Have you ever had someone drag you to one of those excruciatingly loathsome meetings with a group of people that sell something? I detest those meetings.
Something about all that rah-rah, at-a-boy, bug your friends, bogus cheerleading, creeps me out. As “W” says, “It sticks in my craw.”
The absolute worst part is sitting by an ultra-super-platinum-diamond-emerald- I’m-so-impressed-with-myself guy who brags that he earns sixty bazillion dollars a month and then gives you that look…..you know, that look that tells you what a sad, sad person you are because you don’t even have the synthetic stone pin ---- which, of course, everyone knows, is the lowest rung on the way to ultra-super-diamond-emerald fabulousness!
Any time I’ve been dragged to one of those meetings I’ve needed a shower immediately upon adjournment to get the eewww off me.
So, with much trepidation and a feeling of dread in my stomach, I attended my first meeting of the Dallas Chapter of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (DIRC) last week. Mainly I went because I was hoping to see Jimmye and Fern, two women that were in the September ASP class with me.
I’d already prepared a host of reasons for leaving early if they weren’t there – my Mom’s having her bat mitzvah, Tom Cruise is coming over and I have to hide my sofa, I have a hunting date with Dick Cheney….I would say anything if my ick factor got overwhelmed.
So I took a deep breath and….
I walked into a room full of….
drum roll, please….
absolutely normal people!
I could not believe it!!
There was no rah-rah, ookie, one-ups-manship, craw sticking here! There were actually ASP’s, (that in a parallel universe, would be ultra-super diamond emeralds) who were warm and welcoming souls! And guess what?
Not one condescending word.
Not one look.
Not even a glance to check my stone pin status.
Nope….to my utter surprise, they were full of remarkable, helpful advice and good wishes and kindness and charity. There was nothing but encouragement for the new Stagers. Sincere encouragement. They were genuinely trying to help!
You could tell that these are the kind of people who have ick-factors for bogus cheerleading gatherings too! It was almost too good to be true!
I tried to thank everyone (especially Karen Otto of Home Star Staging, who very generously explained tons of stuff to me that I just didn’t understand!) and I got to see Jimmye and visit with lots of other amazing supportive people!! (Sadly, no Fern).
I felt ashamed of myself for dreading that meeting. It was kind of like when the Grinch looked down at Whoville on Christmas and discovered..
“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!”
Or in my case:
It came without cheering. It came without “ick”.
It came without sofas, bat mitzvahs and Dick!
Thank you, DIRC!
You’re one group of fabulousness!
Monica
