Business Lunch Anxiety: I'm a Slob!

My greatest weakness as a business woman: dining etiquette.

The problem isn't that I don't know what's expected...it's more my inability to live up to those expectations. I splatter pasta sauce. I dribble when drinking. I drop crumbs when eating cookies. I'm not a complete disaster...but I don't exactly impress either.

So today I had lunch with one of our company's VPs. No warning, no time to plan. He walked over to my desk around 11:30 and asked me if I had time to go over some sales figures from our department.

I said, "Sure. I'm wide open today."

He said, "Great! Let's do it over lunch. Meet me in reception in 10 minutes."

What? Lunch? Just me and Don?

1. I tend to be on the shy side, and I don't know him very well. What in the world are we going to talk about on the way there? And for our pre-business chatter?
2. Where are we going to eat? What's the least sloppy item I could possibly order?
3. How much will I be looked down upon once my lack of grace is exposed?

Fortunately, the small talk portion of the experience went well. Don had recently returned from a business trip, so he had some interesting stories to share. Whew!

I managed to find something neat to order too...so things started out well. But then a mistake was made...

I had ordered a meal that was supposed to come with a side of fries. I know that for a fact, because I was asked whether I would like regular or criss-cross fries (I chose criss-cross). Don wasn't paying attention at the time. So here's the thing - the fries never came.

Initially, when the rest of the meal was brought over, I thought maybe the fries would come separately. I waited...waited...nope. So then I debated...

Do I ask for the fries?

- If I do, Don's going to wonder what the hell took me so long to bring it up. He was nearly done with his meal. I didn't want to hold us up with my need for fries.

- If I don't, and he notices, he'll think that I'm too chicken to speak up (OK, so maybe that's partially true, but that's not the image I want to convey to this guy!). That might lead him to question my abilities as a leader.

- If I don't, and he doesn't notice, he might notice that I didn't end up eating much for lunch. Then he'll assume that I'm on a diet just like all the other women in the office (which I'm not), and that I stay slim by eating like a bird (which isn't true either...I exercise a lot. So I'm toned, not scrawny. That's right.).

In the end, I didn't bring it up. I don't know whether Don noticed anything. Probably not. I probably shouldn't even think about it anymore...but I can't help it...