My in-laws always treated paying a bill like it was somehow beneath them — as if doing so would tarnish their image.

Every family meal turned into the same absurd performance: they’d pat their pockets, feign surprise, and insist they’d forgotten their wallets at home.

Initially, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. But after it happened over and over, I saw it for what it was — plain stinginess.

They just believed the “less wealthy” relatives would cover for them.

But my mom? She’s not the type to fall for games.

She might not own flashy things, yet she’s sharp, proud, and refuses to be played by people who think money makes them better.

But for all their wealth, they had a peculiar habit that made my stomach knot every time we got together: they never, ever paid their share at restaurants.

“They did it again,” I complained to my husband, Dan, after his parents had slipped out of a restaurant while he was in the bathroom, leaving us with a $300 bill. “Your dad literally pretended to get a phone call!”

Dan sighed, his shoulders slumping as he pulled out his credit card. “I know, I know. They’ve always been like this.”