Hey everyone,
Thanks a lot for the advice you have given me thus far. It has been very helpful this summer.
I will be meeting some FT people (junior bankers) next week. I had a few questions about proper in-person networking etiquette:
1. Should I take the initiative and pay the bill, or should I let him/her pick up the tab?
2. How many drinks max is appropriate if we're meeting at a bar?
Thanks in advance,
Opp
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They're almost certainly going to pick up the tab. It will be a cold day in hell before a college kid pays for drinks if I'm inviting them out.
This is a suprisingly good question. How well do you know them?
I think I end up paying for it about 25% of the time. Just saying.
Blacking out at a networking opportunity
TFM
In all seriousness, I would personally offer to pay the bill (as long as it is not extremely high)
Definitely offer, but I would say with 99% certainty that they will pay (unless they are sadists) - I am sure the gesture is well worth the risk adjusted cost of the offer.
Drink as many as they do, assuming you can handle some level of alcohol and they are not Andre the Giant.
You should expect to pay unless they explicitly stop you and pay themselves - after all you are benefiting from the meeting, not them. That said, most of them will pay because they will be uncomfortable having a college kid pay for them.
As for drinks, I recommend a 1:2 ratio - up to the point just before you have a little buzz going, i.e. you should have 1 drink for every 2 drinks they have. That way you show that you within range to be sociable with them and still not make them feel awkward for drinking too much (they might just have had a rough day).
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