Please share stories of consultants you've bumped into who put on a funny 'sophisticated' act. E.g. the one I met who pretends he's a wine connisseur and makes a point of scrutinising the wine list and talking about 'good years' at team dinners. What a fraud!

Maybe he just likes wine?I must admit to being similar. There's nothing worse than a bad bottle of wine. What do you spend your disposable income on? Cars? Eating out? Holidays? Why are any of these more 'worthy' than wine?

Maybe - The guy I met just thinks he's a wine expert. He isn't. He likes to pretend he's a wine expert because he thinks it makes him look classy and sophisticated. He talks about dates and types of wines as if he's a guru, but it's obvious he's just making it up as he goes along. I particularly like the way he swirls it around in the bottom of his glass when talking to the team over dinner, as if he's trying to seduce us or something.Here's another example - the guy I know who likes to consistently name drop. He goes around saying "I know the CEO of blah blah blah!!" when actually he's probably never actually spoken to him directly and just happened to be on a project once where the CEO was the project sponsor.I'd love to hear more stories about consultants who put on a phoney 'sophisticated' act!

I am by no means a wine conniseur, but I do know my way around a wine list. I take wine and food very seriously, and matching food to wine is much more than a matter of "red or white?" to me. I'm sorry if it seems like snobbery to you that I spend five or six minutes looking at the wine list and considering my choices before ordering. It's just that I'm tired of every idiot who seems to think that Merlot or Chardonnay are the perfect matches for every meal.Out of curiousity, how do you know that your colleague DOESN'T know what he's talking about? It appears that you're no expert yourself, so you're hardly in a position to judge or criticise, are you?

There is talk at my firm about re-introducing some wine tasting evenings due to the value in being able to pick a correct wine when taking a client out to dinner/lunch... seems to make sense - I know I wouldn't have a clue!

Wine is so old hat.I would recommend a trip to the Jamesons distillery in Dublin to learn about Whiskey and a trip to Rheims (France) to larn about champagne. Plus you get to drink quite a bit to.

P,What?I drink wine because I enjoy about it, not because it's cool. Calling it "old hat" suggests that you're seeing this from the point of view of entertaining a client.Mgt Consultant in 'style over substance' shocker.

Response to D - Do they also do lessons on which set of knives and forks to use first (inside or outside) or which plate to put your bread on? Many of the clients and consultants I've met need to start with the basics before talking like a pro about different wines.Response to VI - I know he was blagging because he made a few mistakes about the few things I do know about. Plus, he pretended he spoke Japanese but avoided the issue when I asked him to translate some of the writing on a Japanese painting in the restaurant. What a fraud!

Guess I ended up at a firm where the basics are already known... seems you didn't...

Go on then, spill the beans - where do you work, hotshot? I'm at one of the B's in MBBB.

The very fact that you added the 3rd B to MBB tells everyone where you work Booz(er).

that means youre at booze. We at the other two B's only refer to MBB. What a moron - how easily you gave it away!

not necessarily - i'm at bain and always use MBBB on this forum!

It might not always be easy to tell a connoisseur from a bluffer, but if you are so bothered about it why not either - attempt to catch the person about. All very well decrying the person, as a fraud but connoisseurs can know the good years from the bad years, and have been known to swirl wine around their glass, look at wine lists etc.- accept that the person does know more about wine than you. Try this one. 'I'm terribly sorry, I'm quite ill-informed on this subject. It must be wonderful to know so much about wine, but it really isn't my hobby. Would you mind if I stick with the water?'Afterall is this really something to whine about? ;-) Looks like balderdash to me!

Y'know, Connisseur, speaking Japanese is very different from reading Japanese ...

.. when out in a pub a few years back with some colleagues, the younger ladies were being enchanted by someone who appeared to be a French poet type. He looked, dressed and sounded French to the untrained ear and the young twenty somethings were hanging off his every word.... As a fluent French speaker, I smelled a rat (literally you could say) and began speaking to him really quickly in French. At this point he swore at me in a London accent and went on to the next place.....

I see now why consultants have the fame to work long hours. I suggest you people learn how to spell connoisseur instead of trying to pick up funny stories you can then tell at social gatherings. So, my dear "connisseur", he will be the wine expert and you the story expert? Oh, my god, I am so going to refuse my recent offer in consulting. I would feel ashamed being part of such a community. You guys sound all stupid. Connisseur...quel con!

To the last Anon, You won't get very far in the industry with such a petty mentality. Head into audit or go back to your day job and do us all a favour in keeping your little remarks to yourself.