An intimate dinner for two, $67.50. Kaching. Drinks at a Jazz Club, $20. Kaching. Movie tickets, popcorn, sodas, $18.75. Kaching. Coffee at Starbuck's, $6.00. Kaching. Flowers, parking, tips, gas, etc. Kaching, kaching, kaching.

You've heard it a hundred times - "Show me the money!" Cuba Gooding Jr. recently made the line famous by yelling it in the film Jerry Magire, but the sentiment has been prevalent in the dating game since the beginning. And at one time or another, we men have all run into it with the force and impact of a corvette hitting a brick wall at 50 mph.

It's not that I'm cheap mind you. I make a pretty decent salary and I don't mind spending a couple of hundred on a night of fun and frolic. It's the expectation factor that really hacks me off. The attitude that men should follow the same rules when dating as they do when using inflight airline phones - insert bank or credit card to begin, pick-up, try reaching out to touch someone, and return when done; all charges are determined by the provider and are non-negotiable. Hey, GTE you're not.

Money plays a major role in the interaction between men and women. And even without the unwritten commandment of dating which requires us to part freely with our hard-earned dollars, we would continue to do so happily. Why? Because, like all of God's creatures, we want to impress the opposite sex. How expensive is a $40K sports car really, if it's a babe magnet?! Why not blow a paycheck to buy her that diamond studded watch if it'll make her happy and earn us some brownie points?!

My point is this - without any added pressure exerted by a woman, man's natural instinct to impress will drive him to spend outrageously on occasion and his natural competitiveness to out-do your previous boyfriends will inspire him to splurge on you, so don't take that in-your-face show me the money attitude with the man in your life. Ease up ladies, and let nature take it's course.