How to split the restaurant bill when one person makes significantly more money
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Here's another familiar dilemma: If you're out to dinner with a friend who makes a significantly lower salary than yourself, are you expected to step up and cover the whole bill? Should your friend offer to pay if they earn more?
The short answer: Absolutely not.
"Just because one person makes more money than the other, it's not expected that they cover the entire cost, or even more of the expenses," Diane Gottsman, national etiquette expert and the owner of The Protocol School of Texas, told Business Insider. "They may offer to pay, but unless they suggest it, it should not be an assumption."
There are exceptions to the rule, however. While it can create undue tension within friendships for one party to always pick up the bill, it's sometimes expected of family members.
"Let's say you're taking your in-laws out and you're an older couple in your 30s and 40s. You and your [partner] are making a lot of money now, but your in-laws are not. In that case you would offer to pay," Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick, founder and president of The Etiquette School of New York, told Business Insider.
At the end of the day, honesty is the best policy in any situation. If your in-laws (or parents) feel uncomfortable or embarrassed by the gesture, go ahead and let them pick up the check or offer to split it, Napier-Fitzpatrick said.
And if a higher-earning friend suggests a restaurant out of your price range, speak up rather than feeling frustrated and going into debt over a meal, Gottsman said.
There are times where friends will offer to treat you - and vice versa - but the bottom line is that it should never be expected.
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