Birthday Celebration Turns Sour After The Penny-Pinching Boyfriend Refused To Pay For Another Round Of Chips And Salsa

"Pretty sure I would have gotten my entree to go, and told him "Hasta la vista, baby."

Chelsi

• Published in Interesting
• September 8, 2022

Birthdays come once a year. It’s your day despite sharing it with other strangers and so it’s reasonable to spoil yourself during that time.

Sometimes you wouldn’t even have to since other people would be glad to spoil you during birthdays. Especially a partner who oftentimes would go out of their way to give gifts.

Because they’d be glad to make it special for their loved one right? Well in a r/aita post, Redditors think OP didn’t act in the best way during his dinner out with his girlfriend for her belated birthday.

OP explained that he had a bad year financially concerning a violation he had with his house. But he didn’t want this to be the reason to not celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday by treating her.

They decided to go to a restaurant and both ordered drinks, which arrived with an order of chips and salsa while waiting for the entrees. Their orders were taking a while which made the chips and salsa run out quickly.

OP’s girlfriend was still hungry and instead of waiting for the entrees, she told OP that they should order another round of chips and salsa. Before she flagged down a waiter though, OP stopped her and told her he didn’t have money for extra orders since he was being thrifty.

Is OP the asshole for being stingy on their date?

OP wanted to treat his girlfriend to a Mexican restaurant for her birthday

Before the situation, he narrated why he was trying to save up

But he still wanted to splurge a bit for his girlfriend

When the entrees were taking too long, OP's girlfriend wanted to order another round of chips, which OP quickly stopped

His girlfriend got upset and he explained but he still wonders if he really was TA

Would've been out of there faster than you can say Hasta la vista, baby

OP could have weighed out his priorities before he got them stuck on a very strict budget that night

Financial problems are relatable but it was only once a year

If there was something really important on the line, OP could've made a different choice of making the birthday special

If he was so worried about the money, they could've had a special home cooked meal rather than going out

Some Redditors have suspicion that maybe OP was willing to spend the money, as long as it was on himself

If OP said yes to the extra food, he could have saved up on other aspects of his budget, especially if it was about $5

He could also be projecting his problem to her

Another thing people pointed out is that as an adult, if he really was hell bent on sticking to a budget...

he could've given her a heads up about it

In the end, Redditors voted OP as TA in this situation. They factored in the choices he could've made beforehand, like telling her about the budget or choosing another way to celebrate the birthday.

It might have been unnecessary for OP to say no to a small portion of extra food when it wasn't something that could have made or broken his financial status. For some people who shared their opinions, his decisions weren't well thought out and the situation could have been prevented.

Chelsi