I’m a 27-year-old guy who lives and studies in the UK. This girl texted me out of the blue on Instagram, asking if I was single and if I was willing to get to know someone new. I said yes, and she found out that I live in a city close to hers. I asked her about herself, and she said she’s a 30-year-old Nigerian doctor working for the NHS in the UK. I was quite impressed but kept my cool. We took the conversation to WhatsApp and texted for a while before planning to meet for the first time, go out for lunch, and see a movie, then stay over at her place to leave the next day. Coincidentally, the planned day was also my birthday. I asked this lady how much I should budget for the outing, but she said it was alright, and she would handle the bill since it was my birthday. I got excited and looked forward to the meeting.
A few days later, she told me we had to reschedule the meeting to the following week because she had an emergency shift that weekend, and the pay for that particular weekend shift was a lot to let go of. I was upset at first but then calmed down later because I’d be a selfish pr!ck to let a stranger pick me over money, so I agreed. Fast forward to the following week for our meetup, I took a train to her city, and we met at the train station and went straight to a restaurant, a very fancy one. We had a two-course meal and some cocktails. The food was good. After eating, we sat and talked for a while, and then she asked, “What are we doing about this bill?” In my mind, I was like, “Huh!?” 😳 while flashing back to when she said she’d handle the bills for the outing.
Anyway, as a Nigerian man that I am, I said, “No problem, I’ll pay for it,” because I thought the bill would be around £40 (80k naira) or something like that. The bill came, and it was £70 (140k naira) because of tax and service charges. 😭 My heart skipped a beat, but I had no choice but to pay the bill. The issue here is not about paying the bill because I’d always pay the bill when I go out with a lady, but it’s because I’ve told this lady countless times that I don’t have money like that because I’m still a student in this country, paying bills and tuition fees monthly. She said it was totally fine and that she doesn’t need my money because she’s very comfortable financially.
So, tell me why this lady would watch me pay a whole £70 for our food. 😪 As a student, that money could feed me for a whole month, and I just wasted it on a 30-minute lunch. Remember, this lady also offered to pay the bills because it was my birthday. When we were home after s£x and everything, I brought up the issue about the bills, and she said, “It’s not your birthday anymore, so that offer wasn’t valid anymore.” She also mentioned how she paid for the movie tickets and popcorn, totaling no more than £25. So, I just ended the conversation. Please, am I wrong for thinking this way? Or should I have paid the bill without making a fuss about it? Please let me know in the comment section if I’m wrong.