# Birthdays; a rip off. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 25, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873 "2018-09-25T07:14:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/1 "2018-09-25T07:14:50Z")
:mad: When you are a kid, birthdays rea fun. Presents! Parties! Friends! In short, profitable. In your (gulp :() mid thirties? Your friends start “suggesting” that we should all totally go for lunch. And yes of course its at the super expensive new French place. And lets get other free loader…:D, ok I’ll admit I have done this myself, but come on. My credit card bill is going to suck.⭕eek:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/2 "2018-09-25T07:23:13Z")
You’re friends are taking you out for your birthday, and YOU’RE paying? I suggest you find better friends. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/3 "2018-09-25T07:24:38Z")
Are you kidding? Like really? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/4 "2018-09-25T07:27:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You’re friends are taking you out for your birthday, and YOU’RE paying? I suggest you find better friends. Tis the way it is here. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/5 "2018-09-25T07:28:18Z")
Eh? I haven’t told anyone when my birthday is since, oh, age 19. I don’t give a shit, why should I expect anyone else to? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/6 "2018-09-25T07:29:10Z")
hen can we add holidays to the list also? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/7 "2018-09-25T07:40:46Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Eh? I haven’t told anyone when my birthday is since, oh, age 19. I don’t give a shit, why should I expect anyone else to? You don’t have FB apparently which blares it out to the entire fucking world. As I type this I have also gotten message from the Bank. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/8 "2018-09-25T07:49:11Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You don’t have FB apparently which blares it out to the entire fucking world. I’m on Facie. People wish me a happy birthday. They don’t arrange dinner dates for me when I’m paying FFS. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/9 "2018-09-25T08:25:03Z")
Are you a hobbit? Do you have to get them all presents as well? Culture here is decidedly that the birthday person doesn’t pay, in fact, the other guests normally split their bill. My former housemate once walked out and left me to pay his bill when he was a guest at my birthday dinner. I actually owed him the money for the electric bill and, being a massive troll, he thought that would be a funny way to get me to pay it. The other guests, none of whom really knew him, got remarkably angry about me having to pay for him, even after I’d explained that it was money I owed him and if I didn’t pay it then I’d just be walking home then giving him the same cash. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/10 "2018-09-25T10:35:57Z")
You can turn off the notification of your birthday on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/11 "2018-09-25T12:06:09Z")
‘That’s the way it’s done here.’ It would be helpful to know where ‘here’ is. Are you in an Asian country perhaps? Where such is the custom, and where you may have already enjoyed being an attendee once or twice, but now it’s your turn to be the celebrant (and payer, as a result.)? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/12 "2018-09-25T14:42:44Z")
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#): > > You can turn off the notification of your birthday on Facebook. I can’t turn it off on my wife’s Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/13 "2018-09-25T15:09:14Z")
It could be worse: The department birthday money for my birthday in January 2017 was blown on a Trump party, I had a new manager and he didn’t realize that he now had a January birthday in his group. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/14 "2018-09-25T15:13:01Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It could be worse: The department birthday money for my birthday in January 2017 was blown on a Trump party, I had a new manager and he didn’t realize that he now had a January birthday in his group. Your place of employment had a Trump party? Egads. I’d be looking for a new place to work. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/15 "2018-09-25T16:17:04Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It could be worse: The department birthday money for my birthday in January 2017 was blown on a Trump party, I had a new manager and he didn’t realize that he now had a January birthday in his group. I didn’t know you worked at the Russian embassy. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/16 "2018-09-25T19:56:08Z")
> [@Fugazi](#): > > Your place of employment had a Trump party? Egads. I’d be looking for a new place to work. I am! It was an ‘unofficial’ Trump party taking place on Friday, January 20, 2017. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/17 "2018-09-26T06:43:15Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I can’t turn it off on my wife’s Facebook. Turn off? I don’t even give Facebook a true date. None of their business. If any of my friends think that my birthday is really January 1, 1900, then they can spring for my birthday lunch. I also don’t give it valid family status. Again, none of their business. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/18 "2018-09-26T07:49:53Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I can’t turn it off on my wife’s Facebook. Do you mean your wife is wishing you HB? Or do you mean FB automatically wishes you a HB because of the way your wife has her FB set up? The latter sounds dubious to me, but I’m no FB expert. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/19 "2018-09-26T13:39:30Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Do you mean your wife is wishing you HB? Or do you mean FB automatically wishes you a HB because of the way your wife has her FB set up? > > The latter sounds dubious to me, but I’m no FB expert. Mrs. 74westy does it manually. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873/20 "2018-09-26T14:46:11Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Tis the way it is here. Then I must assume that, when their birthdays come around, you’re supposed to do the same thing and they’ll pay for you? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthdays-a-rip-off/821873.md?page=2)