My sister-in-law came over with her kids one afternoon, and by early evening everyone started talking about going out for dinner.
We had already offered to pay for the meal.
I had a coupon that would bring the total down from roughly $175 to under $75, but it didn’t become valid until 6 p.m.
That was only about forty minutes away.
I suggested we wait.
My sister-in-law immediately complained that she wanted to leave now.
A few minutes later, her children—who had been perfectly happy and playing moments earlier—came outside dramatically holding their stomachs.
“We’re soooo hungry!”
My mother-in-law and father-in-law immediately started saying we should just go.
Fine.
I agreed.
At the restaurant, everyone ordered freely because they assumed my husband and I were still covering the check.
But when the server came by, I quietly asked her to separate our meals from my sister-in-law’s family.
When the bills arrived, my SIL stared at hers.
“I thought you were paying.”
I smiled.
“I offered to pay if we waited for the discount. You decided forty minutes was too long.”
She said the kids had been hungry.
Then one of them casually announced, “Mom told us to say that.”
The entire table went silent.
My husband nearly choked trying not to laugh.
My sister-in-law paid her own bill.
Suddenly, forty minutes didn’t seem so unreasonable anymore.
