Birthday Dinner Drama: Viral TikToker Wants To Know If He's Wrong!
By Melanie VanDerveer on January 15, 2024 at 4:30 PM EST
When you got out to dinner with a group of people, what's the best way to handle the bill? One TikToker is telling his story and asking if he was wrong for handling his bill the way he did.
In the viral TikTok, a creator who goes by Gypsy King on the app, explained that he was invited by a friend to go to her friend's birthday dinner with a group of people. How he handled his food and drink bill had the friend upset but thousands of viewers had another opinion.
Birthday Dinner Turns Into Bill Drama For TikToker Gypsy King
After being invited by a friend to attend her friend's group birthday dinner at a fancy restaurant, TikToker Gypsy King decided to go despite not knowing the birthday girl personally.
"So I go, I get the girl a little gift or whatever. When I pull up, the first thing I realize is first of all, everybody's on time, and second of all, a lot of people showed up for this girl's birthday dinner," he said. "It was over 12 people, probably over 15. I've never seen this many people at a birthday dinner at a restaurant in my life."
He continued to explain how the night went, saying that everyone was ordering drinks and food. He said as an observant person, he started to take note of what people were ordering and how much.
"They was ordering two and three appetizers, three and four drinks, the best and biggest T-bone steaks with the gold on it and truffle fries and this and this," he continued. "Everybody was doing their thing."
He said that he doesn't know why but a thought suddenly hit him while he was on his way to the bathroom, so he decided to stop at the bar and pay for all that he ordered and leave a tip before heading back to the table.
"So by the time I go to the bathroom, pay for my bill, tip out, stuff like that, the waiter is coming around to the table wanting to know how we gonna do the bill because the bill can only get split two ways, and he made that very clear," he said. "So the girl looks down at the other end of the table where we're sitting and she says, 'Oh, well, two of the guests, they can put it on their card and everybody can Cash App them.'"
He said that he heard her say that but everyone around the table acted like they didn't hear her. Despite all this confusion, he said he's not worried because he already paid for his meal and drinks and tipped out. A while went on before anyone even looked at the bill that was more than $3,500. When the waiter came back around and noticed that no one has touched the bill, he asked about how it would be handled.
At this point, things are getting heated at the table with some back-and-forth over who's going to put the bill on their credit card. That's when Gypsy King decided to excuse himself from the chaos. As he was getting up to leave, people started asking him what's he doing and saying he needs to help pay for the bill. The waiter then jumped in and explained that he already paid his bill.
"By the time I get home, about an hour I would say later, I get a long text message from my homegirl, 'I think that it was real rude what you did at my homegirl's birthday dinner,'" he explained. "I texted her back a simple 'IDC.'"
Thousands And Thousands Of Thoughts And Opinions Flooded The Comment Section Of The Video
Gypsy King's video has received more than 3 million views and has around 24,000 comments, most, if not all, of which sided with him.
"Splitting the bill is common but dining recklessly while broke?? Nah. Your intuition was spot on. Well played sir," one viewer wrote. Another added, "You did the right thing. There was a reason why you were invited to a birthday dinner for a girl you barely know."
One person mentioned the fact that his etiquette was "great."
"AND you brought a gift?! That’s great etiquette 😂," they wrote.
Another person explained the "first red flag" of this entire ordeal. "First red flag….getting invited to a bdy dinner for someone you barely know! No strangers at a dinner for me, lol. You did right! 💯," they wrote, and many others jumped in to agree with that thought.
One other person explained, "I will NEVER split the bill with no one ever, I'm not paying for your shrimp and lobster if I had chicken tenders😂😂."
One comment, "I would have been mad that you didn't pull me with you so we both could have paid at the bar and been gone," got an entire video dedicated to the response.
Gypsy King said he "accepts" this point of view but wanted to add some more context to the situation. He explained that he has "zero tolerance" for any "BS" and his friend knows this.
"You're sitting at this table arguing and getting into it with these people at this nice, fancy restaurant. She knew that I was gonna leave," he said. "She knows that I don't play that. She knows that. And that's why she wasn't mad that I left. She specifically was not mad that I left. She was mad that I did not contribute to the big bill."
One viewer summed it up by saying, "You’re not wrong. You paid your bill. Case closed." Another person added, "This context was needed. I would not contribute to a bill for people idk."