Recently, a friend asked me who usually pays when my boyfriend and I go on dates. I’d never really given this much thought, but I realized the most accurate answer was “both of us.” Usually, one of us will front the bill, and then there seems to be this unspoken rule that the other person will just Venmo for their share of it.
This got me thinking, is Venmo the end of chivalry?
What happened to the days of picking up the tab, the whole tab, and really taking the other person out? I think there’s a certain romance to treating someone to a great meal, movie, or whatever floats your boat. However, this romance is lost when the calculators come out to figure out how much you should request someone for on an app.
Venmo just makes it so easy to split the bill, you almost feel obliged whenever someone else is paying to at least offer.
Now, this isn’t a way for me to whine and get free meals. Chivalry is a two-way street, and it’s just as much a girl’s responsibility to pay for dates as it is a guy’s. I just think that splitting a meal can burst the romance-bubble on a date, making it feel so much more ordinary. Instead, why not just take turns picking up the tab?
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