Another eye opening day in the big city!
The place: An overcrowded dining room at a hotel near Rockefeller Center
The time: 12:30 pm (a half hour late!)
The scene: A packed house of waif thin 20-something females separated by only a handful of males
As soon as I pried open the dining room doors to sneak into the luncheon without drawing too much attention to myself, I wished almost immediately that I hadn't. First, there was the daunting task of finding a seat in a room that was way too crowded. After switching seats twice, everyone was already staring at me but thankfully I was able to find my coworker and sit near her. Once I took out my notepad I found myself unable to stop taking notes, only I admit that shamefully I was not taking down key points from the speakers, but rather I was fixated on the people around me and how I stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.
First off, I was one of the only people in a suit (my wonderful coworker Lisa was in one too--god bless her). I used to think suits were classy and perfect for all occasions, but apparently lace
doilies and leggings are the new black suit. Second, I was definitely the only girl at my table without some sort of neck decoration, and no I don't mean a necklace. Apparently scarfs, fake turtle neck
thingys and
pashminas (
sp?) are all the rage this month. I am a frequent scarf wearer during the winter months but I found it kinda strange that people felt the need for elaborate neck drapery in April. I wonder if there was some sort of email blast that went out to the
fashionistas of the PR world but obviously I was not on this list!
About halfway into the luncheon I made the colossal mistake of pouring myself a glass of coke--NOTE I said coke and not diet coke. As I reached across the table to grab the unopened liter of coke I felt the eyes of a disapproving blond glaring at me. She was clearly one of the girls responsible for the empty diet coke bottle and was visibly appalled that someone would drink the dreaded regular coke! A quick look around the room showed a similar trend on every other table--diet coke empty, regular coke untouched. Does anyone appreciate a good coca-cola classic anymore??
Ok, I'll stop being petty now and mention that the poor speakers I was tuning out were actually pretty cool. Most interesting in my opinion were Stephen Baker from Business Week and Rachel
Sklar from the
Huffington Post. More of the same basic info that I am constantly being fed as the head of New Media at my firm but a good refresher nevertheless.
Switching gears a bit, I would like to briefly acknowledge one of my favorite companies of the moment. In an effort to be a "truthful and trusted blogger" I will admit upfront that they are also a client but this quick story is strictly personal!
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is my hero of the week because my car is currently in the shop for a yet to be determined length of time, but because of my cute little Ford Cobalt courtesy of Enterprise, this little setback is a lot less stressful than it could have been. As the commercial states, they really did "pick me up," and they were super friendly in the process!
On a final note, I am very thankful that the congestion pricing plan did not pass. Today I drove from LI to NJ, from NJ to Manhattan, and then from Manhattan back to LI (well technically I didn't drive, Lisa did because my driving skills have been less than stellar lately...) but the cost was the equivalent to like 3 beers, or 1 martini in the city but still, we don't need any more fees
Bloomberg, give us a break!
