Man refuses to pay $825 for stranger's restaurant bill despite being told to be a gentleman

One man said he was completely blindsided when he went out to dinner with a friend and was expected to pay the entire bill.

In a post on Reddit, he recalled that he didn't like that he was expected to simply pay the entire bill for dinner.

He refused to pay an $825 restaurant bill for “strangers” despite being told to “be a gentleman.”

In his now-deleted Reddit post, he explained that he sought advice after having dinner with a group while on vacation in his birth country. After asking an old friend to meet up, “the friend asked me if he could bring three women and one man that he was OK with and I agreed,” he recalled. “I also suggested that after dinner we go to the place I had rented. I suggested the restaurant and everyone agreed with the location.”

Everyone showed up and it started out well. He noticed people ordering cocktails, appetizers and main courses but didn't think much of it and probably assumed people would pay for their respective meals. However, when dinner was over and the bill came, the problems began.

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Their total came to €700, or $760, and he told his friend that they could split the bill, which was fine with his friend. However, the other guy his friend had brought spoke up and said that he didn't have enough money to cover his expenses at the moment and could only spend €25 ($27), even though he had ordered nearly €100 ($108) worth of food.

The other two women at the table had remained silent until that moment, but one of them interjected that he should simply pay the bill because he was a “gentleman” and was “better off” financially.

fizkes | Shutterstock

“I asked her why she had accepted this and she said: ‘This is what it looks like on [Instagram].' Mind you, everything I have on my [Instagram] Are [pictures] of business and vacations. No fast cars or anything like that,” he continued.

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This is a prime example of why it is so important to discuss expectations with friends in advance.

Although such things happen frequently, before going on a dinner out with friends, you should know if you have enough money for the meal. If not, it is your responsibility to either stick to your budget or politely tell your friends that you cannot afford the meal at the moment and perhaps suggest doing something else with them instead.

To simply assume that just because firstly he is a man and secondly he supposedly makes a lot of money at his job based on his social media, that he should be responsible for paying such an expensive restaurant bill is a bit absurd. He didn't show up for dinner thinking he was paying for everyone, he just assumed he would pay for his own meal and everyone would pay for theirs.

If this had been discussed beforehand, it would have been a different story. There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about finances in a group of friends, as it helps clear up confusion and help compromise when some people can't afford one thing compared to others. If the other people at that dinner really couldn't afford something, they should have been smarter when ordering the meals and paid attention to the prices as well.

Dean Drobot | Shutterstock

“I got fed up and said I wasn't even going to split it equally anymore and just cover my expenses,” he added. “I felt a little bad when they were trying to figure out how I was going to pay.”

He pointed out that he might have been more likely to consider picking up the bill if they hadn't just accepted it, but since both his gender and his self-image on social media were at stake, he felt obligated to pay his share and leave the restaurant.

Finally, you should never ask someone to pay the entire bill, especially if they are people you don't know very well – that is both presumptuous and cheeky.

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Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news and lifestyle writer whose work explores current issues and experiences.