Shutterstock

Family celebrations can turn uncomfortable quickly when nobody discusses the bill before ordering.

Paying for an earlier Mother’s Day meal left this man assuming he’d already covered his contribution.

Instead, he rejected an unexpected split at the table after barely speaking with his brother all evening.

Let’s unpack why Reddit wasn’t buying his reasoning.

AITA for refusing to split the check with my brother on Mother’s Day?

This past Mother’s Day, I (M, 34)was the only person available on the actual date of Mother’s Day as my older and younger brothers(36 and 28) were going to be doing stuff with their families, and then we would do something with the entire family the following Thursday.

So on Sunday my dad, my mom and I went to a local Mexican restaurant, and I took care of the bill which came out to $54.

Then on Thursday we went to my mom’s favorite restaurant.

Here’s how dinner went.

I was one of the first to arrive and I sat down with the mindset of trying to sit next to my younger brother so we could talk, but I was told to by my mom to sit on the other side of the table so that my brothers and their families could sit together which resulted and me sitting next to my 2 nephews.

After dinner, my younger brother called from across the table(first time he spoke to me the entire night), and said “How do you want to split it?”

Here’s where I might be the jerk:

When he said that the first thing I said was “I already took mom out on Sunday.”

His brother didn’t even seem to know how to respond.

He just kind of stared at me, confused, so I repeated, “I already took mom out Sunday and paid $54.”

He just continued to stare at me, and I didn’t say anything back. Then I went to the restaurant while he took care of the bill on the tablet thing.

Here’s the thing, if I was told beforehand that we were going to split the bill I would’ve been fine with it, but to tell me when the check comes and it be the first and only thing you say to me the entire night rubbed me the wrong way.

So, am I a jerk?

I can see the perspective of having already paid, but really, like they said, they needed to discuss the payment situation before dinner instead of after the bill arrived.

Clearly, they both had completely different expectations.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person shares how they think the bill should’ve been split.

He might’ve embarrassed his mom.

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

Here’s a better way he could’ve responded to his brother.

He really needed to talk to his brothers about the bill before dinner.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about siblings who don’t think they should have to give up their own sports’ seasons to help with their younger siblings.

Another person thinks that Mexican restaurant must not have been very nice.

Although he’d already treated his mom, this second gathering was a separate family meal where everyone reasonably expected to contribute.

Commenters felt he should’ve calmly clarified the arrangement instead of silently leaving his brother with the entire bill.

He wanted advance notice, but apparently his brother needed advance notice that he’d be dining and dashing.

Add TwistedSifter to your Google News Add us as a preferred source on Google

Author

Chris Allen