“Expensive pleasures will soon bring the richest person down.”~ Stephen Richards

Some time ago, my co-worker was talking about her horrible dating experiences and noted that every time she went on a date and ordered lobster, she was never asked out on a second date. She asked why a guy would take her to an expensive restaurant and dump her afterward just because she ordered the most expensive item on the menu. My co-workers and myself were divided on this issue. I, for one, will not order the most expensive item on the list if I were on a date. My other co-worker said she couldn’t go out on a date with a man who would expect her to not order what she wanted regardless of the price. Her rationale was if a guy is asking her out on a date, then he should be prepared to pick up the tab afterward, no matter how expensive the tab was. I disagreed with this rationale. We are all different in our approaches and our expectations and I respect this. My rationale is I’m being considerate of the guy who asked me out on the date. I’m not here to spend your money, or see how deep your pocket is or test the limit of your wallet. I’m here to get to know you better.

Some of my co-workers took this stand with me, stating it was inconsiderate to order the most expensive item on the menu.  Another co-worker stated she shouldn’t have to deny herself to impress the guy as he was trying to impress her by taking her to this upscale restaurant. She stated she would not want to deal with such a guy as he would be a stingy person and she wasn’t interested in dating stingy men. In as much as I understood where she was coming from, I disagreed with her. My co-worker who brought this topic said she did stop ordering the most expensive item on the menu after the guys never called her back. She stated these guys might have been put off not because they didn’t have the money to pay for the dinners but because her ordering the most expensive item on the menu might have sent the wrong message to them- she was more interested in their money.

This particular co-worker called it the “lobster curse.” I had a good laugh when she said this because I had never heard of this “curse” before and she did make the decision to not order the most expensive item on the menu after several “lobster curse” dating stints. I didn’t get a guy’s opinion on this topic but would really like to know their opinions on this topic. As a guy, is there really such a thing as the “lobster curse?” Would you not invite a girl on a second date if she ordered the most expensive item on the menu on the first date? Would you really care how much she ordered? Afterall, you took her to the said restaurant and knew it could get pricey. Should this count as a strike against her?