Wednesday I arrived to my hotel, I was immediately on the war path. As I checked in, the first question I had for the front desk staff was, “Is Patrice Euell available, I need to speak with her.” Patrice is the hotel event coordinator and as someone who comes from the hospitality industry, I was going to make sure this event went off without a hitch.
The front desk staff jump into high gear and before I could shake a tail feather, Patrice was walking up the escalators smiling and greeting me with, “You must be Jesse, what a hot mess!”
Well, I must say, she hit the nail on the head….right?
I greeted her with a big ole Texas hug and said, “Show me the room, let’s get started”. She took me by the hand and off we went, down the escalators and on the left, 2 large double doors were open and before my eyes were, tables, chairs, dance floor and stacks of glasses all out being set up. I was pleased, everything was on task and appeared to be ahead of schedule. I confirmed my layout of the room and made some minor adjustments accordingly but, overall it appeared to be in control.
Friday rolls around and party time is less than 5 hours away. I start getting ready, dressing up in my monkey suit and looking as dapper as I ever, of course but, as uncomfortable as you can imagine. I don’t know about you but, I absolutely hate putting on a tie and jacket….I HATE IT! I don’t know that I have ever been comfortable in a jacket and tie but, that is besides the point.
5:30 in the evening and I am downstairs, ushering the hotel staff around, meeting the servers, talking with the final setup people, ensuring the DJ has power and is setting up, working with dock attendants making sure the poker tables have arrived, getting the greeting stations ready, making sure the food is quality, checking out the bars and making sure they are ready and it couldn’t have gone any more smoother. In fact, a couple of times I had to pinch myself not believing just how easily things were coming together.
About an hour before or so, my helpers started showing up. I had Randy, Randy and Jamie from Austin Broker, John Oliveri, Jim Godwin, Brandy (sorry, can’t remember your last name Brandy), Tracy Medina and Patty from; uh-oh, I forgot what company they were from but, I am sure they will read this and comment so, they can tell you in their reply later, who were all very helpful but, after about 30 minutes seeing I had it all under the control, they all disappeared on me and headed to the bar…..lol. It’s all good because, it was all under control.
So, the party starts and people start coming in, things are going great. We are collecting business cards, greeting people, saying hello, bringing them in, showing them around, music is bumping, the poker tables are packed, drinks are pouring, food is getting out……wow, it was amazing!
As I walked around, I asked people how they were doing, everyone seemed to be having a great time. I reminded people to network, drop some business cards, talk with people, establish relationships but, have a good time!
The best part of the entire event was, when people walked out and were saying their goodbyes, I asked them was it worth it and, I didn’t hear a single negative word! Later when I had a chance to look through all the business cards I saw companies like Fannie Mae, Saxon, Old Republic and so many more, I can’t go through them all here and now and, I realized that if someone walked out of this party and didn’t make a contact that could change their business, well……..that’s on them because I have the business cards of each person who attended and I can assure you………$100.00 a ticket was cheap!
After the party, I thought the evening was over but, some friends and REOPro members had alternative plans.
Apparently everyone was headed to a club called Kinky’s. Yeah, I know….the name is a bit of a turn off….or turn on, depending on your persuasion however, off to Kinky’s I went. Now, to protect the innocent, I won’t say who I was there with but, that isn’t important, what you need to know is this club lived up to its name. The best part…..I was sooooo under dressed. You see, after the party, I went upstairs and put on some cargo shorts and polo. I was done for the night and wasn’t in the mood to try and impress anyone. When we get to Kinky’s, we see people in suits, and everything else for that matter and I know I stood out like a sore thumb but, I didn’t care. We get inside and let me just say, I was a bit taken back. Let’s see if I can paint you a good word picture.
The club was in a converted strip mall area where right across the street they had a store called, “Condom Sense” which was a retail shop for everything condom. Granted, I am all about adults being safe but, coming from my little town here in Hermitage Tennessee, I hadn’t seem something like that before. Goodness gracious, when Hustler opened a store in downtown’s club area many years ago, we had protesters and marches from local citizens who felt it was a disgrace to Nashville. My point is, I live in a very conservative area of our country and obviously more so than Dallas Texas and, was just a bit surprised at the neighborhood I found myself in at 1:00am Friday night.
Ok, so, were in line and the people we were with had a VIP table so we got ushered past the velvet rope into the club. Now, the best part is I am in cargo shorts and a polo…..ROFLMAO! Everyone else is still in their party attire and of course those who were regulars at the Kinky’s were in club clothes so, I stood out.
As you walk in, to the left these 2 girls are there scantly clad and looking like they may have just wondered in off the street trying to find shelter from their pimp. I am not exaggerating here, they were beautiful in a Delilah (biblical reference) kind of way. By now, the music is so loud your eye lids start pulsating with the beat and the crown is already so thick, you have to squeeze through them similar to how you squeeze water from a wash cloth. It’s no secret I am a big guy so, when I was walking past people my rear and belly seemed to carve a path like a Land Rover going 50 through a field of fully grown corn, not that I would know anything about that personally…..it’s just a word image. Here I am, bumping and grinding with every Suzy Q and John Q Smith I pass and I am not even dancing! Just between us, I think some of those people saw me coming and tried to get closer……yuk!
Now, because the night was filled with a little too much frivolity I can’t go into all the details of what happened and who was there but, I do want to tell you about 1 thing I saw that truly made me realize I was not in my element.
As I am standing up looking around the sea of people, I saw this girl floating through the crowd with a whip in one hand and her other holding onto something I couldn’t see very well. Looking harder into the pulsating disco lights I see this woman, riding a little old Mexican man as if he was a horse. The craziest part was, he had on a full saddle and little horsey legs in the front. TALK ABOUT KINKY!
Well, needless to say, the night was filled with wonder and yes, Kinky’s was more of an experience I have had in a long time. In fact, just to tell you how dull I life I life, the closest thing I have done lately that even comes close is when I took my niece up to see Mammoth Cave in Kentucky last summer.
I am very grateful to everyone who helped make the night a success, especially Christian Broadwell of RealtyPilot.
Christian, you are a good friend, a great business partner and I am grateful that I was fortunate enough to meet you. I can’t wait to see what our future holds and I look forward to making this year one for the record books.
God bless each of you and let’s get to work!
