I attended a marketing seminar recently, and I overheard the following conversation between a woman in her late 20s (Marcia) and a business colleague:
MARCIA: These binders have a ton of stuff for us to learn. We need to do more social media in my company. I don’t think my boss even has a Twitter account, and he is a twit!
FRIEND: I guess that’s why they sent you here, so that you could figure it out. What do you think?
MARCIA: I’m not sure! I came here because it’s one less day I have to be in the office. The best part is that today is Friday, which means that my weekend has started early.
FRIEND: That’s cool! I’m not sure what I will do this weekend. I have a few friends who want me hang out with them tonight, but these guys can stay out all night! I mean … all night! A couple weeks ago, we even did the Denny’s breakfast thing at 5 a.m. I slept the entire day after that.
MARCIA: I know that my friend Danny wants to come over tonight and have a few drinks. He is a good friend! I mean … we are just friends.
FRIEND: What do you mean that you are just friends? If he is coming over for drinks, I’m sure you’re more than just hang out-kinda friends, right?
MARCIA: I know you won’t believe it, but we are just friends! I mean … Danny has even slept in my bed, and we didn’t do anything at all. He stayed on his side, and I stayed on my side. True … we both passed out after partying so long, but you know what I mean.
FRIEND: Not really … what do you mean?
MARCIA: We just like each other as friends. I have known him for … like … 13 years. He and I will never cross that line.
FRIEND: He must be ugly! That’s way too weird for me.
MARCIA: You can think what you want, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Come to think of it … it’s even hard for me to believe it. Anyway … how much longer is this break? I need to make a couple of calls.
While they were having this conversation, I was doing my best to focus on checking my emails. As you can tell, though, it was a lively chat, and it did captivate my interest for the few minutes that it lasted. I guess it’s not a conversation that most people have in a public setting, but it didn’t seem to matter to them. I noticed that Marcia spoke at a level at which she wanted others to hear what she was saying. She was used to being the center of attention.
I really don’t know if Danny was just a friend or something more, and I really don’t care. I do know, however, that this type of conversation is a bit over-the-top, and probably not for public consumption at a marketing seminar.
With that said, it did give me something interesting to write about this week.