If you are at a business event, dining with a client, with business associates, or if your boss is footing the bill, then eating is the second (or third) purpose of the meal. You are there to do business. The meal is merely the tool you are using to develop the relationship. In these cases, it is poor etiquette (and bad business strategy) to do anything that detracts from the business at hand.
That would include poring over the menu while ignoring your guests, quizzing the wait staff about ingredients of a dish, ordering anything complicated or disruptive, ordering dessert if the timeframe doesn’t allow for it, bringing your own condiments and, unfortunately, requesting a doggie bag.
You need to project power and authority, and there is something vaguely weak and humiliating about doing any of the above, especially taking a little doggy bag home from a restaurant. You’re there for business. You shouldn’t be concentrating on your food.
Good manners must be learned and practiced to succeed in the world. Repeating an action often enough makes the action becomes automatic and helps you feel confident. Continually work on your business etiquette skills and you will be better able to focus on business without worrying about saying the wrong thing or making the wrong gesture.
The objective is to be gracious and make people feel comfortable in our presence.
Two Basis Things to Remember:
Understand your role – Guest or Host - understand what is expected of you.
It is not about the food but about building relationships.
“Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people’s bad manners.”
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Ellen Reddick, is a consultant, writer, and former senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry. She is the owner & managing partner of Impact Factory Utah
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