In my recent Bangkok trip, we pool a sum of money to be managed by Bel. The pool of money is supposed to pay for stuff that we do together, like meals and taxis. This system is working fine except for 1 glitch.

On Saturday, we had our dinner at this place called Baan Klang Nam with Ball, his gf and his gf's sister. After the dinner, Alex took out his wallet 1st and paid for it. Bel is supposed to pay him back later. And there's where the problem occurs.

When we come back, Alex looks at his expenditure and finds about $100+ not accounted for. He thinks it's because Bel did not pay him back, which is about 2700 Baht. However, I have an impression that Bel mentioned having paid him about 2000 Baht first due to Alex not having 300 Baht for change and Bel only have 1000 Baht note. I do not know if Bel later settled the 700 Baht.

Bel has no recollection of this at all. She can't even remember who paid for the dinner though Alex definitely did ask her for money. She did not remember if she paid Alex anything. I told Bel that if she did not pay Alex, then we definitely have to pay him back. But if she paid, and she can't remember, we still have to pay, because Alex claim that we haven't, which means we pay double. On hearing this, she criticize Alex for not remembering properly if he did paid.

This leaves a sour taste in the mouth for me. Being the person in charge of a public fund, she should at least be aware of what she paid and did no paid. I don't expect nice book keeping, but there aren't that many occasion that she has to pay something. We only had about 6 meals together, not too difficult to remember, is it? I don't expect special efforts in managing it, just to treat it like her own money. When you are spending your own money, you remember what is it on. Especially if it's of a large enough amount. And the worst is, I did not feel the slightest apologetic attitude from her. She blames Alex for not remembering properly and did not once apologize for not having remembered if she paid Alex.