Woman Shunned By Friends For Not Splitting Bill Evenly Because She Ate Less
She didn't have a lot of money to spend.
fizkes / Shutterstock "So, I went out for dinner with the other ladies in my office," a woman started her confessional post to the subreddit "r/AmItheA--hole" (AITA).
The subreddit is an online forum where users try to figure out if they were wrong or not in an argument that has been bothering them.
She refused to split the bill evenly after her coworkers ate more food than she did.
In her Reddit post, the woman, 26, explained that she and some of her coworkers at her office all went out to dinner one night.
"Money is a bit tight at the moment so whilst everyone else ordered 3 courses and was drinking alcohol, I only ordered a main meal and was drinking water all evening," she recalled.
Once the dinner was over, the bill was dropped off at their table.
The woman who organized the entire dinner didn't hesitate when telling the waitress that everyone at the table would be splitting the bill "6 ways evenly."
By announcing the bill would be split evenly among all of her coworkers, she realized her total would come to £60 ($73.19) when the total amount for everything she ate was only £16 ($19.52).
When the woman had first received an invite to the dinner, she pointed out that the email said nothing about having to split the dinner bill evenly.
"I quietly tried to explain I'd only budgeted for what I'd eaten and I assumed we'd all be paying for ourselves, it would put me in a difficult position for the rest of the month if I paid out £60."
Eventually, the woman's coworkers managed to "work out the bill separately" and everyone ended up paying for the meals they'd eaten.
However, after the dinner, she noticed that all of the women in the office she went out with have begun to ignore her.
At one point, she even overheard them planning another night out without her.
"I couldn't really afford to go out anyway, but I went because I'm quite new to this job and I didn't want to be left out. Did I do it wrong? Should I have just paid the £60?" she concluded.
Most people who commented on the woman's Reddit post agreed that she was NTA (Not The A-hole).
"They're being rude. Splitting the bill evenly is only ok if everyone agrees ahead of time," one user wrote.
"Sure they don't have to invite you again, but why would anyone want to hang out with a bunch of rude snobs who would hold money over someone like that?"
Another user added, "Large group like this should have just asked for separate checks from the start."
"That way everyone pays just for what they have and no one is left in a situation like you had where you ate a small amount but they wanted you to pay more."
A third user chimed in, "Even with my friends when we go out, we pay for what we’ve consumed/ordered, not an even split."
"It makes no sense when someone could’ve ordered way more/something for a significantly higher price!"
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.