Something that’s making me mad …

Jim and I went to Hula Bay last weekend for some afternoon cocktails.  Everything was fantastic (much better than the previous week, that is, when a glass broke and a blue margarita soaked my white tank top, but that’s another story).  Anyhow, I had to make a stop in the little chicks’ room before we left and that’s when I encountered the problem: the bathroom attendant.  Ugh!  I can not stand a bathroom attendant!

Does this drive you chicks crazy, too?  That you go in to use a restaurant bathroom and you find someone there waiting to assault you with paper towels, perfumes and peppermints?  I’m not sure what it is about this “service” that irks me the most.  Maybe it’s the fact that the attendant forces the towel into my hands so I have no choice but to take it.  Or, maybe it’s the feeling of discontent that I get when I’m expected to tip someone for doing something that I could easily do myself.  Or, perhaps it’s that this particular attendant didn’t even crack a smile when I joked that I was cash-poor and asked if she took debit.

Now, Hula Bay is not a fine-dining restaurant; and, even if it was, the nicer places around town don’t even have attendants.  So, what gives?  From a business standpoint, I can’t figure out why restaurants do this.  Do they think it makes them appear to be nicer eating establishments?  Do they feel like an attendant needs to be in there to restrict paper towel usage?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that it makes me not want to go to this place again – no matter how good the blue margaritas are! – or any other place* that’s pretty much forcing me to pay to use the bathroom.

I understand that the attendants are “just doing their job” and that it’s not their fault the restaurants have hired them for this wacky practice, but, really, it’s so irritating!

What do you think, chicks?  Any insight on why restaurants do this?

* Summer and I went to Carmine’s in Ybor on Friday and found an attendant there, too!

The other night I was throwing a little pity party for myself.  Some friends who have “regular” jobs were all heading to Cork & Olive for the monthly Sip and Dip.  It’s such an awesome event; you try wines, eat some food from a local restaurant and mingle with neighbors and friends – and I wanted to go!

What was I doing, though?  You know it: working.  More specifically, I was reconciling my business bank account and sending out invoices.  I caught myself saying, “I don’t get to have any fun anymore!”

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to eat them right back up.  Who was I kidding?  I couldn’t go to one Sip and Dip.  Big deal.  Not only will there be another one next month, there will most certainly be some sort of networking event within a couple days when food, wine and friendship will be part of the mix; and you know I’ll be there.  Our jobs as entrepreneurs are pretty great.  We get to have mingling, eating and drinking as an entry on our job description.

Plus, frankly (and weirdly), I love accounting.  I actually enjoy balancing the books and distributing bills.  In order to do those things, I must have some money coming in and what’s not to like about that?

This all leads me to believe that my definition of fun has changed.  Well, maybe the way I define fun hasn’t changed, because I still like to do the same things, but the way in which I go about having that fun is different.  And, I’m OK with that.  So bring on the calculator, the spreadsheet, and, okay, a glass of wine – what are you going to do tell my boss? – and let the fun begin!

I tried out for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” recently, as did fellow biz-e-chick Jenni McKay.  (See Jenni’s blog entry about it here.)  It’s funny how an audition for a game show can be a lot like daily life.  Here are a few little life lessons that were reinforced at the try-outs:

1.  Go with your gut.  We had 10 minutes to complete a 30-question multiple choice test.  This seems like plenty of time until you get stuck on a question like “The term ‘embouchure’ refers to the position of one’s mouth when doing what?”  Right off the bat, I had a feeling it was “playing a wind instrument.”  Why did I know this?  I have no idea.  All I know is that answer felt right … and it was.

To me, this is like going with your gut when meeting with a client.  There have been a couple times when I’ve met with someone and known right away that things would not work out between us.  The first time this happened, I didn’t trust my gut and ended up doing work for which I was not paid.  The second time, I passed on the suspect client and found out later from the girl who was hired that working with the person was a complete nightmare.

2.  First impressions are everything.  Once you’ve passed the written test at the audition, you have a quick one- to two-minute interview with a Millionaire producer.  At the end of that time, the producer decides whether or not to put you through for an on-camera interview.  One to two minutes: that’s it to prove yourself worthy of Millionaire status.

This made me think about doing presentations for prospective clients.  You usually have more than one minute to present yourself in a situations like that, but not always.  There’s a very good chance that the possible client has started judging you from the minute you walked in the door.  Your appearance, your attitude, your preparedness – they can all be sensed within seconds, so you need to be “on” immediately.

3.  Give it all you got.  For most people, trying out for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is going to be a one-time thing.  (This does not apply, though, to the sweet old man standing next to us in line – Mr. Fourth Time’s a Charm*.)  So, I was bound and determined to put everything I had into the process.  I treated that test like my life depended on it and acted like the producers were the gateway to my dreams.  There was nothing to lose and $1 million to gain!

With every project I work on, I treat it like it’s the last thing I may do for that client because, really, that could be the case.  If I don’t do my best and something slips past me, it could mean the end of my relationship with that client and the end of a steady stream of income.

It occurred to me that all of these are things we learn when we’re little kids.  Isn’t it funny how they still apply to us 20-, 30- , 40-, 50-something women now just as much as they did when we were five?  I guess that guy was onto something when he wrote “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

*Four-timer didn’t make the show again:(.

We talk a lot about business goals at our biz-e-chicks meetings.  We spend time making lists of our goals for the next week, the next few months, even the next year.  What we don’t do at our meetings is concentrate on our personal goals.  I think this is something we should do in the future, as I believe some of us might be in for an awakening of sorts.

The other day, I decided to do some thinking about my big personal goals – I mean the really big ones, not the everyday “do something sweet for my husband,” “call my parents,” etc. And, guess what I realized?  I don’t have any.  Well, no, I take that back.  I had many, and I’ve reached all but one of them (living on the beach, that one I’m still working on).

This was a very jarring realization.  Could I really be 31 years old and have accomplished nearly all of my goals?  The answer for me, and I bet for a lot of you (based on a few discussions I’ve had), is – incredibly! – yes!

We are some smart, mainly type ‘A,’ overachieving, goal-oriented girls who know what we want and go after it with a keen focus that allows not much to get in our way.  So, it should come as no surprise that we meet and even exceed our personal goals … but it still does.

What’s next, then?  A sense of content, satisfaction and pride at being done early?  A new list of personal goals?  Maybe our goals will change as we move to different phases in our lives, i.e., I’ve accomplished the goals of my 20s and need to set new ones for the next decade.  I’m not sure.  Perhaps a biz-e-chicks meeting on personal goals would help.  What do you think, peeps?