Australian Networking

A little while back, a girl I run with and know moderately well (we were on the same team to run the Edinburgh Marathon Relay last year), but not incredibly so, sent me a message on Facebook asking if I might be interested in going to a networking drinks evening. She'd sent it out to all of her friends who had professional jobs, so I doubt she really expected a response from me, but upon seeing it I thought, "Why not? Sounds different from what I normally do, and it could be fun!"

Unfortunately that same afternoon, my friend Sara wanted to return to me the bags I'd loaned to her for her move. So I found myself carrying around a giant bag of duffel bags, and wondering how I was going to manage it at this networking event. Thank goodness when I arrived, they turned out to have a bag check, so I was able to check it!

I then entered and grabbed a glass of champagne, and observed the many businesses set up around the room, including one group called "Pants to Poverty" which was selling underwear, and had a couple of very fit people standing around there clad in only their underwear! I had to be impressed with their boldness (like Abercrombie and Fitch models), but I don't think I could ever manage to stand around in a crowded room like this in only my underwear...

As I wandered among the quite closed conversational groups, I realised that you really sometimes need to know at least one person you know who can introduce you around. Luckily for me, in short order I found Garvey, the girl I run with, and she was a WONDERFUL "one person you know", as she immediately started introducing me to various people there.

It was kind of interesting, as most everyone I spoke to knew Garvey through a summer programme where UK students would go to the US for the summer, and sell books door-to-door. I remember once in the depths of my unemployment in the US after graduation, I had spent a day going around as part of an "interview" with a firm like this, and of course had decided it was absolutely ridiculous to do anything where you worked entirely based on commission. Yet, it was really interesting to see these folks, who had all done it. In truth, it rather reaffirmed that I'd made the right call not getting that "sales experience", as it didn't seem to have had a hugely positive impact on their careers post-graduation. I will say however, that they all seemed to have no fear when it came to talking to new people, which was certainly nice for me!

They then did an "ice-breaker" event, where everyone was supposed to find other people who had the same Australian term on the their name-badges. Nice idea, but it sort of going messed up when in all of the confusion of everyone trying to shift around this crowded room, a guy in a wheelchair got his chair caught on a tablecloth and ended up knocking over a ton of glasses. There was a huge crash, and broken glass went EVERYWHERE. And then you could see everyone turning to stare, and then immediately trying NOT to stare, as somehow we've all been programmed since childhood never to stare at very obviously handicapped people (this guy must have had some sort of congenital defect, as he wasn't just some poor accident victim in a wheelchair), but yet I had to give him credit for coming out to an event like this. Once again, makes me realise how fortunate I am to have such simple things as two working legs.

I then found myself chatting to a rather nice guy who apparently was still in the sales game, driving around the UK selling stereos. Although when he mentioned that this was the first of these sorts of events he'd been to, I asked, "Why's that?" Oh dear, turns out that he's only just graduated from university. I ask, "So you're 22?" "Almost!" he cheerfully replies, "I'm 21!" Realising then as well when he guesses that I'm 23 that he really thinks I'm his age. Why has this happened so many times recently, that I find myself hitting on 22-year olds? He seriously thinks I'm his age. This is a bad pattern.

As the event started coming to an end, I found myself trapped in conversation with a woman who was selling mail-order tampons, so escaped that one to talk to a very cute guy, who I swear was giving off such huge gay vibes that I knew it even before I got close and saw that he worked for "Gaydar" a gay radio station. We ended up talking about how I had such a huge problem figuring out where his accent was from. (Kiwi. From Aukland. Took me ages to figure out, and he weirdly seemed to think that I was going to somehow figure out whether his accent was from North Island or South Island?)

I then found myself talking to a Scottish guy about economics, before Garvey and the others announced that the booze had run out, and so they were all going to another pub. I was tired, but I got dragged along. (I REALLY do not know how to leave a party). So we ended up at a small pub near Waterloo station. I ended up talking to Garvey about doing the Three Peaks Challenge, and driving on the wrong side of the road. It was funny, because after all of this time of not really knowing her very well, I found that we were bonding.

After the pub we were in closed (when I REALLY should have left), we all ended up going to another pub. At least at this one I had the good sense to avoid letting anyone buy me a drink, and said good-bye just to Garvey, and finally got out of there. Phew, just in time, made the last Tube home!!