The Business Lunch

On my first day as a summer associate at my law firm in 1999, my mentor took me out to lunch and we each had a beer. Apart from some celebratory lunches following cases that had been won in the morning (and no work was expected in the afternoon), that was the last time I had alcohol at lunch on a work day until I arrived in France.


On my first day at the office here, I immediately noticed that the client's cafeteria serves beer and wine at lunch. I rarely see anyone drinking there at lunch, but if you are out at a restaurant on a business lunch, it is de rigueur. This is what usually happens when my client and I are out to lunch before an afternoon meeting outside the office:


Him (to the waiter): "2 glasses of champagne, please."


Me (internal monologue): Champagne? Why are we celebrating? We haven't had the meeting yet.


Him (to me): "Do you want wine?"


Me: "This is going to be an important meeting, but, OK, I can have a glass."


Him (to the waiter): "We will have a bottle of ..."


It doesn't matter where we are -- recently we were at a pub in London and to celebrate a positive development, he ordered champagne.

Once, I committed a faux pas by turning down the champagne before lunch, already knowing that we would be splitting a bottle of wine during the meal and thinking of all that had to be accomplished that afternoon.


I have to admit, though, that nothing terrible has yet happened after one of these lunches, but I do not think this is a custom I will bring home with me.