I have a guy flying in from Palo Alto to give me a final interview/negotiate terms (more the latter, some of the former). He asked me to make reservations to a “nice restaurant” (his wording) which I did.
My question: Who pays?
My instinct says that he does, but I want to be sure by getting some opinions around here.
Goodness, I would hope he does. Outside of the fact that you’re the candidate, he’s the one who suggested the dinner.
He is flying to meet you? You must be in demand.
He should, but pack plastic in case he is socially stunned.
There’s an interviewer trick in the book about this. He might arrange for the server to give you the check. If you fold and pay it, you have no backbone, yadda yadda yadda. The correct thing to do is to wait him out on it. Just ignore it until he picks it up. I guess it shows class or something. As you might be able to tell, I don’t put much stock in interview gimmicks like this. I’ll salt my potatoes without tasting them first if I damn well please!
In this situation, I would ask “what is your corporate policy on hospitality?”
That puts the ball in his court - it makes it difficult for him to say “if you want to work for my comapny, you have buy me dinner”
Good luck with the interview!
And the advice to pack plastic just in case is good.
He pays absolutely. I like Tapioca Dextrin’s suggestion of asking him upfront just in case he tries to pull a fast one. If he does, or tries some dumb ass “test” to see if you pick up the check, you don’t want to work for those kind of assholes anyway. I really can’t imagine any recruiter not paying for dinner. What sort of job is it?
oh gosh! if he doesn’t pay for dinner, I don’t think it’s a company you want to work for. If that’s how they would treat the people they’re trying to woo, imagine how they’d treat you once you joined the team!
Yes, it’s a four-part test, of ethics, judgement, research, and backbone.
Ethics: checking corporate policy.
Judgement: judging the correct level of restaurant.
Backbone: who picks up the cheque.
Research: You also need to ask him about any special dietary requirements. Don’t ask a vegetarian to a meal at an Argentine Steak House.
I’ve done “Research” by asking what cuisine he prefers. Fortunately he’s a meat 'n potato guy, so I’m taking him to Fleming’s Steak House. His secretary said it sounded “right up his alley” (I even read the wine list to her as Mr. Interviewer apparently has a preference for red wine).
I have no doubt that he will. I’m sure he is on an expense account.
Ring the restaurant in advance and pay them far more than you could possibly spend for the meal. Make it plain that you don’t want to receive a bill. You will merely nod at people as you leave and sort it out later.
Let him work out what that means.
I think he should pay. Afterall, it will just be on a business credit card anyway. I’d take some cash or a card just in case. If he doesn’t pick up the bill when it arrives, I’d suggest offering to split it.
Absolutely. Under no condition should you pay.
That said, a co-worker of mine was invited out to lunch by a potential vendor. They sat and chatted for about an hour, then the check arrived. The vendor made no move toward it. After another 30 minutes or so, my co-worker ended up picking up the check because he had to get back to work. The vendor thanked him for lunch. Apparently, this vendor is incredibly intelligent, but has absolutely NO social skills, and it probably never occurred to him that he was supposed to pay for lunch. Needless to say…we didn’t purchase his product. (I did tell my friend he should have just thanked the vendor for lunch and left the check there, but he’s one that doesn’t really like confrontation.)
Wow, no one can be THAT socially inept! If this happened to me, I would be sure that the guy was pulling a fast one, and it was either company policy or his particular policy to scam potential clients out of meals.
Apparently, this guy was. He was an odd duck, a genius when it came to computer systems…but knowing which fork to use with a salad? Beyond his grasp.
I would have picked up the check, plopped it down in front of him, thanked him for lunch, and walked out.
Bullshit. The only test of a lunch interview is to see if you can hold a conversation while eating.
Under no circumstances should you pick up any portion of the check. If they are interviewing you, THEY pick up the check. End of discussion.
To add insult to injury…my friend, who is director level…came in on his day off to meet with this vendor. :eek:
I think, after 30 minutes, the phrase your friend should have employed was “So shall we split this check?” That lets the other person know you are NOT paying for their lunch, and gives them the opportunity to treat if they want to.
As far as the interview goes: I would assume the interviewer was paying but I’d bring a card just in case. If he did not make a move to pick up the tab in a reasonable time, I would ask about splitting it. Under no circumstances would I buy lunch for a guy whose interviewing me for a job.
This is so open-and-shut that I probably would not even bother to make sure I had money. Of course, you should just because you should always have money with you, since your car could break down or something. But I have never ever heard of an interviewer not picking up a check. The fact that he told you to pick a “nice place” also is another indicator that he is for sure picking it up. Under no circumstances whatsoever would I pay for his, let alone my, meal in a situation like this.