When money is tight, you don’t want to waste it on something that you don’t really enjoy.

What would you do if your friends wanted to go to a bar that you knew you didn’t like, but they said that if you came along, they would pay for your cover charge, so you agreed?

That is what happened to the young woman in this story, but then a couple weeks later, her friends told her she had to repay them for the cover charge, and now she doesn’t know what to do.

She is under no obligation to repay them, though the friends might get mad if she doesn’t. Read through the full story below and see what you think she should do.

AITA for refusing to pay my friends back for bar cover charges after they said they would pay for me?

I (19F) am a huge homebody.

Lots of people prefer staying home to going out.

I’ve never really enjoyed going out drinking, and I’d much rather stay home with friends and have some wine than go to bars.

I went out a few times during my first semester of college and never had a good time, so by second semester I started making excuses when people invited me.

It is nice that she is willing to go out with friends sometimes.

I’m bi and have several queer friends, and three of them (19F, 20M, 21F) really wanted to go to some gay bars in town. I didn’t want to go, but I have terrible FOMO and was worried they’d think I was lame or stop inviting me. I also don’t have a huge friend group, so I felt like I couldn’t really say no.

We did NOT pregame. We took an Uber to the bars, and before ordering it, someone said they would pay for the Uber there and that we could figure out the ride back later.

Paying a cover charge is never fun.

The first bar we wanted to go to was having its 18+ night the following day instead of that night, so we went somewhere else. It cost $20 to get in.

One friend covered me, but told me I would have to pay her back. I paid her back the following week when I got paid, so she is absolutely not the issue here.

How much money are they going to pay in cover charges per night?

We stayed for maybe 20 minutes before my friends got bored and wanted to leave. I was confused because we had barely given it a chance, but whatever.

They then wanted to go to another bar that I already knew I hated, and I also knew I couldn’t afford the cover charge. Two of them said they would pool their cash and pay for me, so I agreed.

None of them should have gone out without money for a ride home.

We stayed at the second bar until around 1 AM. When we left, we tried to order an Uber, only to realize that none of us had enough money.

I don’t understand why we had each paid to get into two bars without anyone thinking about how we were getting home, but that’s beside the point.

At least everything worked out in the end.

Luckily, my roommate was studying at the library and offered to come pick all of us up so we wouldn’t have to walk ten blocks to the bus stop.

My friends said they owed me for figuring out the ride home because they were too embarrassed to call someone themselves.

They cannot change their minds after the fact like that.

Two weeks later, I was added to a group chat with the two friends who had paid my cover charges. They told me I needed to pay them back.

I was shocked because they had BOTH repeatedly told me they were paying for me and that I didn’t need to pay them back. That was literally the only reason I agreed to go to the second bar in the first place.

Good for her. She doesn’t owe them a thing.

I told them I wasn’t paying them back. I said if they wanted reimbursement, they should have told me at the time, because I would have called my roommate to pick me up before we went into the second bar.

I also pointed out that I had gone out of my way to figure out transportation home when they refused to call anyone.

Nope, this is on them.

They think I’m being ridiculous and say I owe them the money. I don’t have much money to spare, and as far as I know, they weren’t drunk enough to forget that they explicitly said they were paying.

AITA?

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No, it was clear from the beginning that she didn’t want to pay to get into that second bar, and she only went in because they agreed to pay for it. She doesn’t owe them anything.

Read through the comments below to see what other people have to say about it.

Apparently she paid them back.

Here is someone who says she should find better friends.

This commenter says they need to communicate better.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who escalates her issue to the state when a third family is added to a shared neighborhood well.

None of these people should have been going out if they can’t afford a simple ride home.

They offered to pay, so she doesn’t need to pay them back. If there was some type of miscommunication, it might be nice to split it.