You should split the tab.

A blind date is putting two people in a dating situation that is mutual.

Perhaps you were set up by friends or coworkers.

Perhaps you met this person by chance and you both decided to stop by a local place for a quick lunch or drink.

It is a blind date that has occurred through a mutual agreement to meet.

No one took the initiative to make the date happen by being the aggressor.

This is mutual.

Thereby, you should approach it as a date that is on mutual grounds.

Splitting the tab means that this is mutual. It alleviates the pressure on either person.

Blind dates are typically the testing ground for what may come later.

Hence, it is best to look at the blind date as a mutual outing.

No one person should be responsible for carrying the tab.

You don’t want either party to feel like they are being pressured to fulfill some kind of role.

This is a blind date.

You have both agreed to be there mutually. You have never met each other until now.

This is when your focus should be about learning more about this person as opposed to worrying about who should split the tab.

When you are so concerned about who should split the tab, you will not be all too present.

You may not be entirely engaged in the conversation or interaction.

In the back of your mind, you may be constantly thinking about what you should do by the end of the date.

You wonder whether you should split the tab.

While your thoughts are full of this line of thinking, you are missing precious moments during the blind date that you should have been paying attention to.

Your date may also sense that you are uneasy.

They may begin to worry about why you are.

This is when they may begin to draw their own conclusions.

Your blind date may worry that she is saying something wrong or something about her demeanor is making you uneasy.

At that moment, your blind date may begin to pull back.

She may stop being herself and become more guarded.

She may decide to avoid certain topics that she would have loved to talk about because she may be worried that she is making you uneasy about something.

This is how the blind date that was leading somewhere nice and possibly to a second date has now collapsed into ruin.

This is not the position you want to be in.

There should be a mutual understanding from both parties that this is a blind date and thereby both parties are responsible for their own tabs.

This is the mentality you should go into your blind date with so that you don’t ruin it by being uneasy throughout the date.

By the end of the blind date, you will split the tab.

It is that simple.

If you both decide to meet again for another date, you will both become more and more comfortable and familiar with each other.

On these subsequent dates, you may naturally take turns splitting tabs.