Kicker: The price of a latte

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Modern manners can get really weird, really fast.

Consider the use of Venmo to split a tab at Starbucks.

You grab a five-dollar latte for a friend who’s running late, and then wonder whether sending a Venmo request makes you practical—or just makes you a cheapskate.

Journalist Annabelle Williams wrote about this for The Wall Street Journal, and later talked about it with CBS:

WILLIAMS: It's always awkward to be talking about money with your friends … but it's certainly not uncomfortable to press a few buttons on a screen and ask for it.

Easy in the short term. Uncool in the long term.

Williams says the real trouble comes when expectations are unclear—when you offer to buy, then send a surprise request later. Especially, she says, for small amounts. Better to be clear before the bill arrives.

WILLIAMS: The relationship is more important than the debt. The cost of a good friendship is not always worth the cost of a drink.

Seinfeld knew this long before Venmo.

MORTY: “All right, make it 20 bucks.”

JACK: “It’s $19.45, Morty.”

Precision is cheap. Generosity costs a little more—but:

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s priceless.

EICHER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

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