This TikToker Skipped His Friend’s Expensive Birthday Dinner And People Have Opinions

Last month, Sean Lans, a 24-year-old from New York City, was invited to his friend’s birthday dinner at a fancy restaurant he couldn’t afford, he said.

The plan was to go to dinner, then go to a place that had a cover charge of $35. After looking at the menu, Lans decided to skip the dinner portion of the evening; he said the cheapest entree, a burger, was $41. Fries could be added to the meal for an exorbitant $11. (Lans said he assumed that at a fine dining restaurant, “the burger is just going to be three bites.”)

“I’m not really looking to spend the equivalent of a week of grocery money on a single night out,” he said in a TikTok video posted on January 29.

Not going to the dinner caused a bit of a stink with his friend, he said. And talking about the incident on TikTok resulted in a viral video for Lans.

“Expensive birthday dinners are unfair,” he titled his video, which has garnered over 1.9 million views since he posted it.

“Read the room,” Lans said in the clip, “Yeah, it’s your birthday, but you should know if your friends are going to be happy where you choose.”

Lans’ video about a bougie birthday dinner hit home for many, which isn’t surprising, given the rising cost of going out to eat. Restaurant prices have been increasing faster than the overall rate of inflation for the past two years, according to the Consumer Price Index. All those intimate group dinners with small plates and $17 cocktails can add up after a while.

″$76 minimum not including drinks or a birthday gift is a big ask,” one person said in the comments of the clip.

“I’m sorry but if you have working class friends and are expecting them to join expensive dinners and trips, something is wrong with you,” another wrote.

It wasn’t unfair for the