Thu, Dec 18, 2014 What Did Marilyn Monroe Wear When Traveling With Her Boss?

Not the same thing you would wear when traveling with your boss—that’s for sure! So, is there actually such a thing as etiquette when traveling with your boss— and guidelines on what to wear? Indeed! One man taking his first ever business trip found out the hard way. Here are some tips to follow that will keep you in the comfort zone and make you shine like the professional that you are when traveling with the Big Kahuna!

• Don’t risk wearing comfy workout clothes on a flight when your boss might show up in a suit. Always dress in business attire when traveling for business. Better to be over dressed than under dressed and embarrassed.
• Don’t sit with your boss on a long flight. Informal chatting during a long flight can lead to getting too comfortable with your boss, which is never a good idea. Give each other space on the flight to keep the relationship professional.
• Don’t be late for flight check-in. Does this even need to be said? Being late is rude to the person waiting for you, not to mention that it can cause you to miss your flight. Missing your flight can lead to a whole array of things – none of which are good. Check traffic conditions and leave in plenty of time to check in early. You’ll be there to greet your boss when he/she arrives.
• Do be prepared with meeting times, locations and names/mobile numbers of meeting attendees. Your boss might be counting on you to have that information at your fingertips.
• Do check prior to the trip to make sure that both you and your boss have hotel reservations.
• Do wear business attire for business meetings, unless the company where you are having the meeting informs you and your boss that the dress is casual. Then it’s perfectly acceptable. Just be sure you both sync-up – either casual or in business attire.
• Do let your boss pick up the client dinner tab for two reasons: 1) The most senior person at the table should pick up the tab for expense report control (and I don’t mean senior, as in age!); 2) If your boss is using a cool expense management service like Chrome River EXPENSE, they can pull out their iPhone, ‘Snap and Send’ a picture of the dinner receipt to chrome River, and toss away the receipt instead of wadding it up in a wallet.

Do you have or know of any funny, unusual or embarrassing business trip stories that you’d like to share so we can all learn from them?