OUR first experiment with blogging on business etiquette is working well and I’m grateful for all the feedback given on Berlin. To remind: each week we’re reproducing one set of city-based tips from Economist.com’s Cities Guide. Your comments, disagreements, additions, etc, can be incorporated into subsequent iterations, so we can create a more dynamic set of recommendations in the future.
This week, we share our thoughts on what’s expected in San Francisco. Please let us know yours.
Meetings and greetings
• It is important to both start and end appointments on time. If you’re driving between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, add 20% to your travel time and always take highway 280 over highway 101 if you can—it is usually faster and always prettier. When possible, schedule your meetings between 10am and 3pm to avoid rush hours.
• Don’t be offended if people neglect to shake your hand or take your business card in large business meetings. Americans (and Californians) are more informal than you may be used to.
• Having said that, carry as many business cards as possible, after making room for all the newest high-tech gadgets.
• Be generous with your contacts. People here will remember and reward you if you give them the name of someone who may prove profitable and interesting for them to meet.
• Put your mobile phone on silent during meetings and only take a call if it is truly urgent. Best practice is to warn your interlocutor ahead of time that you may need to break for a call.
• If you are responsible for only part of a larger presentation it is not considered rude to leave after your part (including the question-and-answer session) is over.
• Resist your natural modesty. Promoting yourself and your company is expected. Just be gracious about it.
• For better or worse, Americans are an optimistic people. As the old song goes: “accentuate the positive.” Everyone else will.
Working habits
• Local businesses are showing an increasing willingness to support flexible working hours. Don’t assume that your counterparts adhere to the same work schedule as you. To avoid confusion, ask politely what hours they tend to work and when and where you can reach them. Still, BlackBerry culture prevails—be sure to respond to your e-mails quickly, day or night.
• With the demise of the 20-something millionaire, jeans and T-shirts no longer pass for sartorial elegance. Nevertheless, California remains a casual place, and that extends to business dress. While service providers, such as accountants, lawyers and marketing mavens, continue to favour a suit, business executives and venture capitalists will prefer slacks and a well-cut sports jacket with a crisp shirt or turtle-neck. For women, short skirts and plunging necklines are much less in evidence on American streets than on European, let alone in the boardroom.
Eating and drinking
• As in most cities, the hierarchy dictates who picks up restaurant bills. If you’re visiting at another’s invitation, you should let your host pay and offer to reciprocate when they're in your city.
• San Francisco is justly renowned as northern California’s food and wine capital. You will find superb wines and an eclectic culinary style that combines techniques and ingredients from all over the world. Be adventurous: your hosts will appreciate it and you’re unlikely to be disappointed. Unlike France, where wines are identified principally by the region they come from, American wines tend to be made from a single grape varietal. So, if you like Bordeaux wines, you should ask for a well-made cabernet sauvignon. If you like white Burgundies, you may be out of luck: many Californian chardonnays tend to be over-oaked. Try a sauvignon blanc instead.
• Plenty of excellent beer is now produced in America. Local favourites are the full-bodied Anchor Steam and the medium-bodied, fruity Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
And lastly…
• Remember that the Bay Area is one of the most diverse and culturally liberal places in America; jokes about race, religion, gender or sexual preference will probably not be well received.
• Arguing with law enforcement agents of any stripe never ever pays. Be polite, and if you can’t, hold your tongue.
(You can listen to The Economist's San Francisco correspondent giving his views on the city here.)
Readers' comments
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I hope the author realizes that "Frisco" is a town north of Dallas, TX. "Frisco" has no relevance to an article about San Francisco or SF!Also, one other thing to note about SF: you can have almost as good a $20 meal as a $200 meal. I have lived in London and can't say the same about London (or for that matter, NYC, Sydney, etc). For the locals, this is one of the best things about SF. Try the Mission district for great, relatively inexpensive food.
I had the misfortune to collect a rental car from a downtown location in SF a few months ago. It took me nearly two hours with my wife following the map to find my way to the Golden Gate Bridge en route to Sonoma. Take a GPS, or don't drive. The one-way routes, the hills, and the trolley cars make navigation a nightmare. It is a great city on foot.
The first thing you must learn when you are going to San Francsico is to never call it "Frisco". It is either San Francisco or, if you are in one of the suburbs, The City.
Shaun Coley
Ex-San Franciscan
London, UK
A couple of notes on tourist information:Fisherman's Wharf has little to offer other than overpriced fish and chips. If you want to visit Alcatraz, book your ticket at least a week in advance. Be sure to get the audio guide and the Angle Island companion ticket.Visiting the wine country (Napa and Sonoma) is a day long trip and will involve renting a car or hiring a driver. Wear a windbreaker or thick jacket if you want to walk across the Golden Gate bridge. Walk, rather than drive, down Lombard Street.There will be 15 to 45 min wait to get on a cable car.Both the SFMOMA and De Young are worth seeing. Skip Height Ashbury and visit the Japanese Tea Garden.And never, ever, call San Francisco... Frisco.
As a San Francisco transplant (moved from NYC in 2005), I'll add my 2 cents: mind the hills! I walked everywhere when I lived in NYC, so I tried to do the same when I first moved to SF. However I quickly learned that what might look like a 10 minute walk (on a map) can quickly become a 45 minute walk if there's a huge hill involved. For newcomers, this can lead to the dreaded late arrival at a business meeting, not to mention a very strenuous and sweaty walk. As I learn my way around the large hills and dead-ends, I feel more and more at home in this incredible city!
As a gay American, I cringe at the phrase "sexual preference". Homosexuality is not a "preference". That's a crucial distinction. As I fight for my rights, my largest obstacle is a basic misunderstanding of sexuality by many heterosexuals. Homosexuality (especially among men) is not a choice. If more people truly understood that, the world would be a more tolerant, civilized and loving place.To bring this back on topic, when visiting SF, you're much less likely to offend someone using the phrase "sexual orientation" instead of "sexual preference".
As a longtime San Franciscan, I found the article well done and more accurate than the subsequent comments, especially from outsiders. However, a few points missed:The distinctions of SF versus LA are way overblown. LA is a fantastic city and many of us up here love it.People speak constantly of the fog. I have lived in a dozen cities around the world, and SF is the sunniest by far. I am light skinned and have to take precautions eight months of the year.Food is very good and reservations are really quite easy and usually available on-line. Service is very friendly but unsophisticated and often inept. The "busboyification" of waiting tables has expanded considerably here. And, yes, there are many non-oaked white burgundies all over menus now, and dozens of fine small batch microbreweries.Contrary to what some writers note, SF is actually disproportionally important as a US city. Despite 3/4M residents, it seats the Ninth Circuit Court for the entire Western and Pacific United States; along with Silicon Valley has more banks, hedge funds, VC, and hi-tech startups than anywhere in the US; has one of the national mints; and is overly influential politically (e.g., Pelosi, SoH), culturally (e.g., gay marriages), economically (e.g., Internet 2.0), and internationally (from signing the UN charter to our swarms of Asian and European tourists).Lastly, parking is worse here than nearly anywhere else; it's best to avoid talking politics as is true most anywhere; there are legal albeit creative ways to avoid the business tax snares and similar; and dress with layers. Most San Franciscans are quite friendly and open, not smug, act often with more class than style, and are most happy to have you visit our fair city.
I know it´s off topic, but I as a German expect from the Economist no less than the best, most elaborate and entertaining English available. That´s why I read it. If I was uncomfortable with elaborate or colloquial English, I´d read the Handelsblatt instead.
A more general note related to the "Frisco" comments above: My guess is that your readership consists of people from countries other than merely those in which English is spoken as the primary language. It would be far better, then, for you and your readership to write (especially about cross-cultural issues) a bit less cleverly and a bit more clearly. Use of phrases such as "always take highway 280 over highway 101" might suggest that Highway 280" passes over Highway 101" when what you meant to write was "use" (not "take") and "instead of" (not "over"). Another example of the lack of clarity is in your use of the phrase, "law enforcement agents of any stripe." You, of course, meant to write "... of all types." There are many such phrases used here and most native speakers/readers of other languages will find them confusing. If you're going to bother to culturally enlighten people, then do so with some cultural sensitivity of your own!
Hi,
Not many cities where you can cop a US$35 fine for having your car wheels parallel with the curb. But thats exactly what happened to me in SF. It turns out that as a safety precuation, due to the steep hills in downtown SF, you need to turn your front wheels away/to the curb so that if your car goes into neutral for some reason, your car will roll up against the curbing, and not up/down the famous hills of SF.
There is a distinction between San Francisco and the SF Bay Area. The city is beautiful, tourism is big business here and there are plenty of established (and old school) businesses downtown. Banks, consulting firms, utility companies, retailers, and so on. The startup/technology world is spread from San Francisco all the way south to San Jose. The atmosphere is very different depending on where you are: you can expect business meetings to be more informal if you're meeting someone at an internet startup or a medium to small technology company. They are much less formal, as mentioned in the article and comments. Lastly, the value people here place on sharing contacts cannot be overstated. Feel free to ask people for contacts in a particular field/company and reciprocate whenever you can.
How could you? You're -supposedly - writing a story on the etiquettes of a town and you call it by the one name everyone in San Francisco cringes at when they hear.
DON'T CALL IT "FRISCO"!
"Frisco"!?! Will surely get the ire of us locals up. Just don’t. Otherwise, the comments are well taken, although funny from a native’s perspective.
"It is important to both start and end appointments on time" well, yes...and other acts showing civility are also appreciated: at the risk of destroying the whole point of this feature - which seems to emphasize how different various places are - I think most vistors will be pleasantly surprised (or disappointed, depending) to find out the Bay Area is pretty much like other places (we've indoor plumbing, don't play in traffic, etc.)
At any rate, the common-sense rules of travel apply here as well: consult a map before leaving (so you know where you're going) and if you have doubts about something ask your host/contact.
Note that the Argent Hotel is now a Westin.
The only thing missing is a report on the other vibe of SF, that being it is still the epicenter of the GLBT community. It is what it is and if the sight of same-sex displays of affection (or more)bother you or make you uncomfortable, then be prepared to be bothered and uncomfortable almost endlessly in many parts of the city. Or else just get over it and go with the vibe.
"It is important to both start and end appointments on time. If you’re driving between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, add 20% to your travel time and always take highway 280 over highway 101 if you can—it is usually faster and always prettier. When possible, schedule your meetings between 10am and 3pm to avoid rush hours."This was a fun article to read. I live in San Francisco. I agree with most of the advice and comments. Regarding travel time, if traveling between San Francisco and San Jose during rush hour (before 10am or after 3pm), double the travel time. 20% is insufficient. A 45 minute non-peak trip between those regions can easily take 1.5 to 2 hours. Furthermore, the advise to "always take 280" can be misleading. Check the location of your meeting on a map and make sure 280 is sensible. Many businesses are located to the east of the 101, and the time spent traveling west to east from the 280 to the destination can destroy any time saved on the 280 itself. For example, the 80 is a common way to get from 280 to 101 near Santa Clara and the backups along that route are as bad as any on the 101, so all time savings from 280 travel are destroyed by time spent trying to get from 280 to 101. Also, 280 is no longer a sure thing - severe delays are much more common on the 280 now than in the past.
Your newsletter headline says, "When IN Frisco".My suggestion: Never, ever call San Francisco -- Frisco It's not. That's another city and considered somewhat oafish to call SF.
The "rules" on business you listed do not apply to 80% of the small and large traditional businesses. The nerdy SiliValley types are the ones with no manners and an exaggerated sense of self. I work with traditional old-school businesses where politeness and competence matter a great deal. I write thank you notes by hand and mail them via the US Postal Service! And always remember that San Francisco is not the center of business - it is a tourism economy. Business and the larger population have all moved to San Jose. And being from Los Angeles, and very happy and proud of that, I can only lament the parochialism and hostility that I get from the fogheads,