What would you do if your friends constantly expected you to foot the bill just because you have a bit more money?

This college student realized her friends’ attitudes shifted once they discovered her family’s wealth, and she wasn’t ok with it.

Let’s dive into the story.

AITA for refusing to pay and leaving my friends in a restaurant as the ‘rich friend’?

I (20f) have an amazing group of friends (7 people) from university. We met in our second year and have been super close ever since.

For context, we go to a relatively expensive college with no scholarship so it’s safe to assume all of us are somewhat well off.

When we were first getting to know each other we often went out for brunch and drinks and split the bill most of the time.

Seems fair.

However, I’ve been brought up to never let others pay and would offer to cover the bill whenever I could.

No one else offered to cover but I believe it’s just not common where they’re from.

A few months ago we were talking about our parents’ occupations and I told them about my family.

A quick google search of my name brings up my father’s page however they had never connected the dots regarding our relation.

My father is well known in the real estate industry and makes quite a bit of money. Since then, I’ve been labelled as the ‘rich friend’ in our group.

Things began to take a turn.

Whenever we go shopping, I’m expected to buy expensive items for myself and Uber everywhere instead of using public transport.

When I do shop cheaper it becomes a spectacle.

I also feel guilty whenever I pull out only my portion in cash since I can tell it makes everyone else uncomfortable to then dig through their bags for their share.

Therefore I often just end up covering anyways.

That doesn’t seem right.

A few weeks ago, it was one of my friends’ 21st birthday and I told him I would pay for any activity as a birthday gift.

We went out and had a nice dinner as a group. I didn’t mind since I offered.

What bothered me was when I turned 20 recently and was hoping my friends would take care of me for one day.

I usually never have this expectation, but was really let down since I always seem to be the one treating everyone else even on my special day.

Oh heck no.

My last straw was when we went on vacation recently to my home country. They, as usual, made plans for a pub crawl night.

I initially didn’t intend on going since I had scheduled dinner with my parents later that night.

I eventually caved and ended up going for only a few hours.

During that time I had maybe one drink but hadn’t eaten all night. I decided to call it a night after 2 hours to go have dinner with my family.

Before I was leaving, however, one of my friends asked if I could quickly cover the tab before I left.

Oh heck NO.

I would’ve usually agreed, but this circumstance felt different since I hadn’t eaten and barely drank.

I also didn’t want to come in the first place.

This time, it seemed like they were trying to use me to pay even if it was unintentional. I simply said I would, but left without paying. I got a text later from one of them saying “i thought you said you paid lol. how was dinner?”

We brushed over that instance quite easily but their behaviour from that night still bothers me.

It seems like I have become the ‘rich friend’ character that always pays for their friends.

How do I fix this without seeming like an AH?

Wow, talk about a plot twist!

Most Redditors agree that she isn’t the AH, but needs to find some better friends.

This person offers a suggestion on how to reverse the cycle.

This person says that they’re definitely using her.

And this person says to ditch the greedy friends and save some cash.

Friends are great, but turning into their personal bank account?

Not so much.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.