Maybe you’re just out of college or you’re working full-time but still living paycheck to paycheck. Either way, money is short and sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures—but how desperate? Would you go out with a guy just for the free meal? It’s a behavior that’s known as “sneating” and it’s becoming an all too pervasive dating trend.
The word comes from the fact that those who are guilty of it sneakily chat up a guy with the sole purpose of getting a guy to take them out to dinner and pay for it, of course. While lots of guys would naturally offer to pay on a first date, especially if they’re the ones who asked the woman out, the idea that men are being taken advantage of by many “sneaters” doesn’t sit well with the more honest among us.
We often say we wish guys would be more chivalrous, from opening doors for us to, yes, picking up the tab when we go out, but arranging a date with a naturally chivalrous guy that you don’t even like just because you know he’s going to buy you dinner is not only totally unfair, it’s downright terrible. This is the kind of behavior we’d absolutely destroy guys for, so why are we comfortable with doing it?
Some women defend their sneating by claiming that they never order anything too expensive and that they only do this to guys who they know can afford it, but that still doesn’t make it right. If we want more equality in dating and in life, we can’t keep perpetuating the exact opposite by taking advantage of the decent, honest, caring guys we whine about being in short supply.
Bottom line: if a guy asks you out and you really like him and can see things going somewhere, by all means, go out with him and even let him pick up the tab if he offers. However, if you know right away that he’s not for you and you go out with him just for the free meal, you need to take a step back and check yourself, girl.
