We've all heard of the stereotype that in a heterosexual relationship it's the man who pays for the date - and thankfully, most of us also understand that it's outdated and shouldn't always be the case. But one woman claimed her male friend was furious at her when she footed the bill for their dinner because he believed she had "humiliated him" in front of the restaurant staff.
The woman insisted she was not on a date with the man but simply went out to dinner with him as a friend, and thought she would pay for their meals since she was the one who asked him to come. When the waiter came to give her the bill, her mate was in the bathroom so thought nothing of just footing the tab herself - but was bizarrely accused of emasculating him by doing so.
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In a Reddit post, the baffled woman claimed: "I asked my male friend out to dinner. It wasn't a date, I just wanted to have some food. He was in the bathroom when the bill arrived and since I asked him to dinner I just paid the bill.
"He got extremely irritated and explained that it looked like I was 'the man in a relationship' and that it's a 'universal cue that when the bill is coming a woman goes to the bathroom while the man pays'. So this made him look like ... a woman?
"I told him he could pay me back if he was so p***ed about this, but apparently that's not enough for him. It's about how much I humiliated him in front of the restaurant staff and other guests. I couldn't help but laugh at this point. I was a waitress for years and I never gave a f**k who paid the bill."
The woman was then even more confused when her friend told her that she should have waited for him to come back, slipped him some money under the table, and then allowed him to pay using her cash.
She added: "After a bit of back and forth, apparently, the only correct way for me to pay the bill is to either slip him cash or a card and let him hand it to the staff.
"I just can't with this bulls**t. This is a 33-year-old man. 33 YEARS OLD. Freaking out because I, his good friend, PAID FOR HIS FOOD WRONG. Lord help me."
Commenters were equally baffled by the woman's ordeal, with many saying they couldn't believe his attitude toward paying the bill for a dinner between mates.
One person said: "Guess who isn't getting invited to dinner anymore? Or much else. No one I've known has ever cared who paid, just that it gets paid."
While another added: "Holy crap. I am in my late 40s, and the guy friends I hang out with would have been thrilled for me to pay their bill at any age. He needs to focus on real problems, not ego."
And a third wrote: "That's extremely ungrateful of him, he clearly humiliated himself in that. A normal human way would be a simple but effective 'thank you'."
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