Jordan: Prosperous Entertaining - Part 2

From ExecutivePlanet.com

Practical details, venues, accepting and declining

OK, let's put some practical details into the picture.

Meal Times

Morning Coffee: usually a cup of sweet thick coffee, perhaps with bread, at about 10:00 am.

Breakfast: often eaten around 11:00 am or noon.

Lunch: usually eaten at around 3:00 pm. For many businessmen, this meal is eaten regularly at a restaurant; for others, this meal is eaten at home followed by a short rest period. It may be a full meal or just sandwiches. This is often the main meal of the day.

Evening Meal: usually eaten at around 8:00 pm or as late as 10:00 pm. This meal is normally eaten at home. This is the normal time for entertaining either in a home or a restaurant.

Popular Entertaining Venues

For Business Lunches:

Expensive: Hotel Restaurants such as the Marriot, Royal, Plaza, or other 5 star hotels

Normal: Businessmen's restaurants of which there are many in every part of every city

For Evening Entertaining:

Consider any of the specialty restaurants such as 'Seven Pines' or 'Kan Zaman.' These are a unique experience--a mix of tradition and modern with excellent service and a healthy price tag.

Accepting and Declining

In traditional Jordanian etiquette for invitations there is a rule of three; an invitation is not rejected until it is declined three times, and an invitation is not seriously made until it is presented three times.

In declining an offer you should have a good excuse to avoid making it into a personal rejection. Your declining should be accompanied with liberal use of statements like 'I'd love to but' , 'Thanks so much but' and 'Another time it will work out I hope but.'

In accepting an invitation, it is polite to reject the invitation twice before accepting. This is especially true of a formal situation or relationship. In closer relationships, it may be fine to just accept right from the first.

This arrangement might seem awkward or over done to you at first, but there is a major strength to this system. You can feel free to honour someone with an invitation knowing that they will not accept until you offer the third time. This can be a helpful relationship-building tool especially in formal contexts.

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