Dress to network or Presentable at all times
Had a little situation pop up today that made me think about this. I love socializing. Its that simple I love talking to people and love being able to hold conversation with people. We dont even have to talk about anything that relates to me, I’m ok with not being in the spotlight sometimes. I am always looking for an opportunity to strike up a conversation with someone, especially if I am interested in the subject matter.
The wife and I are waiting today to go pick up Kyle from the airport and we (by we I mean she) decide lets stop in Barnes and Noble. Mind you when I left the house I intended to go to grannies house for 10 mins come back home and wait till time to go to the airport for Mr Henderson. So what did I do? yep thats right, I threw on what happened to be closest to the top of the pile of the laundry to be done tonight before heading back to the day job tommorrow. This consisted of sandels, khaki shorts (hi 112 degrees) and a polo shirt. Fine this is my typical attire anyway so no biggee. Well we get in the car and guess what this nice red polo shirt happens to be the one that I had a run in with a hotdog last week(Hi ketchup). Ok still no problem red shirt + ketchup + Tide pen = good to go. But not really. Tide pen o’ magic did something weird to the red shirt leaving what I will refer to as the holy ketchup halo. Next thing i realize is my shorts are ripped around my nono place ( Hi disc golf accident - dont ask there was a river involved mmkay?). I think eh not that bad.
So the wife drives to B&N, which was god awful crowded for the night before the 4th, I guess everyone was off. So I do my normal browsing of the business books. I hit the magazine section, exclaim something about the absurdity of not having B2.0, and stomp off to the restroom to sulk. All this time I havent really thought of my appearance, because im sure from a distance everything looks fine. I walk in front of the restroom mirror, nothing glaring jumping out at any kind of distance, but as i walked back up to the mirror I thought god I look like a slob. I think to myself “I hope I dont have to talk to anyone”. Walking back from the restroom I stop again at the computer section and start browsing through some books about ajax and notice some books about blogs and 19012 ways to drive traffic to your site. I pick one up and giggle. 2 guys are standing near me, and I hear them talking. Yep im a listener, but thats a whole other post. I notice the 2 guys are kinda huddled around some of the more advanced books appearing to jot down some notes while talking on the phone with some other people on speakerphone. They are talking about developing a website, and the guys were talking with such enthusiasm I continued to listen. I could not get enough details to make a determination if it was what I would view as a good idea or not. I thought to myself ” Self, here is a networking opportunity… Say hi, ask about their idea, offer a business card, ask for a business card, do what you do” But while my mind was trying to compute the ackward intro query, it kicked back an error. error 1045: Dude you look like a slob. You might as well drop into your country, Im’ from TN, and talk to truck drivers voice and scream woooo dawgy I like mes some interweb.
Suffice it to say I skipped this opportunity to meet new people, and noted to myself to always, even if running to the mailbox to be in proper attire to introduce yourself to someone new.