Just Let Her Pay Already.

[flutes_and_fabric]

whenever my family is out with my grandparents we always have this problem. Now I just sneak away before the bill comes, find the server, ask him/her to use this card and not bring a check unless crazy old people amuse you, and usually my grandparents don't even notice the check never came.

[Zoom]

Maybe arguing over who should pay is the very essence of a SC. Those of us somewhat dynamically sophisticated worker pawns who think most customers are riff-raff, would be perfectly happy to let the other guy pay for the bill.

Now, when they try to draw us into their iniquitous den of logic, I usually want to say something like "Cut the baby in half, and let him pay for it." or "Couldn't you just both pay the full amount?"

[McGoddess09]

This has happened once and only once with me. I was getting lunch at the mall with my grandma. I reached into my wallet to pay for the both of us, as I told her I would do before we ordered. I had just pulled out the cash when my grandma pulled out her card.

"Grandma, I told you I would pay. It's okay. You bought me lunch so many times."

"McGoddess, put your money away."

She then started tapping my hand with her wallet until I gave up and put my cash away.

The cashier was more than amused.

[MadMike]

This brings back memories from when I was a kid, of some of my grown-up relatives fighting over who was going to pay for something. My grandma and her sister got into these arguments quite often, sometimes going as far as to actually get money out and try to shove it at the other, and the other insisting that they didn't want it.

I thought I came up with the perfect solution -- if neither one of them wanted the money, I'd take it. For some reason, they never took me up on the offer.

[aurelemsrealm]

I just grab whichever comes to me first, and tell them it's now up to them to sort it out amongst themselves. Then, I move on to the next customer. As long as someone pays for the purchase, I could care less as long as it's quick and painless for me.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I sometimes get this at the wholesale club. My policy is to just step back, not make a move to take either card, or handful of cash, and make it clear that they were to decide among themselves who was paying. Once that's done, THEN I'll process their payment.

[cinema guy]

I've seen this quite a lot at the cinema - usually couples arguing over who is going to pay.

[Schmoopie3928]

Ironically, I've seen situations like this kind of hostile. Usually I just say, "I'll take whichever card I get first." and laugh to myself as they fumble in their wallets.

That is exactly what I would do when I worked in a cafe. The ladies who lunch were forever arguing about who would get to pay.

[Pairou]

I'll argue over who pays, but I usually have my card out and ready before my friend or girlfriend can have theirs out, and then I swiftly hand it over before there can be an argument.

Well, that's how it WAS- I don't have money anymore...