Dinner out with business associates, potential clients and
co-workers is quite common in the corporate world. In fact, extending an invite
to the persons spouse is also normal. I was
shocked when a candidate who was going to become a potential manager/partner,
in the interview process and close to an offer, got offended by our client asking
if he and his spouse would like to, “Go to dinner?”
He acted indignant and shocked. I was told it was
inappropriate and asked, “Is my spouse interviewing for the job?” No it was
just dinner and then it got WEIRD. Really WEIRD.
My client was just extending a friendly offer for them to
all get to know each other better. It was a small firm and they get together often.
It had nothing to do with the spouse’s
race, sex, education, looks, gender, interviewing the spouse, etc. It was just
dinner. A basic civil small talk dinner to meet and see if a future partnership
could be made. Dinner.
The offer was pulled, the hope of a new
employee was smashed and I was relieved. Can you imagine the dinner
conversation had they met?
