It is not at all rude, at a business lunch, to say “Oh, thank you!” when someone says they will pay for lunch. Especially if you are a founder of a small company and meeting with people at more established companies who will likely be able to expense the meal. Those people don’t care, because it’s not their money.
If you are meeting with people in a similar position (fellow founders), you can just ask to split which people will either accept or they will offer to pay, in which case see above.
If you are meeting with casual acquaintances, you can also say “Split the check?” and it’s totally fine.
The weirdness points of adding that to your e-mail and including a link to this post is far greater than saying “Thank you” when someone else offers to pay, so carefully consider if it’s worth spending them this way.
Thanks for the reply! I don’t mind letting people pay if they genuinely want to and our in a better position to. The problem is that in many instances there does seem to be a signaling game like there is in Chinese culture with refusing gifts at first, where just accepting without protesting is considered rude.
It is not at all rude, at a business lunch, to say “Oh, thank you!” when someone says they will pay for lunch. Especially if you are a founder of a small company and meeting with people at more established companies who will likely be able to expense the meal. Those people don’t care, because it’s not their money.
If you are meeting with people in a similar position (fellow founders), you can just ask to split which people will either accept or they will offer to pay, in which case see above.
If you are meeting with casual acquaintances, you can also say “Split the check?” and it’s totally fine.
The weirdness points of adding that to your e-mail and including a link to this post is far greater than saying “Thank you” when someone else offers to pay, so carefully consider if it’s worth spending them this way.
Thanks for the reply! I don’t mind letting people pay if they genuinely want to and our in a better position to. The problem is that in many instances there does seem to be a signaling game like there is in Chinese culture with refusing gifts at first, where just accepting without protesting is considered rude.