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1->'''Merchant''': I can't take money from the king!
2->'''Edgar''': Don't you have a family? Just shut up and take it.
3-->-- ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''
4
5Authority figures, especially of the benevolent [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure reasonable kind]], have an unusual life. Everywhere they go, even though they have a good income and some elected officials or BlueBlood aristocrats may even be rich, restaurateurs and store owners offer them items for free. But, since they're benevolent and have good morals, they feel bad about taking citizens' goods and services for free, and so they loudly insist on paying full price for meals and such.
6
7People may offer items for free out of respect for the authority figure, such as a well-liked [[PuttingThePalInPrincipal school principal]], mayor or FairCop in small towns like EverytownAmerica. As well, they may be offering freebies because they view the authority figure aa someone to whom they owe a duty of SacredHospitality. On the other hand, a person may also offer FoodAsBribe because they to gain some benefits from the authority figure, like quicker response time from a police officer or CityGuards, or a building inspector "looking the other way".
8
9A lot of {{RPG}}s involving noblemen have the line, "I insist on paying for that!" to prevent you from getting in-game items for free. Though you usually don't get a nobleman's wealth along with the character (sometimes {{handwave}}d through a line such as, "The treasures in my treasury belong to the kingdom"). (See WithThisHerring.)
10
11TruthInTelevision with [[FairCop honest police officers]] and government officials being offered freebies. Averted if you're dealing with a DirtyCop, who will demand free meals and services.
12----
13!!Examples:
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15[[foldercontrol]]
16
17[[folder:Advertising]]
18* An old Little Caesar's ad from years ago, back when they were offering a free pizza with a purchased one, had a Boy Scout troop master insisting on paying for the freebie pizza, when ordering for his troop. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensued]].
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21[[folder:Film]]
22* ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'': Bandit stops at a restaurant for lunch, then Sheriff Justice shows up not knowing he's standing next to the Bandit, the man he's been chasing since Texas. After some banter, Bandit pays for Justice's lunch ("You're an officer of the law. I'd be honored").
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24
25[[folder:Literature]]
26* Captain Carrot of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' does this. Subverted in that they only offer him free stuff because they know he'll refuse. Averted with the other members of the Watch, particularly Fred Colon, who takes all the free meals he can get. In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', Mr Sock the butcher tries to offload a seemingly unreliable and possibly dangerous golem onto him, and is told this could be interpreted as a bribe. Mr Sock then tries to inflate the price, if Carrot is actually prepared to ''pay'' for it, but quickly learns that GoodIsNotDumb. He gets a dollar.
27* In the short story ''Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones'', "Singers" are people with very special talents who are known worldwide. There are only about 20 or so in the world. Hawk the Singer always attempts to pay for things before someone just gives it to him. He explains to the protagonist that the day he stops attempting to pay or stops acting surprised at getting something for free is the day he will have to start paying.
28-->If I ever start expecting it, it'll stop.
29* Steve Carella (and, by extension, every honest cop) in the ''Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct'' novels. In one novel, he is offered theatre tickets to a hit musical and notes that as a cop you can either accept nothing that is offered to you or everything: there is no middle ground. (He does take the tickets but pays market price for them after first establishing that these are reserve tickets that would have been on sale to the general public before the show, so there can be no question of him being done special favours.)
30* In a character-defining moment for both Thanos and Anat in the ''Literature/ShatteredTwilight'' story ''The Farmer's Wife'', Thanos leads the other priests out of an inn without paying for their stay for the night or for the food they ate, but Anat sneaks a few coins onto the table -- out of Thanos' sight -- before he leaves.
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33[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
34* In ''Series/FatherTed'', a disagreement over who should pay the bill for both genteel elderly ladies leads to a massive cat-fight between them, that escalates to a nice quiet tea-shop "somewhere on the mainland" being utterly trashed and (inferentially) police in riot gear being called to make the arrests.
35* Subverted in ''Series/{{Friends}}'', where Monica ''does'' accept free steaks (and an eggplant) from the new meat suppliers to the restaurant where she works, considering them a gift. She ends up being fired over it since the owners of the restaurant reasonably interpreted it as a bribe (Monica had been recently promoted to a job which included selecting the meat supplier).
36* In one episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', "Our Father Whose Art Ain't Heaven", Martin expresses irritation that Frasier never allows him to pay for his meals, so he insists on paying at a fancy restaurant. When Niles and Frasier both order cheap meals to be nice, he refuses to pay, at which point Frasier refuses on a similar principle and Niles realizes that he left his wallet in their taxi.
37* In ''Series/TheWestWing'', Mrs. Landingham pays full sticker price for her new car, much to the dismay of her coworkers and boss.
38* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'':
39** Jerry's parents flat-out refuse to believe that he makes anything remotely resembling a decent amount of money as a comedian. This leads to huge arguments between Jerry and his father Morty whenever they are together, as ''both'' of them insist on paying for everything: Morty because he thinks Jerry is perpetually broke, and Jerry because he wants to prove to his parents that he is far from it. On one occasion Morty even insisted on paying for a meal even after his wallet had been stolen, leading him to plead to have his credit and good word accepted as payment by the restaurant's exasperated owner (who was just baffled as to why he didn't simply let his son pay).
40** This reaches its climax when Jerry buys Morty a Cadillac for his birthday. His parents sell it to Jack Klompus (for probably less than Jerry paid for it) and give him the money. Jerry responds by buying it ''back'' from Klompus ''at blue book value'' and giving it back to his parents. His parents respond by selling their ''house'' and moving into a trailer. For a bit of irony, the lengths Jerry went to in order to prove that he wasn't broke left him actually broke, and he had to sleep in the Cadillac for a night.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
44* From ''Literature/TheBible'':
45** In [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis chapter 23]], Abraham's wife Sarah dies, and Abraham talks to the people of Heth about giving him a place to bury his dead. The people of Heth insist on giving him the choicest of burial sites — the cave of Machpelah — for his wife without having to pay anything for it since they consider him a prince among their people, but Abraham insists on purchasing the property. They finally settle on four hundred shekels of silver, which is what Abraham ended up paying, and it became the only site in the Promised Land permanently deeded to Abraham and his descendants, as Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob are eventually buried there as well.
46** When God told King David to go to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2nd Samuel chapter 24]] to build an altar to the Lord, David tells Araunah that he wants to purchase the threshing floor. Araunah was willing to give the threshing floor and the oxen and the wood free of charge to the king, but King David insists on buying the property, saying that he would not make sacrifices to the Lord with offerings that cost him nothing. In the book of 1st Chronicles (which repeats the same story), the threshing floor becomes the site for the future Temple that King David's son Solomon would build during his reign.
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49[[folder:Video Games]]
50* Subverted with Edgar in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. If you put him at the head of the party and then visit a shop in Figaro, the merchants will say that they don't feel they should charge the King money if he needs something. Edgar will insist on paying anyway, but they will give him a half-price discount.
51-->'''Edgar:''' Look, don't you have a family? Just shut up and take it.
52** Edgar's brother Sabin does this as well.
53--->'''Shopkeep''': Sir Sabin, I can't take your money!\
54'''Sabin''': Take it! Haven't you heard? My brother says I'm a notorious spendthrift!
55* Humorous subversion from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'': In one of the Social Link scenes for [[{{Ojou}} Mitsuru Kirijo]], she offers to pay for lunch... and is then flustered when she discovers the food stand from which you are buying doesn't accept credit cards, meaning you have to pay anyway.
56* In ''Videogame/Mother3'' Fassad insists on paying for his stay in Tazmily's inn even though the village has no concept of money and the innkeeper is willing to let him stay without asking anything in return. This is a negative example of the trope since Fassad is rejecting their hospitality in favor of making it a cold transaction. It's all part of his efforts to corrupt Tazmily.
57* In ''VideoGame/RabiRibi'', the shopkeeper Miriam offers to give Erina whatever she wants for free since her business is doing well and they're friends, but Erina insists on paying for them like a regular person, since [[ForcedTransformation she was a bunny before the story starts]], even after Miriam offers to give her a discount instead. If you don't have enough currency to buy an item, Miriam will offer to give it to you for free, but the game won't actually allow you to take it without paying.
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59
60[[folder:Western Animation]]
61* One of the fights between Peter and the Giant Chicken in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' is put on hold as the two realize they forgot ''why'' they keep fighting whenever they meet each other, and so the Chicken takes Peter out to dinner with his wife to apologize. They get into an argument over who's paying until eventually they're fighting all over again.
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64[[folder:Real Life]]
65* Truth in Television. Many, if not all, companies have policies in place to prevent the slightest hint of favoritism. Usually, gifts of less than $10 are okay, anything over must be refused or cleared with HR first. Applies even to people who don't have any power to influence anything.
66* UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers are strictly forbidden from accepting free or even discounted goods or services on account of their position. In fact, until quite recently it was technically against the rules for them to spend money at all while on duty, but this was seldom enforced.
67* Wrestling/AndreTheGiant famously refused to let anyone else pay for his meals at restaurants (given his size and appetite, on top of prodigious amounts of liquor, they tended to be very expensive). Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger once attempted to pay one such bill behind Andre's back, but Andre caught him, ''picked him up'', and firmly ''sat him back down at the table'', saying "I pay."
68* U.S. President UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant was once [[DrivesLikeCrazy pulled over for speeding]] through Washington in his one-horse buggy. When the officer realized whom he'd just stopped he was willing to let the war-hero president off with a warning but Grant insisted, paid the fine out of his pocket, and walked back to the White House because his buggy had to be impounded.
69* Regional variations on SacredHospitality may include a bit of cordial disagreement over who pays a restaurant bill or bar tab for social gatherings or dates, with each party trying to insist on paying as a show of goodwill or gratitude to the other.
70* In the U.S.:
71** There are strict laws regarding gifts to government employees, in order to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. So any government employee who receives a "thing of value" from a representative of a company, another government, etc. is expected to either turn it down outright, or pay a fair price for it. How often such things are ''actually'' paid for (especially, say, food at a lunch meeting) depends on several factors.
72** In regards to the President of the United States, gifts are officially given to the ''office'' of the presidency -- rather than the current occupant -- and immediately put into the White House Archives. Should an outgoing president wish to keep a gift received during their term, a request is made and the White House Archivist makes a consideration. If the request is accepted, a fair price will be determined and the president must pay for the gift out of their private funds.
73* In South Korea, it's a fairly common sight at restaurants for people to get into heated arguments or even physical fights over who gets the honor of paying the bill.
74[[/folder]]

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