Business Etiquette: Who Should Pick Up the Check?
No matter who you are or what you do for a living, this is one dilemma you’re going to face again and again.
It happens all the time. You’re having dinner or lunch with people you work with. Everything’s fine until the check comes. Then what? Who picks up the tab?
Best case, it’s an awkward moment. Worst case, your thoughtlessness or ad-hoc solution to the dilemma can create a rift in a business relationship.
You may think it’s silly or unprofessional to make a big deal out of something as trivial as a few bucks. I couldn’t agree more. But people do. Some even keep track of who buys and who doesn’t.
Affordable Care Act Law Gets One-Year Reprieve Before Enactment
The Affordable Care Act that was to become effective in January 2014 has been pushed back to a January 1, 2015 deadline. In short, the delay buys employers with 50 or more employees an additional year before they must offer medical coverage to their workers or pay a fine.
The original law that was passed in 2010 required employers with more than 50 employees working 30 or more hours a week to offer suitable health coverage or be penalized by a fine. With the 2014 mandate rapidly approaching, businesses made their voices heard that they needed more time to understand how to comply with new rules written since the plan became law.
Despite the postponement, President Barack Obama’s health care law remains intact with the requirement that individuals get insurance and the subsidies be available to help them pay for it.
AEG Gets Contract To Oversee Los Angeles Convention Center
For the first time in its 42 years of operation, the city-run Los Angeles Convention Center will transfer to private management under a pact approved by the City Council.
In awarding a contract to Anschutz Entertainment Group, the council overruled objections by local hoteliers who said AEG would have an unfair advantage filling its hotel rooms while booking conventions.
AEG owns the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotel complex adjacent to its L.A. Live and Staples Center properties in downtown Los Angeles. But council members, after questioning city Chief Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, unanimously voted in favor of the contract.
Tulsa Convention Center Now the Cox Business Center
The Tulsa Convention Center is now the Cox Business Center after the company, SMG and the City of Tulsa jointly announced a long-term naming rights partnership.
The facility is currently home to Tulsa Project Theatre, Tulsa Revolution and the Oklahoma Defenders. It regularly hosts a variety of conventions, meetings, galas, concerts and other world-class events, attracting more than a quarter of a million guests annually.
“Today we celebrate more than just a new name for the Tulsa Convention Center, but a new era for the convention center and the BOK Center,” said John Bowen, market vice president for Cox Communications. “With the Cox Business brand comes the most innovative cable and broadband technology, greater broadcasting ability and new opportunities to attract conventions, regional and national events to our city.”
Green Tips: Fair Trade Supply Chain
Fair Trade is a system of exchange that honors producers, communities, consumers, and the environment. It is considered as an organized social movement that aims to help producers in developing countries to make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. It advocates the payment of a higher price to exporters as well as higher social and environmental standards. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers, and gold.