Schmoozing for a cause
One of the things that came out of my market research lunches is that several people said I have to get out there more. I volunteer in the community, but in really low-key ways; I cook and serve food anonymously at a soup kitchen, I volunteer somewhat anonymously in the home of a few elderly poor people, and I volunteer on a town committee that almost never has citizen participation or press coverage. I did a stint a few years back on a community-wide energy project that got a bunch of press and some TV time, but it is (happily) fading from memory. (It got politicized and the paper made me out to be some sort of paragon, setting me up on a pedestal so that it would sell more papers when my pedestal toppled. I declined to take the role they set out for me.)
What I do *not* do is dress up and go out to charity auctions. Except, tonight I did.
I put on a fancy dress, dug out a pair of nylons and my best black pumps and an alligator clutch purse I inherited from my Grandma, cajoled B. into a suit and headed out to a local prep school campus for the big United Way event. B. was grumbling about it, but I give a donation to United Way every year and never get any good press from doing it. I figured I go and schmooze and get a bit better known in the community and it's all good.
And it was. I really only met two new people there, but it was good to go and see and be seen. B. and I each saw a dear friends we were glad to visit with, and I had a great conversation with an aryan from Darien who was so stereotypically a Masters of the Universe that I almost had to smile at the trope. Deerfield Academy for prep school, Amherst College, married a Mount Holyoke alum, went to Wall Street and worked in Mergers and Acquisitions, found Darien too troubling because of the unreliable trains, bought a house in New Jersey right outside the City... then Lehmen happened (and Obama was elected) and capital creation shriveled to nothing and now he's emigrating to Toronto where the capital markets are still alive. It was a fascinating conversation - a parallel life to mine. We know the same people, we have the same education, but he went Big City and I went Small Town and there we sat, at a Charity Auction together.
I ended up winning three things at the silent auction; a gift certificate to a restaurant I want to go to, a painting that isn't horrible, and tickets to a New England Revolution game at Gillette Stadium that B. assures me I don't have to go to. The total came to about $100, and that's what I would have spent on dinner out if we'd dressed up and gone to a restaurant. Instead, we were wined and dined on hearty hors d'oevres and a free bar that were designed to get us to bid more in the live auction.
I did bid in the live auction. There were two pieces I wanted. But the first started higher than my top price so I was out before I even started. The second thing I almost won until someone topped my closing bid by $75 and I had to bow out. (B. was glaring at me and the bid was now well over my top price.) I dislike live auctions - I could feel my heart racing while the bidding was going on. It's a weird psychological state to be in, unlike any other purchasing situation I can think of. But that party only went on for a few moments.
All in all, it was a nice time. I enjoy getting out my fine jewelry and my grandmother's accessories. B. looks sharp in a suit. I think the advisors are right, I need to get out there more and schmooze. It was sort of fun.
What I do *not* do is dress up and go out to charity auctions. Except, tonight I did.
I put on a fancy dress, dug out a pair of nylons and my best black pumps and an alligator clutch purse I inherited from my Grandma, cajoled B. into a suit and headed out to a local prep school campus for the big United Way event. B. was grumbling about it, but I give a donation to United Way every year and never get any good press from doing it. I figured I go and schmooze and get a bit better known in the community and it's all good.
And it was. I really only met two new people there, but it was good to go and see and be seen. B. and I each saw a dear friends we were glad to visit with, and I had a great conversation with an aryan from Darien who was so stereotypically a Masters of the Universe that I almost had to smile at the trope. Deerfield Academy for prep school, Amherst College, married a Mount Holyoke alum, went to Wall Street and worked in Mergers and Acquisitions, found Darien too troubling because of the unreliable trains, bought a house in New Jersey right outside the City... then Lehmen happened (and Obama was elected) and capital creation shriveled to nothing and now he's emigrating to Toronto where the capital markets are still alive. It was a fascinating conversation - a parallel life to mine. We know the same people, we have the same education, but he went Big City and I went Small Town and there we sat, at a Charity Auction together.
I ended up winning three things at the silent auction; a gift certificate to a restaurant I want to go to, a painting that isn't horrible, and tickets to a New England Revolution game at Gillette Stadium that B. assures me I don't have to go to. The total came to about $100, and that's what I would have spent on dinner out if we'd dressed up and gone to a restaurant. Instead, we were wined and dined on hearty hors d'oevres and a free bar that were designed to get us to bid more in the live auction.
I did bid in the live auction. There were two pieces I wanted. But the first started higher than my top price so I was out before I even started. The second thing I almost won until someone topped my closing bid by $75 and I had to bow out. (B. was glaring at me and the bid was now well over my top price.) I dislike live auctions - I could feel my heart racing while the bidding was going on. It's a weird psychological state to be in, unlike any other purchasing situation I can think of. But that party only went on for a few moments.
All in all, it was a nice time. I enjoy getting out my fine jewelry and my grandmother's accessories. B. looks sharp in a suit. I think the advisors are right, I need to get out there more and schmooze. It was sort of fun.