“Be generous as long as it doesn’t cost you very much.” – Archie Bunker

Archie would be proud of you Bing.

Bing,

Obviously your cohorts have not read any of your books or read your blog.

Just be glad y’all still have the “E” in T&E. For us, if it isn’t “T”, it isn’t justifiable any more.

Why don’t you just split the check? Why is everybody always so concerned that splitting a check is wrong? It is really easier for everybody, except the restaurant. Nobody ever gets screwed and pays only for expensive meals that way.

Expense accounts are responsible for more boring or uncomfortable lunches/dinners/sporting events than all the inlaws in the world combined.

Too bad those meetings are still essential. The guys from Twitter or Google need to work on something to make business entertaining obsolete: I would immediately subscribe at almost any price.

T&E is important. You can build relationships that will last longer than the recession. So, even if sometimes it means that a manager should pay out of pocket I think it is worth it (especially it is not that much, and if a person can afford it).
It’s too late to build a network, when you need one. And Good knows we all do need networks in this crazy times.
Just my two cents.

Treating people to breakfast–a cheap way to look good! (I do it all the time….)

I’m taking my department out for breakfast tomorrow…Only 5 of us it should be good… GO TEAM!!!! Definitely cheaper than lunch or dinner… these guys hunt the largest steak combo and go for it.

Count your blessings, Bing. Your breakfast joint is open. Ours down the street is closed this week for a vacation.

Just the thought of eating my own cooking is scary.

T&E enables a masquerade to embellish relationships, by subtle means, to consumate purchase agreements–risky or other.

Mfg. companies continue to phase out T&E. Has T&E possibly reached the antiquated phase?

MacDonalds or Starbucks drive thru gets the caffeine lift one might seek.

Now you must write about check splitters. Those subtypes who always seem to end up paying on their card (everyone else has given cash) and gets shorted. The one person who mooches alcohol from someone else’s tab. The person who simply will not pay more and figures the tax on a bread roll. The profiter, who grabs the check, roll calls, and rounds way up till their meal is covered.

Yes, Laurel. I think a word about check splitters is in order. In the new operating environment, there is nothing wrong with the practice per se. It’s what happens when a certain kind of splitting takes place that’s deplorable. I have never been able to stand people who, when the bill comes, say, “Now… who had the fish?” My mom always did this, actually, and it always horrified me. She’d say, “I didn’t have all those desserts and appetizers!” and plump down a $20 bill no matter what the end tab might have been. In a old-world social context, coming from a cute little old lady, it was just passably eccentric. But in a contemporary social or business venue, it makes me want to pay for the whole thing just for the pleasure of telling the person to shut up. I had a friend once who, in the end, made it impossible for people to go out to dinner with him because when the check came he parsed it out to the last sprig. Bottom line: If you’re going to split the check, split it equally no matter what the other guys had. You all shared a meal. You enjoyed it equally — or not. Divide it with that as your guiding assumption.

Some fun memories: Everyone orders (expensive) wine and enjoys it. Then, two or three people at the table say their company does not cover wine, so they will only pay for food. Nice move. A very enjoyable experience – I once even inquired if they remembered the company policy BEFORE ordering. Enjoyable awckward moment.

Yes, split equally if you split.

There are times when I seriously want to pick up the check. This is usually with certain family members who always fight for the check and never let anyone else pay. The same thing can happen in business when you don’t want an inappropriate person to end up paying. Here’s what I do.

I carefully take out my credit card during the meal when the server returns to fill glasses and silently slip it to them behind the back, under the table, tap on the leg, however.

When the meal is over the and we are ready for the check, it comes straight to me and I proceed to sign the receipt. Protests are ineffective and become graciously accepted thanks.

so mike, you doing anything around seven-thirty tomorrow night?

You say “split the check evenly”. Why would you even have to do this? The waiter knows who ordered what. Every restaurant I go to will always split the check into separate checks of what each person orders. Everybody I eat with pays with their own card and pays for exactly what they ordered without any thought about it at our table, only work for the waiter in remembering what you ordered. Most restaurant systems enter order by table AND seat number anyway, so even the waiter doesn’t have to think at the end.

Does Wall Street have no values or morals, when I continue to hear about magnums of vintage wine and champangne ordered for one or more than $2000.00 a bottle. While stockholders are holding down their expenses, the banks and investment organizations have gone back to spending like no tomorrow. Please.