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What Would You Do?
February 18th, 2009 | caitlin | Categories: Uncategorized
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Rock – Me – Hard place.

It’s a familiar situation for all of us. And usually we know what to do. It may not be the easiest choice to make or the most fashionable decision, but we always know what to do when stuck between a rock and a hard place. And here is one such situation. I’m giving it to you, so that you can tell me what you would do. Or just so that you can laugh at my predicament and leave the site feeling a little better about your life!

Situation:

I’ve been invited for lunch.

Big Deal? Not really.

I’ve been invited to lunch with a team of consultants that I work with, and the host of this lunch is the woman that signs our contract agreements.

Big deal yet? Not really.

Since it was her invitation, she chose the restaurant.

Is This a Big Deal Now? Getting closer.

She chose the most gluten free UNFRIENDLY restaurant in Calgary.

It’s now officially a big deal.

You see, in the world of consulting, it can be more about who you know than about what you know. Rubbing elbows, networking, and other slimmy used car salesman behavior is a must sometimes. And sometimes that means the practice of mimicking.

An example of mimicking: When you go for “lunch” with a potential employer and they suggest you go for sushi – you GO for sushi, and while you’re there you pretend that you LOVE raw fish dipped in fish sauce that is then wrapped in more raw fish. For that one hour you think raw fish is the new black. Why? Because they do, and you want them to sign on the dotted line. Even if you’re a vegetarian – for that one hour you become a Fish-a-tarian. (Fish-a-tarian: a person who is almost vegetarian but eats fish – no red meat or poultry. Similar to a Poul-a-tarian who is almost a vegetarian but eats chicken and turkey.)

I digress

Anyhow, this is one of those lunches. This woman has held our contracts for months and is now requesting that we all go for lunch to hug it out and pretend like we are not in a recession and we aren’t all thinking of the fastest way to sell our mothers up the stream for the next best position! Yes people – I said it. We consultants are a bunch of over paid overachievers that will throw you under the bus for some more billable hours! Ha, and we have some wicked tax write offs that you don’t!

I digress again.

Anyhow, my situation boils down to this. Lunch is not optional. Must go, must schmooze, must play by rules. Will not be able to eat. Thus I stand out as the girl that goes but cannot participate.

So what do I do? Call ahead and ask what they may have that is GF? Did that. And in the woman’s broken English she explained to me three dishes – all which contained gluten. I think she thought I had a peanut allergy or something. Suggest a venue change? Nope, the email notifications went out to an entire team, all of which have replied. Unfortunately, I am not a big enough deal to demand that treatment. Go, and just don’t eat? You know it will become a topic of conversation. So what do I do? I already know how I am going to handle this – but I want to hear from you. Maybe you have experience in situations like this that I don’t. Maybe you know something that can help me make the best choice. MAYBE, you were in this situation and failed and we can all laugh at you then learn from you.

Ready? Go.

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