'Send me the money': How unpaid debts are straining Gen Z friendships

At the end of almost every group meal comes the moment when one person makes an innocent mistake that, at the time, seems like a gesture of efficiency and generosity. The server puts down the bill, everyone starts calculating who ordered a cocktail and who drank water, who ordered dessert and who merely stole a few fries, and then come the fateful words: “Forget it, I’ll pay. Send it to me on Bit.” The phones stay in pockets, one card comes out and the evening continues. By the next day, it becomes clear that the volunteer did not merely pay for dinner. He has acquired a new job, unpaid and unsolicited: the group’s debt collector. That is where a ritual begins that is also familiar to PayBox users in Israel and Venmo and Zelle users in the United States.