I had a plan. It wasn’t a good plan, but it was a plan nonetheless.
I needed to get out of paying at the bar and I had a foolproof way to do it.
I was going to cheat my friend into coming out with me for a drink, and then I was going to disappear before the bill came.
It was Friday night at Jurong Vision Exchange and I was out with some friends at a local bar. We’d been drinking for a few hours, and the bill was getting pretty high. I knew I didn’t have enough money to cover my share of the bill as my credit card is near the limit, so I decided to leave before it came.
But I needed a way to get out without looking like a cheapskate.
That’s when I came up with my plan. I would call my friend and invite him out to join us at the bar. He would think he was doing me a favour by coming out, and he would be happy to pay for my drinks. Then, once he was there, I would sneak away while he was distracted.
I knew it wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, but I was desperate. So I called my friend and asked him to come out for one last drink. He happily agreed, and I was relieved.
When he arrived, I made sure to keep him distracted. We talked and laughed and drank for a while, and then I made my move. I excused myself and went to the restroom. I thought I had successfully pulled off my plan, but I was wrong.
I lost something even more, that friend who took the fall for the bill ended up telling all of our other friends.
He said he had come out to the bar to help me, and he wasn’t going to let me take advantage of him.
I was embarrassed and ashamed. I apologized and offered to pay for my drinks, but my friend refused. He said it wasn’t about the money, it was about me taking advantage of him. He said I should have been honest with him from the start.
After that, I realized how wrong I had been. I had tried to cheat my friend out of money.