The universal question before the first date that everyone thinks about but very few dare to say out loud is: should he pay? Now most of my friends believe that 99% of men nowadays know that it is their ‘duty’ to pay, yet I beg to differ.
Is it really so bad if he wants to split the bill? I think it would make us girls look a bit greedy and like golddiggers if that is really the deciding point in whether to date him or not. There are much more important things for the first date like does he make you laugh and does he seem genuinely interested or is he a ‘me me me’ guy who is too self-absorbed to even ask one question about you? Now that is a deal breaker!
Yet there is still that awkward moment when the bill arrives and both are looking at it – her thinking ‘should I offer to split the bill?’, him thinking ‘maybe she wants to be emancipated so I shouldn’t object’ and then her regretting having even offered to pay half, because really, she did not mean it.
Of course one cannot generalise this, but deep down we all feel like this. For me, if the guy seems like a catch, makes me laugh, is smart and is genuinely interested in me, I think it is definitely worth giving him a shot, no matter whether he pays or not. Nevertheless, it is a nice gesture if he takes her out and pays for the first date, because that tells a lot about manners and character.
Let’s hear from other Londoners what they think about it:
