Dining
Since you will be on the road, you will be dining out. A lot. I’ve tried to get creative about bringing granola bars and other dry snacks with me on the road but most of the meals you eat will be at franchises and restaurants. The cost you incur by eating out can get high, but since you are traveling for work, all of your meals will be reimbursed. Each city you are staying in will have a different rate per diem (latin for “per day”) for how much you can spend on food daily. Although it may feel nice to burn through that entire dollar amount, you do not necessarily need to if you are concerned about your health or waistline. Some clients will consider your per diem as a “use it or lose it” policy so if you were given sixty dollars a day, and you only used forty dollars that day on meals, then that was the end of that. Other clients will consider the per diem as the default amount you get that day. So, if you were given sixty dollars a day, and you only used forty dollars that day on meals, you can still expense the full sixty dollars and earn an extra twenty dollars untaxed for every day you were on the road. Be sure to verify with your project director before you complete your expense report for the month on what the policy in place is.
Eating out at restaurants usually comes with larger food portions than what is considered a normal healthy portion. Try to cut your meal in half if you can. It may seem wasteful since most hotels will not have a fridge to take the second half home. Even if it does, it can be difficult to take leftovers to a client on the road that may not have a microwave.
When you dine with clients, be sure you always pick up the tab. Even though you may be charging the amount right back to them in the end, it is still one of the major rules of consulting that a client should never pay for a meal. Try not to order the most expensive steak on the menu either, even if you see the client splurging a bit. Even though he may recognize the cost is not coming out of his pocket, it is coming from the company he represents and seeing you act carelessly outside the client office will reflect on your perception at the client office.
If you are out to dinner with your team and the client is not around, feel free to kick back a little. Traveling is hard and can be stressful. Dinner after long hours is a good time to relax and take a break from the work. It’s not unusual to head back to the hotel after dinner and do some more work, so give yourself the hour at dinner to watch the game or catch up with your coworkers socially, you deserve it.
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