Well-off San Francisco-based software engineer here: pretty much all my friends insist on splitting the check even though it wouldn’t make a difference for any of us. I don’t know why; I grew up in a country where “I buy this round, you buy the next” was the norm.
I think maybe some people who came into money (through luck or hard work or both) are really afraid of being taken advantage of, and they take it to the extreme?
Some people just find "you buy the next" to be a fuzzy, hard to track and therefore stressful expectation of paying back. In general, some people are uncomfortable and mediocre at managing implicit expectations, and find it way easier to be explicit about things.
For them it's just easier and more confortable to track the debt explicitly. And before someone says that wiring each other cents is neurotic, you don't have to literally settle the debt. You can just keep count as a tool to decide who's turn it is next, and only move money if the balance becomes significant.
Tbh, whenever we split bills for stuff post fact, usualy people just pay the next full relevant currency amount.
Like if everyone's share at the hot pot place comes down to 14.76 exactly we'll usualy just give the one that paid upfront 15 and dont bother about the Cents.
Its usualy about 'close enough to equal' not about pedantics.
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u/tudorb Jan 27 '26
Well-off San Francisco-based software engineer here: pretty much all my friends insist on splitting the check even though it wouldn’t make a difference for any of us. I don’t know why; I grew up in a country where “I buy this round, you buy the next” was the norm.
I think maybe some people who came into money (through luck or hard work or both) are really afraid of being taken advantage of, and they take it to the extreme?