Last weekend I was in Beijing for a weekend conference. Grim as that sounds, when my expertise is in demand, I can’t say no. I spent Friday evening loitering around the check-in desk, keeping an eye out as attendees swarmed around the hotel where the conference was being held.
Good orientation is key, as one of my fellow panelists discovered. She must have missed that the hotel’s fitness centre was on the same floor as the conference.
When the lift opened, she stepped into the middle of the conference chaos wearing just her bathing suit. In fairness, it was a dazzling number emblazoned with an American flag design, but her face turned almost as red as the stripes. Amid the grey suited horde, she must have been visible from a mile away but at least she could be thankful that she had not opted for a bikini.
As she looked to make a speedy escape, I took the opportunity to assure her it was not the worst swimwear slip-up I had seen.
I’ll never forget the time I ran into a client sitting by a hotel pool on the “logistics day” preceding the start of our roadshow together. In this case, the logistics seemed to be restricted to the smuggling of a couple of budgies to a sun lounger. The sight of his tanned backside is one that will be forever be burned into my memory.