Is he right to ask for half the gas money? (Roadtrip etiquette theory)

[slimon]

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Someone help me figure out what to do. In my group birthdays are really weird. Usally in birthdays the birthday boy or girl gets treated out right? Not in my group! If it's your birthday you have to treat everyone else out. We have about 8 people in our group and 3 of them don't do this on there birthday. The rest of us always treat on our birthdays and it's not like they are poor or broke. They have nice things and don't mind losing their money gambling. I don't really care about the money but I just think it's unfair. I guess one solution is to not invite them to my birthday but is probably taking it too far. I don't want to hurt the friendship over something this small though. I'm probably making too big of a deal out of this and am a cheapskate?

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wtf, what bizarro world do you live in?

[/ QUOTE ] Someone in our group started it and we just kept it going. I always thought it was weird too. We can't stop now because the other guys who just had a birthday and treated everyone will get screwed?

[JaredL]

All,

I think the OP is extremely obvious as is the one Klompy posted in the other direction.

What if the sole reason the passenger is going is to accompany the other guy? I got into a theoretical argument with a friend, since I wasn't going with him, over this situation. He is from Vancouver and after he drove his car from there to Pittsburgh he discovered that he couldn't get it registered here because you can't import a car with no airbags. He didn't want to have his parents register it there and send him the tags so he decided to drive it all the way back instead of junking it.

If I went with him and the main reason was to help with the driving and so that he doesn't have to go by himself, how much gas money should I pay assuming we are in the same spot financially? In case it isn't clear, at the end I would basically just hang out with him and his family before getting a one-way back here.

As a follow up, do you guys think it's always all, half, or nothing in these spots? I think the appropriate amount for the above situation is to pay for some fillups but not every other one.

[dragonystic]

split the gas nit

[El Diablo]

Jared: I don't think you should pay for anything at all there.

Metreon: If everyone in the group makes similar and reasonable amounts of money, not splitting that evenly seems pretty nitty.

slimon: So those people get 5 free dinners and give nothing? F that, only those participating in bizarro birthday world should be invited.

mmbt: Yeah, I know, whatever. I don't care. I learned to date in Texas. We pay for girls there.

Billy: I agree, and have friends like that who just need a reminder from time to time. I was referring to other people who just try to take advantage, knowing exactly what they're doing.

[Josem]

1) i voted yes, you should obviously split the cost.

2) i didn't know how long this drive was, and discovered on google maps it is about 4 hours. i was disappointed and thought there was excitement about a few hundred dollars here.

3) if buying one tank of fuel is so harsh to you, don't go to las vegas

[Mr_Moore]

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I never bug anyone for gas money, but I remember the people that don't offer

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Scary.

[jtr]

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Well some people are good people but they're just a little bit out of it and they need a friendly reminder or else they'll forget to pitch in. I have a friend who's like this and I don't hold it against him at all.

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I don't know about this Billy. Being "good people" is not just a passive state, it comes with duties. One of those duties is to step up when it's your turn to pay for something. Friends like this piss me off because they're putting you (or others) in the position of having to remind them, or indeed not remind them and just pay on their behalf.

I'm not saying your friends are beyond redemption because I don't know them, but are you not being too generous in your assessment of their character here?

[TripSearching]

I have not read all replies so I do not know if this was brought up but I think OP should have offered to pay for all of the gas. Your "friend" is driving his car to Vegas and not even asking you to help out with the driving, the classy thing to do is offer to pay for the gas.

[Go_Blue88]

What if your friend still lives off of his dad's money? This is the case with my good friend, and I always feel annoyed when I give him gas money b/c his dad is rich and definitely doesn't need half the cost of gas. Plus, my friend is just gonna use the money to buy something for himself and then get more money from his dad.

That said, I still offer.

[_brady_]

Didn't ready any responses but, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them say he never even should have had the chance to ask. You should have been offering up front to pay for some of the gas.