You’ve probably witnessed your parents arguing with their friends about who should pay for a meal with neither of the parties choosing to back down because, “Paiseh lah (embarrassing/shy),” and whoever gets to the counter first would ‘win’ the fight.
One Malaysian woman experienced the same situation with an old classmate that she hadn’t seen for a long time. But what she thought was a generous gesture by her classmate who paid for her meal ended up haunting her a few days later.
In a Facebook post, Lily (pseudonym) shared that she was having dinner with her family consisting of seven people at a restaurant when she bumped into an old classmate who was having a meal with a group of friends. The two of them began catching up and talked about their lives over the past few years.
When it was time to pay the bill, Lily’s classmate offered to pay for her bill and rushed to the counter. But Lily declined his offer as her family had ordered many expensive dishes.
For illustration purpose only
“Of course I refused because our family of seven ordered very expensive dishes and very expensive wine totaling RM880,” she said.
“I really tried my best, but I couldn’t stop him because I am a tiny woman and his hands are longer than mine. He passed the card quickly to the boss.”
Lily finally gave in and thanked her classmate saying, “You don’t need to do this because it’s expensive and unnecessary.”
However, her classmate didn’t care and replied, “My treat, my treat!”
Unexpectedly a few days later, Lily’s classmate contacted her through WhatsApp and asked her to give him back the RM880! Additionally, Lily didn’t even know how he got her number.
“He asked me if I could give him back the RM880 from the other day. Huh? Didn’t you say it’s your treat? I said I would pay but you insisted that it was your treat. What do you mean now?” Lily exclaimed.
Lily’s classmate didn’t make a sound and hung up the phone.
For illustration purpose only
However, the matter wasn’t over yet as Lily’s classmate started spreading rumours that she owed him money. Lily realised this when another friend of hers called and asked her if she owed money to him.
Lily told her friend the whole story but her friend said she heard a different version. However, Lily said that in the end, she refused to ‘return’ the RM880 to her classmate.
What was Lily’s classmate’s intention when he insisted to pay for her meal? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Also read: “Tak logic. U bagitau Waze itu tepat tak?” PDRM Fines Woman Who Was Within 10km From Home
