No matter your opinion on whether or not the guy has to pay for the first date, there are certain ways to go about suggesting splitting the check without being overly offensive to either party involved. Bitter El Cheapo was apparently single for a reason. Now, granted, I was 30 minutes late for the date because of traffic, but I had no way to contact him to tell him I was late. I planned to apologize profusely as soon as I got there, but he gave me no such opportunity. After I spotted him and walked over, his first comment:
"Oh, was I wrong? Was the date at 6:30 instead of 6?" with a smart-ass smirk across his face.
Me (completely ticked off by the implication and now with equally smart-ass look on my face and as nonchalantly as possible): "Nope. You were right. I was stuck in traffic and didn't have your number with me. " And I sat down.
El Cheapo graciously rambled off the happy hour specials for me, and I proceeded to order a glass of red wine not included in his list. I'm not sure whether he was stating these for his benefit (doubtful, see end of the story), for mine (doubtful again, he never got over the fact I was late - hence his first name), or for the lack of conversation. Needless to say, the conversation was a bit strained the rest of the time. After about 30 mins, I had had enough and said I needed to go meet some friends for dinner. He promptly got the tab from the bartender. As the bartender turned around, El Cheapo looked over at me and, acting surprised, said: "Oh, do you need to get your tab, too?" The NERVE! Luckily, the bartender had already put us on the same tab. I looked over, saw that my wine was $9, and I quickly handed El Cheapo $12.
El Cheapo: "No, that's okay, you only owe 11." and he hands me back a dollar.
Me: walk out the door and never look back ...
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Okay, the guy could have thought of a much better joke when you showed up 30 minutes late.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you think that guys MUST pay on the first date, how is this different from prostitution?
I'm impressed with women who randomly insist on paying for the first or second date. That tells me they do not want to be bought, that they are not there for the free wine (I love wine by the way and would NEVER bring you so-called white zinfandel like that guy mentioned in another of your postings) but instead are there instead because I'm at least fairly entertaining.
Personally, I always pay for at least the first several dates and even if I decide I'm not interested I still pay for that first date out of politeness.
Apparently this guy was very unimpressed with you and didn't want to see you again. So he was rude.
He wasn't being cheap, perhaps, maybe he was simply making a logical business decision. Prostitution, like any business transaction, deserves good customer service.