How to Interact With Your Boss at Lunch

Interacting with your boss at lunch is no different than in the office.

Ordering a triple shot of Patron is typically not something your boss finds acceptable while you are lunching together. While your relationship at the office is a professional working relationship, the vast majority of employers expect the same from employees during business lunches. Maintaining a professional, appropriate attitude and practicing office-appropriate behavior is a must during lunch with your boss. Granted, you are not in the office and lunch is a slightly more relaxed setting, but you must maintain your professional demeanor when interacting with your boss.

Instructions

1. Stay professional. Even when you feel things starting to relax and feel like a friendship is beginning during lunch, it is important to remain aware of everything you say or do. Never say anything you at lunch you wouldn’t say at the office.

2. Order food that is not too messy and not too expensive; remain conscious of what you order. Your food should allow you to eat and be able to carry on a conversation at the same time, and because your boss is most likely picking up the check, you should keep price in mind. You don’t have to order water and a side salad but you definitely shouldn’t order the double lobster tails.

3. Relax. Be comfortable at lunch; do not fidget or act nervous. Lunch with your boss is not a job interview, it is lunch.

4. Follow your boss’s lead. If he wants to talk business, talk business; offer professional opinions and ideas and show your boss that your job is important to you by paying attention to what he says. If your boss wants to take the conversation on a more personal note, feel free to share appropriate stories, such as stories about your children, your wife, vacations you’ve taken and ask personal but appropriate questions of your boss to show you are interested in him and not self-centered.

5. Refrain from complaining about your personal problems, gossiping about coworkers or talking about anything negative.

6. Thank your boss for lunch upon exiting the restaurant. Manners are a tell-tale sign of class.

References

• Think Intern: 8 Tips for Lunch with your Boss
• Forbes: The Boss and You