{"id":9851,"date":"2015-12-16T07:18:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T15:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/about.zoosk.com\/en\/?p=9851"},"modified":"2021-05-31T23:41:26","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T06:41:26","slug":"who-should-pay-on-a-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/dating-advice\/who-should-pay-on-a-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Pays on a Date?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Hey Joan-<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>I get mixed messages about who pays on a date. Letting the guy pay for me makes me feel like I&#8217;m less independent and needy. When he picks up the check, I worry if he thinks I&#8217;m taking&nbsp;advantage. I appreciate the gesture, but do I always have to let him do this?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u2013Kathy<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2015\/10\/09175539\/WhoShouldPayOnADate.png\"><br>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We all carry assumptions about how that first date bill should be handled&nbsp;but, unfortunately, talking about who&#8217;s paying for what&nbsp;is more socially unacceptable&nbsp;than having un-met expectations. Without open communication, it&#8217;s easy to end up disappointed: She might be hurt if he doesn&#8217;t pay, and he might be annoyed if she doesn&#8217;t offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps more women would feel better about having the check paid for, if they didn&#8217;t view the payment from a strictly transactional approach. People use money to pay for goods. When someone&nbsp;pays for a date, it can leave the other person wondering, &#8220;What am I expected to do now?&#8221; Feeling like you&#8217;ve entered into an unspoken agreement with&nbsp;expectations contributes to pressure and anxiety that some women would rather avoid by simply splitting the check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want to avoid drama surrounding who pays for the date, remember these three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. If your date pays, consider it a&nbsp;demonstration of interest. And, for that reason, you should be flattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. If you were asked out on the date, it&#8217;s perfectly appropriate to expect the asker to take care of the check. At the same time, there&#8217;s nothing wrong with offering to contribute if it makes you feel better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3. If your date insists on taking the check, just let him or her do so. Don\u2019t end your date back and forth over a couple of entrees. It\u2019s just not worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your date ends up paying, don&#8217;t dwell on it.&nbsp;Treat the paid bill as you would a gift. Just say &#8216;thanks&#8217;, have fun, and enjoy the way it feels for someone who wants to show you a good time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Still confused? Watch and learn.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RPZBCcr8s9o\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RPZBCcr8s9o<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What to do when the bill arrives and nobody reaches for it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":12430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[884,892],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dating-advice","category-first-date-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who Pays on a Date? What to Do with Mixed Messages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How to deal with the awkward situation when you&#039;re on a date, the bill arrives, and you&#039;re just not sure who is supposed to pay.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/dating-advice\/who-should-pay-on-a-date\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Pays on a Date? 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