# Did you ever have the boss over for dinner? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388 "2016-04-06T21:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/21 "2016-04-07T03:18:22Z")
No, I don’t think that’s really done in this day and age. At least not in the 1950s style of bringing the boss to your house while your wife cooks dinner. That said, working in consulting, the line between work and personal life tends to blur a bit. I hang out socially with people who are/were my “boss” or who I am their “boss”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/22 "2016-04-07T03:26:30Z")
I did that in the military. I invited my Master Chief over. That was the memorable dinner when my daughter told him that the difference between an octopus and a squid was that a squid has more testicles. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/23 "2016-04-07T17:45:10Z")
Early in my career, I once had my boss over for sex. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/24 "2016-04-07T19:01:26Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Yes. A salesman came around and pitched us what he called “waterless cooking” and said he would cook a meal for us to demonstrate his wares. So I accepted, and invited my boss over for dinner – it was one of those ‘nothing to lose’ situations. Nothing could go wrong – at least, nothing he could blame me or my wife for. What was the thought process here? I wouldn’t accept a meal from a door-to-door salesman, let alone subjecting my boss to it too. Did you warn your boss beforehand that he was taking part in a product demonstration from someone possibly selling snake oil, instead of being invited over for a bit of hospitality? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/25 "2016-04-07T20:09:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I did that in the military. I invited my Master Chief over. That was the memorable dinner when my daughter told him that the difference between an octopus and a squid was that a squid has more testicles. Weird how that works out in military “invite boss over” settings, eh? My dad loves telling us how my sister (3 years old at the time) called his boss the “cheap monster sergeant\*” at the only such dinner I recall. \*I’m pretty sure she meant “[Chief Master Sergeant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_master_sergeant)”, since that’s what he was. But from other tales Dad tells, my sister may have been literally right. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/26 "2016-04-07T20:19:37Z")
Yes, and I buried the remains under the patio. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/27 "2016-04-07T20:49:03Z")
Problem is, what do you talk about? Certainly not work. You would have to have outside interests. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/28 "2016-04-07T20:55:07Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > What was the thought process here? I wouldn’t accept a meal from a door-to-door salesman, let alone subjecting my boss to it too. > > Did you warn your boss beforehand that he was taking part in a product demonstration from someone possibly selling snake oil, instead of being invited over for a bit of hospitality? This is a legitimate enterprise. One of them had a booth at the garden show in my town last weekend. Years ago, I had a co-worker who took advantage of the free meal, and actually considered buying some of the cookware but decided it wasn’t worth it (it was VERY expensive). ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/29 "2016-04-07T21:00:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This is a legitimate enterprise. One of them had a booth at the garden show in my town last weekend. Years ago, I had a co-worker who took advantage of the free meal, and actually considered buying some of the cookware but decided it wasn’t worth it (it was VERY expensive). OK, so it’s a legitimate product. Still seems like inviting your boss over for dinner and throwing a Tupperware party instead. Maybe I just have a different sense of hospitality, but I see a lot of light between: “C’mon over after work, bring the wife, we’ll have some steaks and kick off our shoes on the patio.” and “C’mon over after work, bring the wife, a door-to-door salesman is going to make dinner and then try to sell us stuff.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/30 "2016-04-07T21:53:22Z")
No. But I invited him to my wedding. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/31 "2016-04-07T23:07:17Z")
At a previous job, it was the other way around: I went to my boss’s house for dinner many times. She liked to throw dinner parties. I actually got along very well with her on a social level; she and her husband were even invited to my wedding. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388/32 "2016-04-07T23:20:27Z")
I’ve been to my uber-boss’s house for dinner a few times, either Thanksgiving or Christmas. But we’re friends outside of work, I’ve helped her with horse stuff before, and since I’m single, she always wants to make sure I have somewhere to go for the holidays. StG [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-have-the-boss-over-for-dinner/751388.md?page=1)