Corporate, Part Two of Three
February 16th, 2007.
Previously…
It most certainly has been quite a while. A lot of things happened in the big interim in which I completely stopped writing. That’ll be explained at a much later point in time. The point at this time is that I’m back. So, that’s a kind of counterpoint. Back to our regularly scheduled story.
Let’s see, where was I? Oh, that’s right. Baltimore, the flight from hell, and hanging out with my brother Keary for the first time since what, the end of summer? Yes, there we were. I was about to take a trip into a world that was not really my thing. The world of suits, ties, and water cooler talk. The corporate world.
When I worked at Florida Hospital not long ago, I was in that world, but didn’t pay much attention to it. They saw me as the de facto party guy, and I really played that up, with my showing up late for work (I’m not sure why), flirting with the nurses (playfully, of course), and sharing the stories of my wild nights in the City Beautiful (and there were a lot of those). I worked in that world, but it was never mine. Here I was, though, about to dive right back in.
And now…
Keary and I braved the cold Baltimore morning and rather slippery sidewalks to try and find him some new threads, since his luggage was in a pile of other lost luggage that probably all looked alike, somewhere in New York City. Talk about bad luck. Mind you, he was pretty calm about the whole situation, so that was a good thing. At least he had his coat. No freezing for him. Although he did take my left hand glove when we got coffee.
It was bitter cold that morning, and there was no way of walking fast. One wrong step and your backside was on the sidewalk, that brutal ice covered sidewalk. The wind didn’t help either. I was glad when we got to our destination, the cornucopia of menswear, Joseph A. Bank. It was nice and warm in there.
Keary and I perused the outfits, and I enjoyed my coffee while he got all suited up. He picked a pretty good combination, I’ll give him that. But then as quickly, we were on our way back to the hotel, to get ready to head for the Convention Centre to check out the many booths the contracting companies and other government departments had ready.
The Baltimore Convention Centre was a cavernous place. Not as big as the one in Orlando, but this place was big in its own right. It was also a lot prettier to look at than the one back home. It wasn’t hard to get lost, either, as Keary and I just followed the crowd of folks braving the elements just as we were. And probably braving the slippery sidewalks as well. It was better walking around with my Chuck Taylors’ on, rather than walking around in dress shoes, which had no traction at all. Once again, we were happy to get inside the place.
Keary explained to me that this whole thing was just a big recruiting tool for the most part, where companies would try and pry away other companies’ employees away. There were even people calling me over and telling me to work for them. Unfortunately for them, I was nowhere nearly qualified in the first place. No degree, no bevy of random computer certifications, none of that. I was just a bohemian in corporate clothing, enjoying the show.
Another good thing about this was the amount of swag that we got. Pens, bags, little bags with stuff in them, and other weird bits of office diversionary. Even these strange bendy things. And yes, they were giving away golf balls.
While I was busy playing around with all of the toys that were being given away, Keary gave me an intro to some of the nice folks in his company. They all seemed a little stiff, and I really had to be a little more reserved myself. I felt like I was wearing my dress shoes, squeezed in, and potentially slippery. It was all fun, though, seeing how my brother’s world worked.
My brother, in the meantime, was doing whatever he was doing. I listened to the conversations that he and his coworkers were having, but honestly, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. English, but not. That kind of thing. I pretended to get it, but I was in way over my head.
We ended up at a luncheon where they were going to honor the Black Engineer of the Year awardees. There were a lot of people there. I mean, a lot of people. When they called Keary up, I was really proud. He’s the one out of the Six (I’ll explain later) who made it the furthest, and flew the highest. By the way, lunch was exquisite.
We got an invite to dinner later on, at a place not too far from the hotel. A place called Vellegia. With a name like that, it had to be Italian. Keary said it was casual, so I took off the suit (thank goodness!) and slid back into my Chucks, jeans, football kit, gloves, hat, and trenchcoat. And with that, we headed off to the restaurant.
Vallegia was a nice joint. A really nice joint, with that old school feeling to it, like you were in someone’s house. The hostess led us back to where the company was meeting, and I got a nice little surprise. I was the only one in jeans or sneakers. Casual? I looked over at Keary and just gave him a little smirk. He smirked back.
He went off to schmooze, and I entertained myself by enjoying the wine, talking about non-business subjects with everyone, and just telling funny stories about my travels. Like how the best lemonade in the world is made in Bolivia, the crazy nights in Cartagena, and the trip to Seoul. And the dinner was excellent. Absolutely.
The restaurant had a basement, which was hard to believe. When we got down there, they had an open bar (huzzah!), dartboard, pool tables, and a jukebox. It was akin to being in a frat house, but better (no frat boys)! Day and night, this place was.
The whole lot of us hung out pretty good and late, enjoying each others’ company, trading stories, and some of them (if not all) finally loosened up. They were human, these corporate types, once they got away from all of that forced formality. Keary and I stopped by the pub once we left, and had a few beers before calling it a night.
Power breakfast in the morning. That’s what Keary’s schedule said on it. It was going to be rather early. There was no way we were going to make that. Not with the wicked hangovers that we were going to have. My head hit my comfortable hotel pillow, and life was good. It was time to dream some good dreams.
Next: Hangover hi-jinks! The best crab cakes on the planet! And a halfway decent after party! It’s the last day Keary and I have together, and we live it up the right way, by partying it up like it was our last day.