Dinner + tip is not $200, parking is not $50, I live in a city lol

Uncle_Brumpus a day ago | parent | next [-]

See that's the problem, you live IN the city, and you're not afraid of the city, so you know how it really is.

I've gotten the "Parking is too expensive and hard to find" from friends when I try and get them to come into the city to hang out. No, come to my apartment, park in the plentiful free protected street parking right out front, and then we'll walk the 5 minutes to the center of downtown.

	▲	chneu a day ago \| parent [-]
		Your friends just don't want to hangout. There are different ways of approaching doing something: "To do X requires me to do this and that. So heres how I'll do this and that to get to X. " "I can't do X because it requires me to do this and that. " There's a big difference between the 2. The latter is a lie, they just don't want to do what is required to do that. Its a way of phrasing things so people don't feel bad and they don't have to admit they don't want to do something. Start looking for it and you'll see it in a lot of exchanges.

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phainopepla2 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Dinner + tip can easily reach $200 if you're talking about a fancy restaurant for date night, even with just a single drink each. $50 for parking is crazy, that's like a music festival price or something.

Of course, if you live in the kind of city where the above is true, then a very delicious dinner + tip can usually be had for $50-75, it just won't be as fancy.

	▲	hobo123 20 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You don't have to go to fancy restaurants for a date you know. Maybe for your anniversary. People who insist on fancy everything are probably not worth the trouble.

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montyanne a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

50 is steep for parking, but between dinner/drinks/rideshare, you can pretty quickly hit $250 on a nice-but-not-crazy date night in my HCOL city.

	▲	spencerflem a day ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, if you’re getting three drinks each and an uber sure. I don’t think it’s an insane amount to spend. It was framed as ‘Every Activity’ costs that much though which is just not true.

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PyWoody a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I live in the boonies and dinner + tip (and drinks) for two can easily be $200. Parking is free here because, ya know, boonies and whatnot.

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orangedog a day ago | parent | next [-]

That's eating at an expensive place. I paid $60 for two at a local restaurant last week, that's including an appetizer.

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PyWoody 20 hours ago | parent [-]

At what, Applebees?

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spencerflem 19 hours ago | parent [-]

The nice Indian place next to me in Seattle is 24 for a curry & 8 for a side.

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cute_boi 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

The nice Indian place you are talking is probably hiring some students/illegal immigrants and paying them peanuts.... They do similar with motels.

And, no food isn't that cheap in the city.

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Klonoar 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I live in Seattle and think you are using outlier places to prove an incorrect point. You are also not favoring in alcohol prices.

It is legitimately expensive to go out to places here. I just pay it because I can, but to act otherwise is burying your head in the sand.

	▲	spencerflem 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Hey no totally I agree, 15/sandwich is so much more than I remember and 12/drink is nuts. With inflation and cost of living here it’s like double what I remember from 2018 ‘burbs. I’m not trying to say it’s necessarily cheap. But as someone lucky enough to be able to eat out almost every day at a variety of restaurants I have no trouble staying under 35/person without drinks. That place is not an outlier. And like, fancy cocktails are nice but I don’t think you can say that it’s impossible to go out and do anything without spending $500 like OP claimed.

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cleaning 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm in the bay area and dinner for two is absolutely nowhere close to $200 unless you are going somewhere fancy or ordering many drinks. Looking at my transaction history, it's closer to about $40 per person.

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wahnfrieden 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's not hard to spend $200. But OP suggested that it was the standard going rate and that it's unaffordable to them.

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mrweasel a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Depends on the city. Here you can have a really nice time out for two people for $250.

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pixl97 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Which city? Downtown Austin? Seattle?

	▲	spencerflem a day ago \| parent [-]
		Those are the exact two I’ve lived in actually

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wahnfrieden a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Prices have risen faster than wages but $200 is a choice. They simply have high standards and treat it like poverty.

	▲	mlhpdx a day ago \| parent [-]
		The change in lifestyle expectations should be as well documented as the changes in social contact.