SPLIT ME NOT
Let’s face it, when it comes to shelling out your allocated part of that bill all sense of fairness is either forgotten or thrown out to hell. Seriously, if you think hard, you will more than likely agree with this concept. Search deep in your mind and you will be able to cite more than one occasion when you had to pay a large portion of someone else’s bill. You my friend, as well as many other people, have been victimized by the system of misappropriation of funds.
I remember at least a few instances when I was invited to go out with a select group of friends for drinks. Of course, innocently I ordered a beer. While across the table fifteen individuals of both sexes indulged themselves by ordering exotic drinks and huge portions of appetizing dishes. A perfect case whereby being a social drinker and an aspiring anorexic will place you in a disadvantageous position.
Looking around, I noticed that an hour had elapsed yet I had not completely imbibed my beer. Others were ahead of the game, by far. They had already voraciously devoured their food and even though the drinks were two for the price of one until
7:00 PM, guess what? It was already 8:00 PM and those Bacchants were still ordering drinks nonstop.
The moment of truth arrived for me by nine o’clock. Some of the others were wrapping things up and some smart alley cat decided to call for the bill. The printed numbers on that strip of paper couldn’t lie. Those gremlins had consumed over five hundred dollars. My eyes popped as I closely scanned the figure. “Damn!” Come to think of it, I thought nothing of it until someone from the other end of the table recalled the check and split it into equal shares. “Come on! You have to be f**** kidding me!”
Sorry, I reserve the right to express myself in these shocking terms, but that was all I could say at the time simply because, at most, my portion of the bill couldn’t have been more than ten bucks with the tips included. Instead I was hit and was expected to pay for a huge piece of a pie that I had neither tasted nor consumed. I thought I had every right to be pissed.
But, there was a lesson to be learned, and I my friend learned it quickly. There were steps to be taken the next time I accepted to hang out with this so-called elite group of people. That night, I noticed how a rebel woman blatantly refused to fall into that trap. She simply paid for her drink and quickly vanished into the night.
“Is there no fairness?” She uttered as she pushed me out of her way. In my mind I recanted her bitter statement, but quickly granted her words asylum. Perhaps she was right. Fairness shouldn’t be a word in the dictionary. Blind fools often pretend they don’t know the rules, and take advantage of kind-hearted people who have failed to erect an unbreakable barrier to protect themselves.
As for me, I realized there was a hefty price to pay for being inducted into This Elite Hall of Shame whose members had undoubtedly mastered the art of deceit by graduating from the school of hard knots while building an extensive knowledge base camouflaged in the streets.
© Daniell Fedron July, 2007
All Rights Reserved
Let’s face it, when it comes to shelling out your allocated part of that bill all sense of fairness is either forgotten or thrown out to hell. Seriously, if you think hard, you will more than likely agree with this concept. Search deep in your mind and you will be able to cite more than one occasion when you had to pay a large portion of someone else’s bill. You my friend, as well as many other people, have been victimized by the system of misappropriation of funds.
I remember at least a few instances when I was invited to go out with a select group of friends for drinks. Of course, innocently I ordered a beer. While across the table fifteen individuals of both sexes indulged themselves by ordering exotic drinks and huge portions of appetizing dishes. A perfect case whereby being a social drinker and an aspiring anorexic will place you in a disadvantageous position.
Looking around, I noticed that an hour had elapsed yet I had not completely imbibed my beer. Others were ahead of the game, by far. They had already voraciously devoured their food and even though the drinks were two for the price of one until
7:00 PM, guess what? It was already 8:00 PM and those Bacchants were still ordering drinks nonstop.
The moment of truth arrived for me by nine o’clock. Some of the others were wrapping things up and some smart alley cat decided to call for the bill. The printed numbers on that strip of paper couldn’t lie. Those gremlins had consumed over five hundred dollars. My eyes popped as I closely scanned the figure. “Damn!” Come to think of it, I thought nothing of it until someone from the other end of the table recalled the check and split it into equal shares. “Come on! You have to be f**** kidding me!”
Sorry, I reserve the right to express myself in these shocking terms, but that was all I could say at the time simply because, at most, my portion of the bill couldn’t have been more than ten bucks with the tips included. Instead I was hit and was expected to pay for a huge piece of a pie that I had neither tasted nor consumed. I thought I had every right to be pissed.
But, there was a lesson to be learned, and I my friend learned it quickly. There were steps to be taken the next time I accepted to hang out with this so-called elite group of people. That night, I noticed how a rebel woman blatantly refused to fall into that trap. She simply paid for her drink and quickly vanished into the night.
“Is there no fairness?” She uttered as she pushed me out of her way. In my mind I recanted her bitter statement, but quickly granted her words asylum. Perhaps she was right. Fairness shouldn’t be a word in the dictionary. Blind fools often pretend they don’t know the rules, and take advantage of kind-hearted people who have failed to erect an unbreakable barrier to protect themselves.
As for me, I realized there was a hefty price to pay for being inducted into This Elite Hall of Shame whose members had undoubtedly mastered the art of deceit by graduating from the school of hard knots while building an extensive knowledge base camouflaged in the streets.
© Daniell Fedron July, 2007
All Rights Reserved
