Ok, so today I tried out my rusty marketing skills in Friendly's. I am a coordinator for an au pair agency and have been out of the marketing scene for a few months.
What was I thinking? As I was sitting there with my kids, who were actually behaving very well and gobbling up their ice cream (so there was no noise at my table), I couldn't help but overhear the mother sitting behind me discussing with her mother her childcare issues for her preschooler & infant. She was planning on driving one child to one babysitter for a day, then another place, blah blah blah, on and on they went. They were talking back & forth, fast & furious about the topic. This was a perfect opportunity for me to introduce the au pair program - right??
WRONG! I reached into my bag & pulled out a partially crumpled mini brochure, squeezed myself out of the booth nearly knocking my toddler out of the highchair, stepped over to the ladies behind me & fumbled something to the effect, "I couldn't help but overhear that you were trying to coordinate childcare, and I happen to work with an au pair agency. I have a brochure here....." you get the picture - and what I am writing sounds much better than what I actually said, believe me. Ugh! "I wasn't eavesdropping," I managed to squeeze into my blabbering. But of course I was! Not only am I a terrible on the spot marketer, but a lousy liar as well.
After sitting back down at my table, feeling like I had just stepped off of a bad airplane ride, my kids were rolling their eyes at me asking WHY I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE AU PAIR STUFF ALL OF THE TIME, and the table behind me fell silent. I could just about hear their eyes making remarks to eachother, one raising an eyebrow, the other smirking as if to say, "What was that all about?" Both afraid to say anything more about anything because the crazy lady behind them is EAVESDROPPING! A few very short moments later, they got their check and decided to go. Actually, it seemed like they bolted out the door and continuously looked back my way to make sure I wasn't following them. I felt like a stalker, with kids, eating ice cream.
Just to make matters worse for me today, as I left the retaurant with my now grumpy kids in tow, I bumped into a real estate agent I recognized. Asking him if he would like any brochures to hand out to clients in search of childcare, I was able to successfully hold a conversation about it. However that was short lived and I was once again able to ruin it.
"Is this your son?" I asked regarding the 6ish year old child with medium length hair and boy colored striped clothing on standing beside him. "Actually this is my neice..." Awkward silence. Need I say more?
I am closing up marketing hell for one day & having a much deserved cocktail
