Holy Akward Life

I am currently in Santa Barbara for work. I found out about this trip on Thursday afternoon- they asked me to fly out the next morning and I could come back on Saturday or Sunday. Me being the loyal employee I am (and secretly wanting all the airline miles I can get- hello? There are like 80 weddings this year) I agree to take one for the team and spend yet another weekend out of town.

We know nothing about this show, pretty much it was a last minute thing for us because we hired some new lobbyist for the LA area and they thought we should be here. So, I booked my tickets, got my schedule and was off to Cali.

I have never worked a show alone and I am not the most outgoing person when it comes to meeting new people. Knowing this, I am consistently working on my confidence in these types of situations because I am in sales and need to get over my shyness. SO: I show up at my hotel. They say- Oh Ms. Griffin... you have a huge box here for you. (I knew marketing was going to send some stuff for me so I relieved it got there in time). They pull out my box. It is not a box... it is a freaking HUGE tub of crap- that weighs a lot. I am secretly DYING inside, because I am alone, therefore have to drag this thing to the show and figure out how to set up the display all by myself. Meanwhile, it is pouring rain in Santa Barbara and I have the ugliest rental car ever. Please see below:

I get to the location, drag my elephant of a "box" into the location. sweating, breathing hard, trying not to bring attention to myself in this really nice hotel. Find the room and look at my booth.... there is NO room to set up. I am against a wall. So- I am praying that marketing at least put a table cloth with our logo in this shipment. Nope they didn't. So, I end up have no fun decor, like the others, but make the best of it.

Cocktail hour starts. I don't know anybody, but am trying to be outgoing and act really cool so someone will want to hang out with me. Our lobbyist FINALLY gets there and comes up to me. (I can tell my the settle shock in his eyes that I am not what he expected). He has only met with our CEO and Greg and then here I am - probably about 20 years younger than expected, blond, etc. etc. He ends up being really nice and introducing me to a few people there. Then I end up going to dinner with them afterwards. After several cocktails, I am finally feeling more confident and actually enjoying myself. I have to stand up in a room of 30 Mayors and government officials (at dinner) and tell what I do and why I am here- that goes surprisingly well. Thank God for wine.

I arrive back at the show this morning, we are in a new room at the hotel and I decide to set up the freaking display that I was overnighted and spent my sweat and muscles dragging in . It takes about 30 minutes, but it is up and i am very proud of my work. Please see photo. Not perfect, but sufficient. AND I am now pretty much BFF with the Mayor of Manhattan Beach (ok, not really) but I sat by him at dinner and I got hello's and "how was the rest of your night" by several of the people I was at dinner with. So.... long story short, I am now the most popular vendor here. I can almost see the jealousy in my competition's eyes. Ha!

The only mountain to climb for the rest of my trip is to figure out what I am supposed to do with this display when the show ends. Nobody gave me shipping instructions to send it back and our Marketing Manager who handles this stuff, refuses to answer emails/calls on the weekends. So pretty much... here comes another round of awkwardness when I have to dismantle the display, pack it and drag it out to the car and try to get it IN the car. God help me.