I get that that works for some people.

I get that some people are also able to cover the whole check and rotate.

The thing about these hard and fast rules is that they only really work for the groups they work for.

When my circle goes out we each pay our own unless someone decides to pick up that tab.

That's what works for us. In fact I'd never seen this done in any other way until I was about 25 and my girl took me out with her family and they were a "split evenly" crowd. That shit was foreign to me.

Well, that shit doesn't fly with a new guy in the group who wasn't previously informed. It's 100% unreasonable to expect someone to pay for someone else's portion. The bill for me and my girl was like $45 total but the split brought me up to $80.

If that worked for them great but everyone doesn't handle those situations the same way and it's absurd to demand that everyone abide by that as their default.

If that works for a particular group it's all good but I don't see how it's remotely reasonable as a mandate.