Old

I'm in NYC for 36 hours again.  I'm not going to lie - except for the guilt I feel at not being home to take care of my babies and help my husband with the chaos - I love it here.

There's so much energy in the city and - as you can probably guess - I love the anonymity of it all.  I love that no one cares what I wear, or how my hair looks, there are so many people doing so many different things that if someone stopped to judge them all they'd waste their life away.

Too many people in small towns waste their life judging other people too - but that is a different story.

I flew into town for a meeting that was both tremendously fabulous and a train wreck at the same time.

I met with a customer who told us that they were not giving us any business right now because - and then they listed 10 things.

Now let me tell you, if you're not in sales you might not know this, but the BEST conversation to have with a customer is when they tell you they want to buy a lot of stuff.  The Second best conversation is when they tell you why they don't want to buy from you - because at leat you can respond, react and hopefully change their mind.  The WORST conversation is when they tell you they don't have any money.  That totally sucks.

Anyway, as I sat their listening to this New Yorker take time out of his busy day to help us - and I listened to the sales rep from Georgia sitting beside me tell hin all the ways we were going to change, all I could think was, "STFU.  This guy is from New York.  He doesn't want to hear about executive partnership and next year's gold tournament.  He wants to know how tomorrow is going to be better than today.  And by tomorrow I don't mean "tomorrow" I mean THURSDAY."

This is another reason I love New York, people don't waste your time here.  They show up, they meet with you and then they get on to their busy life.  I love it.

After my meeting I went back to my office.  I LOVE my office in New York.  It's serene.  A friend of mine from Boston was also in NY and we had plans to have dinner at some point.  I checked in with him at 5 and he was heading out for a drink with a coworker and some customers.  We agreed to check in later.

I went shopping at Sephora.  I can't tell if I spent money on things I didnt need or if it really is time for me to start treating my skin like I'm 41.  

I went back to my office and wrapped up and called my friend - at 7:30.  He was still at the bar two and a half hours later.

huh.  he's old too.

They were a couple of blocks away so I stopped in to say hi.  Big Mistake.  HUGE!

As I approached the table I saw my friend, his coworker and three twenty-somethings looking like they had settled in for a long night of drinking expense account booze.

My friend's face was bright red, his hair was disheveled, his shirt was rumpled and I'm pretty sure I caught a glimpse of his liver waving a white flag behind his irises.

There were two martini glasses in front of him - empty and a wineglass - full.  My first thought was, "Oh God."  My second, "I'm apparently not having dinner tonight."

I sat there for the next 25 minutes horrified.

Here is a sample of the conversation:

Young professional Male #1: I live with 5 other guys in a 5 bedroom apartment.  

Young professional Girl: There's a couple right?

YPM#1: Yes, we each have our own room  -  and there is a couple.

Other sales guy that my friend works with - I'll call him Chris - because that's his name: Chris: How does that work?

YPM#1: It's okay because they are in the back of the apartment but one of the other guys says he can hear noises coming from their room at night.

NOTE: Just as I'm becoming uncomfortable with the level of homophobia at the table the Young QuestionablyProfessional Girl pipes in...

YQPG: I don't see what the big deal is.  So many guys want to slip it up the butt anyway what's the difference between what they're doing and what a heterocouple would be doing.

Me: (In my head) Hello, It's nice to meet you.

FYI, the overwhelming response to her question from the guys was: "The picture it puts in your head."

Then we covered the fact that they have a coworker who is dating a woman with a trust fund.  She doesn't work because she has so much family money - but apparently she also doesn't like to give blow jobs so to overcome this he pays her $10 every time she gives him one.

People, this is Manhattan, you can't buy a coke and a knish for $10.

Anyway, at this point I excused myself and ran out into the pouring rain and traffic because I am apparently old and proper - or at least too sober for conversations like that.

 

Comments

[Account Deleted]

Old and proper. LOL!

[joeinvegas]

You never answered the big question: did you get dinner?

[Tyre Depot Karachi]

well saying old

[Erin@MommyontheSpot]

That conversation is hil-arious. . . over here on this side of the computer. I think I would have reacted the same way you did!

[Linda K.]

It's a generational thing. Like talking to my 20-something kids. I always learn something new but never let on to it. BTW, I was in your glorious city last year on this date celebrating my 50th NYC style! I couldn't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be. It was great. My brother and only sibling flew in that morning from Jacksonville, FL, and suprised me at Carmine's! My boyfriend arranged it. We went to a roof-top bar (don't recall which) afterwards and my brother and I danced and drank and saluted the world, all while my boyfriend made sure we didn't dance right off the roof top. It was a blast!

[Paxochka]

Ten bucks for a blowjob is cheaper than he'd get on a street corner.

[Jimmy]

So the guys not liking the fact they have to listen to their roommates going at it is homophobic? That would be like listening to your grandparents doing it. It's just gross for straight guys.