I went on a date with a guy my friend set me up with. He showed up with flowers (not a grocery store bunch, actual roses). Dinner was perfect. He was charming, opened doors, and pulled out my chair. When the check came, I reached for my wallet. Big mistake. “Absolutely not,” he said, sliding his card down. “A man pays on the first date.” I walked away thinking it was one of the best first dates ever. That was until the next morning, when I saw that he’d sent me a Venmo request.<\/p>\n
I blinked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, certain I was misreading the notification. But no, there it was, glowing on my screen: $114.50.<\/p>\n
The caption on the request was even more baffling than the amount. It read: \u201cHalf of dinner + 50% of the roses. Such a great time last night! \ud83c\udf39\ud83e\udd42\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat up in bed, my brain short-circuiting. Had I imagined the grand, sweeping gesture at the table? Had I hallucinated the deep, authoritative voice declaring that a man pays? I frantically texted Sarah, the friend who had set us up.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Greg just Venmo me for the date he aggressively insisted on paying for? Including the FLOWERS?!\u201d I typed, attaching a screenshot of the audacity.<\/p>\n
Sarah\u2019s reply came through a full two minutes later, which meant she had been laughing too hard to type. \u201cNO WAY. I am so sorry, I had no idea he was like this. Please tell me you aren’t paying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the request. Part of me wanted to decline it and block him immediately. Another part of me wanted to call him and ask how he calculated the depreciation of a dozen roses over a twelve-hour period. Instead, I decided to match his energy.<\/p>\n
I hit ‘Decline’ on the transaction. In the notes section, I wrote: \u201cTransaction failed: Chivalry subscription expired. Next time, let me use my card at the table so I earn the points.\u201d Thirty seconds later, I blocked his number, blocked him on social media, and took the roses out of the vase in my kitchen. I felt briefly guilty looking at them, until I realized they were already starting to wilt. I guess you really do get what you pay for.<\/p>\n
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