Chapter 7. Business protocol. The business breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Text: Accepting or cancelling.

Any meeting arrangement implies a promise to another person that you will appear at the agreed upon time and place. For breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings, there may be other people involved for whom your presence is considered essential, whether that means other participants or even the restaurant that has reserved space for you and your party. Furthermore, the persons with whom you have agreed to meet have blocked out time in their busy calendars to be able to have this meeting with you. Once you accept an invitation for a meeting or your invitation is accepted – you and the other participants are obligated to follow through on this business function. Terms that should be agreed upon include the “who where and when” of the meeting. If you are under the impression you will be having a private breakfast meeting and one of your guests informs you that he is going to bring his secretary, you can decide if this meeting is in your best interests and if you have to follow through on it. If you have to cancel, do it as soon as you realize you have a conflict that prevents you from keeping your appointment. A reason for your decline is unnecessary, but if you want to provide a reason, make it believable without being so detailed as to be inappropriate. Try to be tactful when providing reasons, so that the person you are cancelling with, does not feel less important than your new commitment (обязательство). To offset the disappointment of cancelling, try to reschedule (назначить на другое число) immediately for another time and date. Apologize profusely ([ ] обильно, щедро) for cancelling, since you do not want to get a reputation for being unreliable.

Working on the text:

1. Translate the collocations in bold into Russian according to the context.

2. Give the definitions to the collocations you have translated.

For example: “implies a promise” is the same that supposes, includes, means… Write them down filling in the blanks of the following table:

A collocation in bold from the text	Translation according to the context	Equivalent expression or definition in English
Implies a promise
Reserved space
Your presence is considered essential
at the agreed upon time and place
Have blocked out time in their busy calendars
Are obliged to follow through on this business function.
Have to cancel
A reason for your decline
To provide believable reasons
To be tactful
Less important than your new commitment
To offset the disappointment of cancelling
To apologize profusely
to get a reputation for being unreliable.

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