Picture the scene: you’ve spent a pleasant afternoon with a Dutch friend, you both had a coffee, maybe even splurged on a toilet break. You head home thinking nothing more of it. Then a message pings your phone. It’s a link. You click. It’s a payment request – a Tikkie – for €1.50. Or 80 cents. Or, in one memorable dating anecdote, €3 the morning after. The Dutch have always taken “going Dutch” literally, but handing someone an invoice for your share of the bathroom soap via WhatsApp feels like a technological leap none of us asked for.

Tikkie is an online payment platform beloved by the Dutch. Its beauty lies in its efficiency: you can split bills instantly, request money from friends, or settle that tiny debt over a shared train toilet. To outsiders it looks like penny‑pinching gone digital. Why would anyone send a payment request for a 50‑cent toilet fee or a €1.50 coffee? For the Dutch, it’s not about greed; it’s about keeping the books balanced. No ambiguity – everyone simply pays their share.

Unwritten etiquette has sprung up around Tikkies. Experienced users know you should hold off on amounts under €4 if you don’t want to look heel stingy, and never hit send while you’re still sitting in the restaurant. Foreigners can’t decide whether to admire the transparency or run screaming from what feels like a spreadsheet disguised as a friendship. After all, who wouldn’t want to be reminded of their bathroom pit stop via a push notification?

Tikkie culture goes beyond café bills. Need to split the cost of a birthday cake, a group holiday house or an IKEA bookshelf? There’s a Tikkie for that. More than a payment method, it has become a verb: “Ik Tikkie je wel,” people say, as if promising to sort out the universe later.

Dating apps could take a lesson. In some circles, the ultimate litmus test of a partner’s character is whether they send a Tikkie after the first date. Reddit threads recount cautionary tales of romance cut short by a request for the price of a cappuccino. Just don’t forget to factor in the toilet fee.

Did the Dutch invent a digital abacus just so they could split a round of bitterballen? Send me a Tikkie and I’ll think about it.