Sorting out who pays what at family meals can quickly get uncomfortable.
In a Reddit post, a 28-year-old woman shared that she recently went out to lunch with her 46-year-old mom, her 36-year-old uncle and his 11-year-old son. Her uncle chose a new restaurant, “insisting on everyone sharing a huge barbecue,” even though she and her mom had wanted to stick to a more affordable, low-key spot.
“When the bill comes, I divide it by four and say he should cover himself and my cousin, while my mom and I each pay for our own meals,” she wrote. “He gets mad and says every adult should pay a third of the bill because my cousin obviously can’t contribute.”
She added that this wasn’t the first time he’d tried this. “My mom points out that she never made him or anyone else help pay for my meals when I was a kid, but my uncle insists,” she continued.
Not wanting to “make a scene” in the restaurant, the woman went along with the split — but she was frustrated about spending more than she’d planned, especially on food she hadn’t really wanted in the first place.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(1220x145:1222x147):format(webp)/friends-dining-out-lunch-outdoors-061225-f67eb80241c644288b94b7692f02c28e.jpg)
Afterward, she told her mom she was done going out to eat with him. “I had already said I wouldn’t, and only agreed to this lunch because it was supposed to be at a cheap restaurant, but he changed his mind at the last minute,” she wrote. Her uncle overheard, agreed to reimburse them, but then got angry and called them selfish.
The woman also explained that she works as a teacher and isn’t “rolling in cash,” while both her mom and uncle are in a better financial position than she is.
Commenters on Reddit largely took her side, saying that parents are responsible for their own children’s meals.
“Lol, he chose the place and the meal for everyone but then wants everyone else to pay for his kid. Why does the family even go along with his plans? Smh,” one person wrote.
Another added, “Your uncle is responsible for paying for his own kid, especially since he chose a more expensive place to eat. He knew what he was doing by insisting everyone split a large meal.”
