Last weekend, I let a guy I didn't know do something that I wish he hadn't.

I let him buy me a drink.

Although many of you will probably disagree with me, I really don't feel comfortable accepting drinks from men I don't know. It can be flattering, generous and as one of my friends put it, "a God-given perk" of being a woman. But I have to wonder what exactly is going on when a guy offers to buy me a drink.

Often, I end up standing next to a guy at the bar simply because there is a space there. Sometimes, without even looking me in the eye, a guy will offer me a drink. Trust me, I'm not bragging. What I'm saying that it seems like a testosterone-driven instinct: See skirt, buy drink.

I will give you guys some slack though. There really aren't a lot of great openers when it comes to talking to girls at a bar. I understand that offering to buy a drink can be the gentlemanly thing to do. (We can all agree that it's better than any "Is your father a thief?"/ "Do you have any German in you?"/ "Would you hold it against me?" line.)

Still, guys, it's hard to know what exactly is the point of buying drinks for women you don't know. Are you trying to get us to talk to you? To be your date for the night? Give you our number? Frankly, I don't really know what I'm supposed to do if I accept the drink. (I know, I don't have to do anything. I'm just considering a polite response to a polite gesture. So, for the record: Women are strong and capable, I can be anything I want to be, and The Vagina Monologues are awesome.)

Last weekend, I knew that my friends were clear across the bar and that was where I was headed after I got a drink. But when this guy ordered my drink with his, I felt like it would be rude to just dart away. 'Thanks a lot. . .Later, chump!' Most of my friends don't share this concern with me. Either they think that women should take advantage of this cultural standard -- more commonly stated, "Heck yeah! Free drinks!" -- or they feel that conversing with the guy after he buys you a drink, maybe having a dance or two, is the right thing to do.

Hmmm, money for your time. If one drink buys a few minutes, does several buy an hour? Maybe one drink for my name, three drinks for my number? Suddenly, it's all a little sketchy. (I hope I don't have to spell out what I'm getting at -- my brothers are going to read this article.)

It would be nice to think that guys love spending their money on random girls because it's just so fun. But realistically, there can be some underlying expectations and I don't really want to feel that I can be bought because there's a $3 drink special on Tuesdays.

No rant would be complete with exceptions. For example, friends buying each other drinks is totally acceptable. Boyfriends and girlfriends, please, throw caution to the wind and buy, buy, buy with affection. And if you meet someone at a bar and you're actually interested, then offering to buy drinks can be a sweet gesture. But let's not try to buy dates with half-price screwdrivers.

I understand that this whole drink issue is probably part of my personal, oddball sense of feminism -- in the same school of 'I don't need a man, but I can't kill a spider' and 'I'll insist on paying for myself, but you better offer, Buddy.'

So I definitely don't want to make guys out to be the . . . well, bad guys. We have to give credit to nice guys who choose old-fashioned chivalry over cheesy lines or groping. Because groping, well that's almost never pleasant.