When you go out to dinner for a special celebration with family, who usually pays for everything? Do you split the bill equally, let everyone pay for their own meal, or does one person pay for everything?

In this story, a family went to a restaurant to celebrate a birthday, and two men in the group wanted to pay for everyone. One after another, they took the server aside and gave him their credit card. This left the server in an awkward position of having to decide who gets to pay the bill.

I’m not sure whose credit card I would’ve used in this situation, but the server in this story decided to use the credit card of the person who was nice. Keep reading to see what happens when the person who was rude finds out he didn’t get to pay.

Guy FLIPPED OUT on my tonight because I let his dad pick up the check.

so yeah, it’s valentine’s day. our restaurant was (once again) understaffed–mostly kitchen staff, but, you know, there were a handful of tense/busy moments. Not a fun night, all in all.

I ended up with a 6 top at about 8:30. A family. They were the kind that was demanding from the get go.

Came in, got all set up with waters before they decided to move and make me set up another table. So we’re 10 minutes in and I haven’t been able to get them started with anything (due to all of their needs).

I’m also pretty busy.

The guy’s request made OP a little nervous.

Once I finally get them settled and get a drink order, guy at the head of the table gets up like he’s going to the bathroom then kind of tugs my arm a little and doesn’t ask, but tells me to step aside with him into the hallway.

He then explains that he wants to pay for the meal, and that he’s going to give me his credit card now for me to hold on to.

This kind of thing makes me very uncomfortable, because I don’t ever want to risk losing anyone’s card by carrying it around for an hour or more while they’re dining. I express that.

He looks frustrated. So I give in, and say, “Ok, I’ll keep it at the bar for you.”

He is very demanding. I take it, he goes to the bathroom.

But then another man from the same group had a request.

And right behind him is the oldest man from the same table. Who says, “that’s my son in law. it’s my daughter’s birthday. I know he gave you a card and wants to pay, but take mine and pay with it.” he’s very nice, but just as insistent. and repeats, “it’s my daughter’s birthday so I want to pay.” but he’s smiling, and nice.

So I take both cards and put them in a safe place at the bar and memorize the father’s name so I can remember to use his card when I cash out….mostly because he was the one who was the most polite to me of the two.

So it’s annoying but whatever.

They eat. Comes time for the check and I cash the meal out on the father’s card.

Let’s see what happens when the first guy finds out his father-in-law paid.

I bring both cards back, and before dropping the fathers, I give back son-in-laws with an apologetic smile. and explain that the other gentleman crept up behind him and gave me another card.

So this guy starts throwing a tantrum. “I am never coming to (restaurant name) again!” blah blah blah “I gave you my card first and you should have paid with it because I was first.”

At this point, he’s so tantrumy I honestly can’t tell if he’s joking or not. So I’m still wearing my “I’m sorry” smile, and kind of laughing. because the rest of the family looks amused too.

Then, he says (almost yells), “Stop laughing. This isn’t funny. This isn’t a joke. I gave you my card first.” blah blah blah tantrum. blah blah blah. he asks for my name, I give it to him and just dip out.

He was hoping for a bigger tip.

As the family is leaving, all but him make a point to say really nice things to me. Drive safe, (we’re in the midst of a winter storm tonight) have a great night, thank you. etc.

But even dad left me $15 on $88. was half hoping he would compensate for the rudeness/tip well because I picked his card.

This was not really anything a server should be blamed for. How can you not understand that?

Just..people, you know? Where the hell do these kinds of people come from.

Yikes! That definitely sounds like a stressful way to end the night!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person hates situations like this.

Another person would let the birthday girl pick.

Another server shares how they handle situations like this.

But this person thinks OP made the wrong choice.

That is really a tough position to be in. I like the idea of letting the daughter choose. I’m not sure how her husband and dad would’ve reacted, but it would be kind of sweet to let her make the decision by picking a card without knowing whose card she’s picking. Then nobody could get mad at anyone.

Although, perhaps it would’ve been better to go with the card the husband gave OP since he asked first. He could’ve told the dad that’s their policy.

Restaurants need to have a policy for situations like this.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who volunteered to help promote a church event for free, then was surprised to find she had to still pay admission to get in.