always grumbled afterward to me about €œTonys€� stinginess.

Last night we had dinner with them, and my husband and I ordered $40 more worth of food and drinks than Tony and his wife. When Tony calculated how much they owed, my husband got angry and confronted him, saying that these calculations had always annoyed him, arguing that paying a little extra is the cost of going out with friends.

I dont think friends are obligated to subsidize my husbands and my appetizers, wine, dessert, etc., especially not when its $40 worth. Also, I think its okay to request separate checks.



Gentle Reader €¢ This problem is likely to solve itself when you find that you are the only person left willing to go out for dinner with your husband.

Funny how his idea of polite sharing always seems to work in his favor. Miss Manners notices that he is not paying that €œlittle extra cost of going out with friends"; he is charging them for the privilege of going out with him.

It is true that it would be petty to grudge the cost of offering hospitality. But this is not the case in a restaurant, where it is agreed that each of you is buying a meal. There is nothing unfriendly about requesting separate checks, which would be a good idea if you want to have any friends left.

(end)

Some people! I wouldn't expect anyone other than a crass teenager to get mad.


Lenona.