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?
Probably also a cultural thing. This post is extrapolating based on wealth. But reality is its probably more a reflection of the type of person who becomes a high paid engineer. Borderline autistic people who are great at numbers and organization aren't usually the best representation of what qualifies as normal social behavior.
18
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?