HOME AGAIN... tosome surprises (Part 157h)

HOME AGAIN… to some surprises (Part 157h)

The afternoon session wasn’t as intense as the morning one but was still beneficial. When over Bull and I went up to his room. It wasn’t like any that I’d seen before. It was easily three times the size of Elle’s and my room in Florida. There were two double beds. In fact, in thinking about it, the bath was almost as big as our bedroom had been. We were on the tenth or eleventh floor and from there the people on the street looked like ants. Being in the city and just about 5pm there were a lot of them. Bull had told me he was eating dinner with an old buddy of his but invited me to come along. He assured me that his friend wouldn’t mind.

We had to wait to get a taxi. On the way to the restaurant Bull explained that after graduation he’d been offered a job by a company that owned a minor league hockey team. He’d be given a chance to make the team and against his family’s wishes went ahead and moved to Canada to do it. The guy we were meeting had been a teammate. Bull was a little nostalgic when he said he’d stuck with it for two years but a growing family and the realization that he wasn’t going to make a ‘real’ living playing hockey made him return home. I sat in the cab and realized that we had both done basically the same thing… chased our ‘dream’ right out of college and, even more coincidental, we’d both been married as we finished up and soon had kids.

We went to a steak house that I’d heard about… The Palm. It wasn’t very big and as a real eye catcher, the floor was covered with sawdust. We were seated in a booth with wooden seats and no cushions. We had to wait for his friend. I’d been a hockey fan and had attended many major league games when my father worked in the city. I still followed it but not very closely. When his friend showed up Bull introduced him and I sort of recognized the name… he had played for the Rangers for a couple of years before being traded. I’ll admit I was a little star struck. I was pretty quiet during dinner just content to listen to the two of them reminisce and talk about the guys who had been on Bull’s team and had gone on to play hockey at the highest levels.

The guy had to leave fairly early and I was happy about that. It had been a long day for me. Back at the hotel Bull wanted to go to the bar but I knew that wasn’t a good idea for me. When we’d been in the room earlier he’d told me which bed was mine so I headed upstairs. As tired as I was I still couldn’t get to sleep. I ended up trying to come up with a way to visit with the premium/gift distributors and still make my train. Before we left the meeting hall we’d been talking with a couple of the staff members from the banking association who were putting it on. Even though I had a schedule there wasn’t much detail for the Friday session. There were a lot of cross conversations going on and I never did get any clarity but I got the idea that a lot of it was geared for the larger banks. As I finally drifted off I had it in mind to check out the first session and if it really was geared more for the ‘big boys’ I’d try to get an appointment to see at least one of the distributors.

I never heard Bull come in. He was hungover and opted out of breakfast and told me he’d catch up with me later. That first session was still relevant for smaller banks but I decided to make a couple of phone calls and if I could get in to see the either or both the distributors I’d leave. Luck was with me as the first one I called told me to just show up. When I told him where I was he said it was in walking distance which was more good news. I went back to the room to get my bag just as Bull was headed down to the conference. I told him of my plans and he suggested that I leave my bag in his room rather than drag it around, especially since I’d be walking. He handed me his key and said he’d get another. That way I wouldn’t have to waste time finding him when headed for the station.

I left the hotel around 11am and was at the address I was looking for in less than 15 minutes. I have no idea when I’d conjured up the idea that I’d be walking into a somewhat glamorous showroom that displayed all the gifts I’d be looking at. What a shock! I opened the door and all I saw was cardboard cartons stacked all over the floor and what little furniture I could see. There was an older woman with a clipboard who was rummaging through one of the boxes. She barely looked up when I walked in. She didn’t acknowledge me but bellowed out “Morris”. A minute or so later this short, fat middle aged man appeared from a door that I couldn’t see for all the boxes. He introduced himself and motioned me to follow him. As I made my way around the boxes I had a thought that once through the door things would look better. It didn’t! It was a bigger room with more boxes… but I did see a couple of desks way in the back. Morris led me back and pushed some small boxes off a chair next to one of the desks. As I was sitting he asked me what it was that I wanted. Immediately, I wondered if I was in the right place. I’d had phone conversations with both companies back about a month ago and it was apparent that he hadn’t remembered. I looked around once again and decided this was not going to work. I stood up and apologized for taking his time and started to leave. I don’t remember exactly what he said but he ended up saying that he was hungry and he’d buy me lunch while I refreshed his memory. By then he had my arm and was almost pushing me towards the door. I didn’t want to make a scene so let him lead me out the door. I figured the worst case would be that I’d get a free lunch.

To be continued….