Downtown Girls


Wherein Our Heroine Joins Something - Sort Of.
Don't you just hate when circumstances make you inconsistent? Oh, dear, we've covered that, "Don't you just hate..." thing before. Anyway - I hate it when circumstances make me inconsistent. I am referring to my general allergy to clubs and organizations. Last night, I went to the inaugural function for the DC chapter of the Downtown Women's Club.

I'm slightly more consistent than this activity would make me seem. The "Club" has no dues, does not generally charge for events, and is very loosely organized. Essentially, it is designed to allow women to network amongst themselves and also to have fun. And despite my skepticism about networking when I first entered the workforce, networking definitely works.

Single-sex clubs and events are more interesting now that women have more clout. And I can speak from recent experience when I say that co-ed networking opportunities can have some ooky unintended consequences. I went to a networking event a while back with two former NASDAQ colleagues and had some bozo actually hit on me. (No, despite having recently told another story about ooky pick-ups, this does not happen to me a lot). Some guy at a local "shameless networking" event approached me, and noted that I had "formerly NASDAQ" on my badge in place of a current employer.

"Yes," I said brightly. "And Bill and Maggie worked there as well." I gestured to them, standing on either side of me. He didn't even look at them. Oh no...

Boring story, except for the fact that Maggie went to the world's slowest bartender to try to arrange a diversion by getting me a drink, and when Bill turned away a little bit, I feared being abandoned completely and took advantage of my admirer's unwavering stare to snag Bill's jacket sleeve in a grip of iron under Mr. Stare's line of vision. Finally, Mr. Stare did get the hint when he referred to the ubiquity of my last name. "Yes." I said firmly, "I got it when I married my husband."

Somehow, I don't think I'll have to deal with too many people at the DWC who mistake shameless networking with speed dating.
Posted: Thursday - August 26, 2004 at 08:16 AM         | |

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