Good times, old friends, and bumbling asistants

We had day 1 of the road show yesterday and it went pretty well. Although I felt a little guilty because I spent a good chunk of time being pulled aside by friends of mine when I worked here to chat and catch up - leaving my partner* to do a little more than his share of presentations. Still, it was terribly nice to see everyone again.

Right after lunch through, the entertainment consisted of some manager pulling a guy into the conference rooms directly across from the show booths and giving what was obviously a review that wasn't terribly complimentary. So my team and the team from the LA branch were essentially forced to watch as the manager raked this kid over the coals. I felt so bad for him - there are floor-to-ceiling windows in the rooms and while I understand the need to give evaluations on time, sheesh.

Then, after the day was over we all went out to dinner. It was any servers nightmare - about 30 hungry people slowly progressing from reasonable professionals to tipsy folks to drunk-n-rowdy yellers over the course of four hours**. And in typical fashion we had been sequestered in a room to ourselves and assigned our own server. Despite the work that events for my company entail, servers typically do very well for themselves by the end of it in terms of a tip. Our private server*** managed the group very well, but he had an assistant - a younger gentleman who wasn't quite as good as his job as she was. Part of the dinner entertainment was waiting for the assistant to make a mistake and quickly look over at the server who would glare at the offender with looks obviously intended to kill him****.

By the time we reached tipsy folks stage, I was full of filet mignon and chocolate brownie sundae so we took off. Besides, it was my last night in my swanky room, and I wanted to take maximum advantage of my super comfy bed.

Goodbye swanky room - I'll miss you!

* Who hasn't ever worked here.
** Typically I take my leave by the second stage.
*** "Our server for money..."
**** Or smite, at a minimum.

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