Last night, I went to my first organized Thursday Happy Hour event at Rock Bottom. In all honesty, I have never gone to anything like this prior to last night and I might have had different expectations going into it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I met a few very interesting people. I also like the concept of an organized Happy Hour for people that are interested in meeting new people, having a few drinks and trying new things.
I walked into Rock Bottom and decided to thaw out a little at the bar before I ventured to locate this group of people that I was there to meet. Given that it was happy hour and the bar is located in a central downtown business/theater district, the bar was pretty lively. The beer that I ordered at the bar went down smoothly and I could finally feel my ears again, so I left the bar in search of the happy hour group.
The hostess led me to the back room where this group had been situated. In this large room I found five people other than myself. I was secretly hoping that this was the wrong place and I was going to have to leave to find the real gathering. That may sound mean, however, I was totally uncomfortable hence my instinct to flee. I calmed down a tiny bit, sparked some conversation and ordered another beer.
I wore jeans, the comfortable brown leather shoes that I wear most days, a dress shirt covered by a warm pull over that I picked up last year at J Crew and a ball cap (I really need to get a hair cut). I didn’t think I might be under dressed until I saw the organizer wearing a suit. No problem there though…Why would I be wearing a suit when I worked from home all day?
The happy hour specials were not applicable in this back room, so I ended having to pay full price for happy hour drinks and food. Not the biggest deal, but I thought this was a happy hour event and was expecting some happy hour specials.
So, what do you do? Where did you go to school?
These questions were repeated over and over to me as if my position in a high powered firm would somehow define me as a person. This is something that I absolutely should have expected from this happy hour. How foolish of me! I was under the assumption that this happy hour was for socialization, enjoyment of adult beverages and fun. I missed the part about how it was a young professional networking meet-up.
I wrote about the stigma of NOT having a college degree last month (Is College for Everyone?). When I admitted to not having attended college thus far in my life, someone condescendingly responded with “Oh, well… lots of people make it without college.” I just smiled and decided that after an hour and a half it was my time to go home. It continues to frustrate me that some people are unwilling to accept that one may be intelligent and capable without a piece of paper in a frame on the wall of their office.
Final Words (because I need to end this rant and stop bitching about everything): I learned/recognized something about myself last night. I don’t think that I would define myself as a “young professional” in the sense that young professionals would like to define the term. My business cards have my logo on them, rather than the logo of someone else’s corporation/firm. I would define myself as a young entrepreneur, creative type, nice guy. Just as a side note, perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to crack a marijuana themed joke so early in the evening (haha).
Happy Friday! Cheers to rediscovering faith in humanity.
I have tons of faith in humanity. The #1 thing to remember throughout all aspects of life is that we are all human.
(Photo: Lake sunset in Ohio)
7 Comments
Sorry to hear about this experience, but take heart; most local happy hours are not like this.
You should hang out with me and my crew sometime.
That’s awkward. I think a lot of people define themselves by their jobs, especially those who are going to a happy hour to “network.”
The whole concept of networking weirds me out too. I think relationships form naturally, and sometimes opportunities arise from that. Otherwise, it just seems forced and opportunistic.
That’s not fun, I meet with a few groups around town and have never had that experience. Sad to see a possibly great experience ruined by the attitudes of the attendees. I was actually considering coming down for the happy hour after seeing you announce it on Twitter, glad I had other plans.
In all honesty, I respect the attempt made by the organizer of last night’s happy hour. Unfortunately, it was just too awkward to really get over and have a good time. Everyone seemed to be there to further their career rather than just meet new people (which is why I went in the first place).
On a more positive note, I am totally open to meeting up with different groups in the future.
Drew: Not to sound all negative about MN, but it is commonly reported by newcomers that it is hard to make friends here…and as a newcomer, I have enountered this myself. My theory is that the Twin Cities is populated by a larger percentage of people who grew up here (or went to college here) and stayed than are other larger American cities. It is not at all uncommon for people to hang out with some of the same peopel they went to high school or college with…not to mention having frequent in-person contact with family members. In short, a lot of people seem to have all the friends they need and aren’t especially looking to add to their network.
That doesn’t explain in total your experience at the happy hour (since it seems that these would be people who ARE looking for friends). But…I thought I’d mention it anyway.
Persevere, it will work out!
Ahh man that’s too bad to hear… Well that doesn’t sound like a very fun group in the first place so no real loss there, but when I saw your tweet about it and having been to Rock Bottom I imagined a large group of people (at least 50) basically who’ve taken over the bar area. With people taking advantage of the Happy Hour deals since it is Happy Hour and all sorts of different people bull shitting about everything from their work to sports to technology etc… Being forced to mingle in a separate room with 5 strangers seems a little weird and not well planned especially when you’re paying full price for drinks during happy hour and an even called happy hour. Hmmm?
While I do somewhat agree with Christopher’s comment above about lots of Minnesotans having a bit of a “click”… I would say the city is big enough and employees such a large group of people from all parts of the country and world that it really shouldn’t matter. This just seems like a badly planned event with some douche bags that think a diploma is their life’s work and defines them as a person. Hilarious especially in these economic times when someone like me (self employed entrepreneur) is crushing it and all I see around me is others with degrees who just got laid off from their employers or who can’t get a job to save their lives.
Obviously there’s going to be workers and hustlers. I myself am a hustler and from what I’ve read you seem to be too. While that douche bag is out there hoping to even be “dancing for the man” I’ll be at home in the comfort of my home office launching my new project and killing it.
Have a great weekend and don’t forget 2 things… 1. Cash for a cab. 2. Leave the bars by 1:45AM.
Later.
What’s Up Drew. This is your brother from another mother-Dennis from the beautiful city of Cincinnati.