What’s the stingiest thing you’ve ever seen a friend do?

[zappp]

I have an (ex-)friend who is very stingy. She earns plenty and is happy to splurge on herself and show off, but when it comes to others, she is mean with money to the point where I’ve felt really taken advantage of on multiple occasions. It’s almost like it’s a game for her; seeing how little she can pay and how much she can extract from others.

The friendship fizzled out when I started calling her out on it and stopped covering her costs (I previously didn’t want to make things awkward, especially in a group setting, but it got to a point where I was too pissed off to keep being polite).

Against my better judgment, I recently attended a group dinner that she was also part of - a mutual friend was in town and this was the only time we could see her. In the WhatsApp planning group, she’d enthusiastically agreed to the restaurant choice - it was definitely a nicer place, but not extravagant.

When she got there, she claimed she wasn’t hungry and didn’t order any food, only to ask the waiter for an empty plate and help herself - rather generously - from everyone else’s food!!! She also asked for a glass for the wine we’d already ordered, which would’ve been fine, except guess how much she chipped in to the bill…? Exactly, zero.

It was also a bit embarrassing towards the restaurant; it’s hard to get a reservation and the group was small enough that it was strange for one person not to be eating at peak dinner time, especially as we were seated at a big table.

This time I didn’t even bother calling her out - it was so brazen that she basically called herself out.

I know you never truly know someone else’s financial situation, but she’s certainly spending enough on clothes, holidays, and skincare to make me think she could afford a plate of pasta and glass of wine…

Anyway, rant over, I want to hear other stingy stories!

We had some friends who were quite wealthy but also ruthlessly mean. On a day out the mum bought a 4 finger Kit Kat. Her (adult) daughter asked to share it, so she broke it in two and asked for half the money. Daughter got her purse out and paid her. I sat there astonished.

Well I didn’t - what’s your point?

I can't help comparing her to my younger DD, who certainly has her faults but has never been stingy. When she was three, she had a two-finger Kit-Kat (well, a supermarket version) and offered me half. I accepted and she broke it in two accidentally dropping half on the floor in the process. The half she didn't drop had more chocolate on it and that was the half she held out to me. Bless her!

Gonnae no' say that

Many years ago on a holiday to Athens. My companion and I palled up with another couple on the tour. A freeloading woman who lived there tagged along. She had not paid her share at the last group meal so we had all subbed her rather than call her out. She probably did quite well out of groups of tourists she "befriended".It came to the last evening when we were all short of money and had more or less worked out what we could each afford. She had enjoyed a starter, main and wine like the rest of us. At the end of the meal I asked the waiter for a bill for just us. The other couple did the same. So no one paid for the scrounger and there was money outstanding. We left her arguing with the restaurant manager who was threatening to call the police ...

OMG I’m glad you named her, what an absolute dickhead.