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From: jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Re: Cheap dates
Message-ID: <2336@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 23-Mar-85 22:01:53 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2336
Posted: Sat Mar 23 22:01:53 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Mar-85 03:23:00 EST
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Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
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> I liked James Armstrong Jr's suggestion about alternating, but this may only
> work comfortably if there it's comfortable to think about future dates, and
> sometimes on the first date you just don't know about this.  Most of the time
> on a first date I haven't known about this, at least I didn't know if the
> other party would want to or not.  But it's still a neat suggestion.

Well, my girlfriend and I have always alternated in paying for meals--it's an
excellent compromise between unromantic scrutinizing of the bill and having
one of us indebted to the other. In every society that uses money (and that's
most!) we expect value for it. If a man pays for meals and other expenses,
there's always the unspoken question "What will he get for his money".

As for a first date, I'd be delighted if a woman offered to pay her share, or
even more delighted if she asked me out (except I'm attached--see above) and
then said "I asked you out, so it's my treat"; then I'd be able to
say "Then you must let me pay next time", which is a nice way to say "I'd
like to see you again"--unless one didn't want there to be a next time! Maybe
that's when one should insist on making it Dutch.