After a friend refused to purchase drinks at their table during a round of pub drinking, a woman felt awkward.
An anonymous woman took to the British parenting forum, Mumsnet to air her frustration over a ‘stingy’ friend who won’t buy her friends drinks on a night out.
The woman explained that her friend group always purchased drinks in rounds and that she never offered one to them back.
The situation has reached the point where she won’t be bought a drink by any of the other members, and so, she sits alone, creating an awkward environment.
While almost everyone agreed on their dislike for drinking rounds, most commented that they found the behavior of the stingy friend unacceptable.
Mumsnet was contacted by a woman to help her deal with a friend who is always willing to buy a round but never purchases one (stock image).
According to the woman, her friend will now drink no alcohol as she has stopped receiving them from people.
She wrote about the awkward situation by saying, “One of our friends never buys round!”
She said that she is willing to take a drink from someone who buys it, but does not reciprocate. This was except for one occasion when her best friend called. She then claimed she wasn’t thirsty.
“Our friendship group meets at pubs for lunch/birthday drinks, but she has stopped drinking (she waits to find out if anyone will give her a drink). Everyone else is wise to her.
“It is awkward, and it can spoil the vibe if someone misses out on a round.
Some people thought rounds were more important than someone who never contributed.
“So how should I talk to her? While this may be pertinent, she may be on the autism spectrum and not great at communicating social cues. However, she might be just very inflexible (or both). She’s far from poor.
The woman said that she didn’t wish to alter the round system because of comments.
“Buying a round of golf is social, and something that our group has done for years. “I would prefer not to change this dynamic, if at all possible,” she stated.
Many people couldn’t believe someone would offer to purchase drinks for their friends, even though they had received them.
‘None want to buy huge rounds so if there is a large group we will split it into fours/trios then buy for one another (it all happens very naturally, by the way).
She said, “She is always open to accepting a drink. I have never seen her decline one.”
Commenters suggested that this group was asking for trouble because they are doing rounds rather than buying their drinks.
One person stated that if you do not want to make her mad, then say now that everybody buys their own beverages. That’s more fair. People insisting on round-ups is something I loathe. I would rather buy my own drinks as I don’t consume as much as the rest.
She also thought it unfair to force her into the rounds. She would be interested in my opinion on the round-based system. She might have a lot of things to share about this.
A third person commented on the thought process of the friend if indeed she was on the spectrum, saying: ‘If people are offering to buy her a drink and she is saying yes thanks, that may seem like a very straightforward thing to her.’
You might have been expecting her to be a little too picky. She asked me for a drink and she secretly resents me not buying one. My autistic ds does this at least. He takes all interactions as they are. But he did offer. He offered, but why did he want me to choose what I would like to drink?
Some others, however, felt that making friends pay to buy drinks without any contribution was inappropriate.
Someone wrote: “How can these tightwads be so embarrassed to act like that?” This should be called out in front of everybody every single time. UGH.’
A second commenter said that it was best to be upfront. This is a problem that I don’t see. My stingy partner is my friend, and together we made fun of the situation. Now she laughs with me. However, she has never been more willing to make an offer.
The hatred of round was expressed by a third party, who said that while they understood the sentiment, it didn’t excuse them from being rude. If you refuse to accept one, then it is impossible to make a purchase back.