fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2527 ]

[ SECRET POST #2527 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2527 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 042 secrets from Secret Submission Post #361.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
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aaaaa I am having a small freakout, FS please tell me whether I done wrong:

-My place of employment currently has invited a professional as a guest for a few days to see how we run things and as a foundation for a possible future business deal.

-I am one of two people on our staff that can speak his native language (although his English is VERY good). My job for yesterday and today essentially consisted of shepherding him from department to department and doing vocabulary spot checks.

-I was assigned to drive him back to his hotel and set him up for delivery instead of the dinner with my immediate supervisor that was scheduled for tonight because he was incredibly tired (jet lag + 7 hours of meetings). He insisted that I accompany him to dinner instead of doing delivery, and also that he pay for it.

I'm shit scared that my boss is going to come down on me like a sack of angry bricks for not somehow either a) talking him into eating alone in his hotel room with the same pizza we ended up eating anyway, or b) stealing the check, despite the fact that I'm younger, less senior, and he thinks I'm doing him a favor by playing "translator". I picked a cheapish (although not a dive) restaurant and one of the least expensive menu items, and we shared it anyway. FS, is there anything I could have done better here?

I think arguing with a guest is worse than letting him pay for your meal. I'm guessing he was grateful for you shepherding him around, and also viewed it as a favor to him that you accompanied him to dinner.

I am a little troubled that he wanted to have dinner with you instead of your supervisor, though...I'd just make sure to keep everything professional, and make sure someone else drives him back to the hotel in the future.

Especially if you're a girl.

This whole comment! I couldn't have said it better.

You did nothing wrong, and if your boss chews you out for it then they're an asshole.

Please do be careful though!

He's leaving tomorrow, although I do have to pick him up from his hotel in the morning. I also thought the argument would have been worse than the extra $7 he paid for my salad.

For the record, my super is female, but the big boss who set up the delivery thing is male, and I was not in the room at the time (grabbing my purse and computer). Everything I know about this arrangement is from the guest, so the actual instructions may also have been different than what I got.

I think tomorrow you ought to call in sick, let your boss deal with it himself.

If I call in sick tomorrow I had better be able to produce the hospital bill, because that's when all the business negotiation is going down. And since big boss has no confidence in the guy's English, I need to be there to translate. FML.

AYRT

I think you should call your super and let her know about it tonight. Someone else should pick him up tomorrow.

Nah, I'm okay picking him up. I never really got that vibe from him, and it's literally 5 minutes away from work and on a direct line between there and home. If they make me take him to the airport, though, we might be having words (and I'll blame it on the shitty weather being terrifying to drive in).

Re: ridiculous etiquette freakout

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-04 01:49 (UTC) - Expand

Have you talked to your super yet? If you're worried, even about it being an etiquette thing, you should definitely keep her informed.

I did that the second I got home, yes. Hopefully the worst I will get out of this is another "how real-world business deals work (for dummies and humanities majors)" talk.

This is exactly it. I think arguing with the guest would be worse.

I think you did fine. Especially since it seems to have come up suddenly.

I would maybe just send your boss an email first thing tomorrow summarizing what happened, and go "hey, I wasn't expecting to have to deal with this, what would be the approved course of action?" That way, your boss knows what happens, you're showing good faith of what to do, and it comes across as a lack of training on his part. If boss has an issue with paying, he can maybe offer some company gift worth about the same as the meal or something.

Also, I'm kind of skeeved at the idea of last-minute being asked for dinner by a client/visitor. That would not be okay with me.

Already sent that email, actually, because I didn't know if she still thought she was going to need to pick him up for dinner (visitor said that my super's boss was going to tell her, but who knows.) I know exactly how much dinner was, and I already know we're sending him off with some gifts because that's what we always do.

I just feel like there should have been some way to defuse the entire situation without me having to lie and say "o actually I have somewhere I really have to be in 10 minutes (and I hope to god you won't ask me about it tomorrow morning)." That might have been best, though.

As long as you didn't blind him with scalding coffee, I think you're OK.

Seriously, though, You're fine. Your company wants to do business with this guy, and fighting with him isn't a good way to do that. Something you might have done that could have eased your mind was to say you were going to call your boss to confirm that there was time for a meal then (and really, dude was probably hungry), step out of earshot and explain the situation before it happened.

As long as you didn't blind him with scalding coffee

Haha, is that a reference to that one thread from several months ago? I completely forgot about it.

I was literally at the door to my car, and had been told by proxy to facilitate getting him dinner before he presumably watches the news and goes to sleep in his mediocre hotel room (we do not have fancy hotels in this town; your choice is mediocre, bad, or truck stop.) There wasn't anywhere to leave him out of earshot that wasn't my car. And yeah, I figured it was better to be polite and let him feel like he's paid back some of the last two nights of paid dinners by my bosses.

They should understand that it's a cultural difference. I know in Korea it's customary for the older/more senior person to treat the younger, and the polite way to respond is to thank them profusely and eat well.

One thing that you might get away with, if you're worried you might seem to be taking advantage, is returning the favor. Bring the guest a good cup of coffee in the morning from Starbucks or something, things where you can pay when they're not there and if they protest you can say "I was so grateful to you for treating me to dinner that I wanted to get this for you."

I might run the coffee thing by my super if she replies to me, that sounds like it might work. Maybe better from my boss though, since they're more on the same age and income level; don't know if it would be embarrassing to accept even a small gift from me.

Yeah, you shoulda called in sick. Unless your job description specifically includes that sort of thing and it is a regular occurrence, then that is what suspiciously sudden bouts of stomach flu were made for. Never get involved in customer/boss politics in any way whatsoever.

Unless I could have blamed the stomach flu on the mint I ate half an hour earlier, that was not going to fly, because I had literally spent the previous 7 hours with the guy. I am also terrible at improvising urgent needs to feed the cat, wash my hair, make out with my never-before-mentioned-and-non-existent boyfriend, etc. Also by default involved with boss/client politics as the translator, it is literally my job to do so.

Then you need to get better at producing excuses not to be somewhere. Seriously, it is the single biggest business tool you'll ever have. If need be, visit the restroom and swallow a bit of the liquid soap. You'll be spewing your guts within fifteen minutes, and be okay fifteen minutes after that granted, but that fifteen minutes will look like you've got ebola. That should be your final saving throw though, find some less extreme excuses first.

Wow, there's trolling, and then there's trolling. I'm almost impressed.

Re: ridiculous etiquette freakout

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-04 05:13 (UTC) - Expand

False alarm, y'all. Thanks for all the advice.

:D!

I KNEW YOU DID GOOD!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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BOSS SAID IT'S COOL

Re: BOSS SAID IT'S COOL