Dave & busted

In the end, the big morale booster last night was a bit of a damp squib. A grand total of 14 people showed up & the conversations I drifted into were pretty much exclusively about our technology, the solution & how we’re going to take over the world in our market space.

So no change there.

Oh—I lie; I sat next to the head of biz dev; he spent a good part of the time talking about his trip to Bangalore, his trip to Milan, his trip to Australia & his trip to I-dropped-out-thinking-the-weight-lifting-competition-on-ESPN-was-less-full-of-self-puffery. There’s something comfortably constant about BD guys—no matter what business they’re in, every conversation is always & inevitably about their own wonderfulness.

(One exception—a couple of employers ago our VP of BD was actually capable of carrying on a conversation that didn’t exclusively revolve around specific deals being currently worked or past successes. I can’t think of anyone but John who could do that, though.)

At any rate, conversations were difficult because of the volume of the music in the restaurant; all I had to do was look fascinated, nod occasionally & every once in a while murmur, “Interesting…” The food wasn’t actually dreadful, but managed to consist of salads, pastas, vegetables & baked chicken that all tasted pretty much the same.

The worst part for me was that the Big Kahuna was over from India & was there apparently displaying both leadership & solidarity with the plebs. He stayed throughout the evening. I introduced myself & you could see through his eyes how he was trying to connect my name with a useful function. It was only when someone else with a similar name caused some confusion that he learned who I am. I’m not sure it made any difference in his mind.

But I did my duty—no one else from product management was there. I didn’t spill either food or drink on anyone (that I recall). I stayed a decent amount of time & wasn’t the first to leave.

But I’d so rather have had the night to myself reading Miranda Carter’s multi-bio of Wilhelm II, George V & Nicholas II.