When going Dutch is the best thing to do

A FRIEND once lamented to me that life in retirement was a lot duller. He said he missed the camaraderie he enjoyed with his colleagues especially when they went for lunch. They would carpool to the nearby restaurant or mall and split the bill between them. To relive the good old times, he arranged with two former colleagues to have lunch. He settled the bill but no one paid him for their share. Thinking that they now preferred to take turns paying instead of sticking to their bill-splitting system, he let it be. To his disappointment, the same thing happened on their next two lunches together. He said he has stopped going out with them simply because he couldn’t afford it as he is now living just on his EPF savings.

My friend’s grouse somewhat resonated with me. When I was in the civil service, I was an active table tennis player. After I retired, I could no longer play at the office and I joined a small group of table tennis players upon the recommendation of another friend.