I accidentally catfish-lured our new Senior Director to a dive bar.
By @jaredhm · Work
I was organizing a casual team happy hour and he replied to my Slack message with a super enthusiastic "Can't wait!" I thought he was trying to be "one of the team," so I picked a place accordingly. It turns out he thought it was an invite to a completely different, much fancier event.
The full story
Our department has a new Senior Director who started about two months ago. He's very professional, a little intimidating, and definitely keeps a firm line between a boss and a friend. Last week, I decided to put out a feeler in our team’s general Slack channel for an impromptu happy hour. Something simple, just a couple of beers after work to decompress. I wrote something like, "Anyone up for grabbing a drink after work on Thursday?" A few people gave a thumbs-up. Then, to my shock, the new Senior Director replied in the thread: "Absolutely! I am SO there. Can't wait!" with a bunch of party emojis. Everyone was surprised. My manager even sent me a private message saying, "Wow, guess he's trying to loosen up." So now I'm feeling the pressure. I can't just take him to our usual cheap dive bar, but he seemed so into the casual vibe. I tried to split the difference and picked a slightly nicer, but still very popular and loud, brewery downtown. I figured it was a safe bet. Thursday comes. A few of us get a table. The Director walks in, dressed in a full suit, and his face immediately falls. He looks around at the loud music and the crowds of people in their 20s and it's clear he's horrified. I go up to greet him and he says, through a forced smile, "This is... energetic. So, where is the fundraiser for the children's hospital?" My blood ran cold. I realized his super-enthusiastic "I'm SO there!" wasn't for my happy hour. He must've gotten his wires crossed with a charity gala he was supposed to attend that night at a hotel bar with a vaguely similar name. He had to politely excuse himself after about ten minutes of the most awkward small talk of my life, leaving me to explain to my team that I essentially tricked our new boss into coming to a grimy brewery. I don't think I can ever look him in the eye again.
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