'AITA for making my BIL pay for his son's expensive meal after I said it was my treat?'
"AITA for making my brother-in-law pay for his son's meal after I said it was my treat?"
I don't see my sister and her family very often so when I do I tend to splurge on them. I am child-free for now and the foreseeable future. But probably not forever. I took her family out for dinner and I said it was my treat. So it was my sister, her husband, his mom who lives with them, myself, and three kids ages 15, 12, and 10. I took them out to a steak place in their city I always wanted to try.
My 15-year-old nephew looks at the menu and says he wants the tomahawk steak. I said it was three pounds of meat plus three full sides and he should probably pick something smaller. My BIL says his kid can eat it all and I said it was my treat and that I'm trying to cheap out. It is $190 for the steak.
I said fine but if he doesn't eat it all then you have to pay for it. He agreed. We order and the waiter tells us the tomahawk is usually shared between several people since it comes with three shareable portions of sides as well. I ask my BIL if he is sure. He looks at the kid and smiles and says no problem. We ordered and when the food came out the tomahawk and sides took up almost half the table.
The kid finished less than a quarter of the steak and only a little bit of the sides. When the bill came I asked to pay for seven meals, all the drinks, and all the tip. The Tomahawk steak on a separate bill for my BIL. He paid with ill grace. My sister said that he used the budget that they had earmarked to take the family to see the new Spiderman movie.
I felt bad but I think that he was an a**&ole to try and waste my money. He thinks I'm an a**$ole for following through and making him pay for something that mostly went to waste. Yes, they took the leftovers home.
People on Reddit jumped on with all of their thoughts.
Algebralovr wrote:
NTA. ”My treat” does not mean abuse my generosity. It would have been one thing if the teen had actually eaten the entire thing. You said, if he eats it all I’ll pay. If not, you pay. Good for sticking to that.
gnothro wrote:
NTA. Ordering a $190 steak on someone else's tab is rude and enough to make them the AH, regardless of it was all eaten or not.
Poesy-WordHoard wrote:
'I said fine but if he doesn't eat it all then you have to pay for it. He agreed.' Enough said. He agreed. NTA.
He either thought you're a pushover, or that his kid is the quintessential growing teenage boy who vacuums up the contents of the fridge with his mouth in one day.
Also, it's not like your sister, as the other parent, stopped the shenanigans either.
aeroeagleAC wrote:
People that order the most expensive item because they aren't paying are always the AH. NTA.
Clearly, OP is NTA in this situation. The BIL needed to eat the bill as a lesson for the future.