Pitstop, I would have been mortified if I'd taken two gentlemen to a business lunch in my (adopted) country and had this happen. I can't think of anything more unprofessional or embarrassing and I would have been afraid that my colleagues would have gotten an extremely bad impression of Qatar. That sort of unwelcome intrusion into a working atmosphere would have left a bad taste for me about the entire lunch. I generally do not complain about service personnel because I can't hold them responsible for things that are out of their control but in this case it seems the wait person was acting completely on her own recognizance. I would have at least had a quiet word with her about her extreme breach of etiquette. I hope your business colleagues understand that this is not characteristic of this country and that your business with them was not adversely affected.
Mandi
Pitstop, I would have been mortified if I'd taken two gentlemen to a business lunch in my (adopted) country and had this happen. I can't think of anything more unprofessional or embarrassing and I would have been afraid that my colleagues would have gotten an extremely bad impression of Qatar. That sort of unwelcome intrusion into a working atmosphere would have left a bad taste for me about the entire lunch. I generally do not complain about service personnel because I can't hold them responsible for things that are out of their control but in this case it seems the wait person was acting completely on her own recognizance. I would have at least had a quiet word with her about her extreme breach of etiquette. I hope your business colleagues understand that this is not characteristic of this country and that your business with them was not adversely affected.
Mandi