"Shall I take your stetson, Ma'am?"
As the coat attendant's words rang out over the suddenly-quiet conference room and all eyes turned to her, Alyssa wished she could simply fall through the earth. Of all the foolish mistakes she had made in her life, this was by far the worst.
When her mentor had invited her to a party to network with some industry experts, she had been engrossed in a project that was past its deadline. With her boss' boss breathing down her neck and work piled on her desk, she could do little more than make affirmative noises as her mentor chatted in her ear. In fact, by the end of work that day she could only remember hearing the words "casual" and "fancy dress" clearly.
Thinking it odd for a networking party to be a fancy dress party, she had decided to err on the side of caution and wear some casual clothes that could be considered a costume if needed. So she dressed herself in some designer jeans and paired them with a western shirt, cowboy boots, and a stetson.
So here she was, standing at the door of the hotel conference room, trying not to die of embarrassment as dozens of high level executives and industry colleagues in formal attire stared at her. And as she thought of bolting out of the room before anyone could notice who she was, she suddenly met her boss' stern glare.
She flushed crimson and handed the attendant her hat.
This prompt was provided by @mariannewest and can be found here.
Image sourced from Pixabay.
...AWww, I totally feel for her. That's awful.
I can relate a bit, actually! I once went to an "etiquette luncheon" in college (it promised free food in exchange for learning how to eat politely...but all I saw was "free food" apparently). I was also about to lead a camping trip after the lunch, so I was dressed in hiking boots, jeans, and flannel. Imagine my surprise when I tromped in, saw everyone dressed like it was a tea party, and had the host shake my hand. "I'm so...glad you've come to learn," she said, uneasily.
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Haha, I would have just about died if that had happened to me when I was in college! Now, though, I'd probably just grin and take a seat.
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Relatable. That feel when you didn't dress appropriately for a thing!
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A lot of people can relate me too but on the contrary.. I usually wear suite and tie as an armor lol but sometimes it happens to me to be too much for a casual situation. Actually this happened only when I was a lawyer abroad.. I didn't feel at ease at all and so I was always applying a rigid dressing self-code. I don't think it helped though.. now where I am I dress the heck I like, much better. Nicely written @saryn especially considering the limited time!
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I used to do the same, honestly. I wore clothes there were more formal than were really needed, but mostly because I happened to like the clothes. Now I don't need to wear formal attire so it's jeans and comfy shirts every day! :)
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Long life to casual clothes!
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I think that I would have just shouted out, who owns that grey nag tied up outside, you're double parked and about to get a ticket. Then I would have turned around and walked out lol. 😃
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My partner is a wise and shameless woman, and she would say: "At least Alyssa stood out of the crowd, and everybody would have remembered her" ;)
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Like your style!
Standing in for Marianne. below is link to today's prompt
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-83-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-nose-ring
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The best thing for her to do was stay in character.
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I wished you could have snapped a picture of the faces in the room when they first saw you! Moments like that make the best stories - later :)
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