Banana Bread wrote:
This is how I fell out with friends at one of their birthdays. There were 8 of us at the meal. The bill was just over 280 so that would be $35 each. We agreed to chip in for the birthday guy so he didn't have to pay, so 7 of us covered the bill, which literally meant $40 each.
I didn't have a job at the time and the only money I had was $30 which my mom gave me(and a few vouchers for Starbucks where I was hoping we could go afterwards, well that never happened). The meal ended in a disaster and I never saw any of my friends again.
I argued that I didn't have enough and that my bill was only $25. I only had grilled Indian spiced chicken, 2 portions of fries, carrot cake and a espresso macchiato(amazing value and I persuaded everyone to come here). All the others had starters and had beers and wine too. I just had a tiny sip of the bottle of red wine. I told them that I'm a runner and I was planning to get up early in the morning for a long hard interval session. I'm the only runner in the group. They thought I was crazy but I'm just healthy and don't want to poison myself with alcohol and I have to think about my marathon career. There was a 15 minute argument where I was trying to make my point, and going through what everyone else was eating/drinking. I offered to share my vouchers with some of them if they went to Starbucks with me afterwards. I had enough of them and just got up and left without paying anything. I then ran as fast as I could so they wouldn't get me to pay. People can be nasty when it comes to money. You think you know who your friends are.
I feel for your friends having to listen for 15 minutes to your arguments. I hope you grew up and now realize that the correct thing to do was just say upfront that you only had 30 dollars and ask if anybody could tuck in an extra $10 that you would return as soon as you have a chance.
In all cases, a good friend would have understood the situation and covered your share without making a fuss; you probably did not miss much.