Conspicuous Consumption
One of the side benefits to corporate schmoozing is corporate schmoozing dining. When the client knows you have a travel and entertainment budget, the client will make you use it. So we were at a rather high end steak house for dinner tonight.
I think my Filet was $39, and my salad was $8, and my dessert was $8, and my sides were maybe $12, and the appetizers were probably another $10, and the wine had to put another $15 on the tab. For 15 people, I'd not be surprised if the total tab was close to $2000.
Now don't get me wrong, the food was all very very good. But I really didn't want 3/4 of a pound of beef. But that was my smallest option. The beefsteak tomato salad with real blue cheese was not quite an $8 tomato, but perhaps a $5 tomato. Damn good tomato.
But I'd normally not eat at such a place unless it was a special romantic occasion. So eating there with strangers was just odd. The clients are guys who like to talk sports and gambling. Not quite my peeps. But I've made a conscious choice this trip to choose to enjoy things. I ate an insane amount of food tonight, felt a little guilty indulging so, but what else could I do?
I was reminded of comments an anthropologist friend made, though. Asking why the work the mechanic does isn't valued as highly as the work I do. One could make some economic arguments, but on nights like this, I think it's a fair question: White collar folk, having access to and control of corporate resources, can give themselves a comfy life via the company resources. Look at the Tyco dudes. And because one is the gatekeeper for signing seven figure checks, one gets wooed with part of the wooer's potential proceeds from that seven figure check one can write.
I like challenging work. But I'm still uncomfortable in posh circumstances. They feel wrong to me. I didn't need a $100 dinner.
And now I must sit at my computer at 11PM in my hotel room and modify my presentation for tomorrow.
The mechanic is probably having a nice romp with his wife after time with his kids.
This is why I get paid more, I guess. I sleep in not my bed and don't get to row.
I think my Filet was $39, and my salad was $8, and my dessert was $8, and my sides were maybe $12, and the appetizers were probably another $10, and the wine had to put another $15 on the tab. For 15 people, I'd not be surprised if the total tab was close to $2000.
Now don't get me wrong, the food was all very very good. But I really didn't want 3/4 of a pound of beef. But that was my smallest option. The beefsteak tomato salad with real blue cheese was not quite an $8 tomato, but perhaps a $5 tomato. Damn good tomato.
But I'd normally not eat at such a place unless it was a special romantic occasion. So eating there with strangers was just odd. The clients are guys who like to talk sports and gambling. Not quite my peeps. But I've made a conscious choice this trip to choose to enjoy things. I ate an insane amount of food tonight, felt a little guilty indulging so, but what else could I do?
I was reminded of comments an anthropologist friend made, though. Asking why the work the mechanic does isn't valued as highly as the work I do. One could make some economic arguments, but on nights like this, I think it's a fair question: White collar folk, having access to and control of corporate resources, can give themselves a comfy life via the company resources. Look at the Tyco dudes. And because one is the gatekeeper for signing seven figure checks, one gets wooed with part of the wooer's potential proceeds from that seven figure check one can write.
I like challenging work. But I'm still uncomfortable in posh circumstances. They feel wrong to me. I didn't need a $100 dinner.
And now I must sit at my computer at 11PM in my hotel room and modify my presentation for tomorrow.
The mechanic is probably having a nice romp with his wife after time with his kids.
This is why I get paid more, I guess. I sleep in not my bed and don't get to row.
posted by Kenneth at 7:40 PM
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