A tongue in cheek note from a local events manager – see how many of these apply to you too.- Wardrobe filled with mostly black clothing? You are not boring or funereal. Nope, you are an events manager. You can totally rock black every day for the next 3 weeks, without doing a load of laundry. Alternatively you may also have an extensive collection of belts or jewellery to disguise the fact that this is the 2nd time this week you have worn the same dress.
Pumps take up a whole self in your shoe cupboard. Heels, oh yes please. For my 3 days off a year. The rest of the time I am racing around in ballet flats, in various shades of black, polka dots, sparkles and even an Irish green pair (one must jazz up those sombre black outfits!!)
Your home/office is filled with random items that make no sense. Banners, 20 vases, boxes of wine, uniforms, gift bags etc. You become so used to the clutter that you only notice it when one of your friends come round to visit and point out the fact that you could open a Spaza shop.
You very rarely wear nail polish, and if you do – you touch up the chipped ends rather than remove it. Time is of the essence at 4am after roughly three hours sleep, the energy required to remove your nailpolish is just not happening – so you quickly paint over the chipped ends whilst driving to the event and dry your nails in front of the car airvent. (Guilty as charged.)
Weekends are erratic. You may not have had a weekend off in a month, or you may find yourself having a Sunday on a Wednesday, when all your friends are at work. No worry, it’s not like you had plans to go out, most days off are pyjama and couch days anyway.
You can sleep anywhere, at any time. You have slept in the back of your car, in empty conference rooms, or under tables more times than you care to admit. Sleep is precious in this industry, you take it where and when you can get it. You may also likely posses the great skill of sleeping with your eyes open – a rare but useful talent.
You have the hearing of an elephant. You can tell the minute the air-conditioning has been switched off, the very second the microphone batteries go flat while a speaker is still on stage, the crockery being cleared three rooms down sounds like a twenty piece orchestra has just belted in to action next to you.
Your social life is sketchy at best. You may find yourself missing out on social occasions like birthday’s and weddings. Having a friend base/partner that understand your erratic hours and last minute schedule changes is essential in this industry. And a partner that cooks and does grocery shopping is a huge plus, point below.
You have eaten takeout for three days in a row. Your fridge contains a jar of mayonnaise, half a bottle of wine and two dodgy looking california rolls. You wish you could get to a grocery store, but they keep such pedestrian hours – what about those of us that want to do a full grocery shop at 11pm?
You can’t remember what your car looks like without the seats down and piled with boxes. Your vehicle has become some sort of delivery van. Offering people a lift is just not a possibility, your front seat is piled so high that opening the door without dropping anything would be problematical. You could offer DHL your services, you cover the great city area pretty regularly.
Although mostly written tongue in cheek, there are some underlying qualities that hit home for me whilst writing this article, the seriousness with which I throw myself in to my chosen profession has left me lacking in a few areas – possibly time to reflect on how I manage my time, and my social life?
