Saturday, November 14, 2009

Rotary Whacked

Wow, angry Rotarians are a lethal force. Presentation (to those of you that know what I'm talking about) went great. But the dinner was nasty. Canadian nasty, so not really nasty. Not Texas nasty, which is a whole other ball of nasty wax. And mind you, it was actually an American in the group that really led the nasty charge. They were pissed off at the Foundation, I was wearing the Foundation mask, so became the obvious target. I think I involuntarily put my head down on the dinner table at one point. I don't hide disgust very well - though I did take it for the team. Felt like I worked for the IRS. What can you do? Put on the armor and plan for the future.

For those of you who don't know what I do or talking about, here it is in a nutshell: I'm the economic and community development specialist for The Rotary Foundation - yeah that Rotary, Rotary clubs, polio Rotary, your father's Rotary. The Rotary Foundation is trying to revamp its grant structure and fund larger more sustainable projects in specific areas of focus, one of those is economic and community development. Microfinance was the theme of this conference. I talked about how the Foundation will fund microfinance and other economic activities in our new grant structure. Some loved it, some thought it sucked. I ducked when the latter group took aim and barfed out their grief on me. At some point, someone put a glass of wine in front of me, I don't know who, but clearly a kind Canadian comrade. Now I'm back at the hotel, and I think safe. I may need armed escort to leave the country. Who knew I could cause such scandel in such a seemingly kindhearted place. It's like I pissed off Hello Kitty.

Here is my Canadian-played evil avatar for the night. "And strategic partners will cost.......$1 million dollars...wahhha.wwaaahwhaaaaaaa....(evil laughter continues on). This is clearly an inside joke for my Rotary comrades.



And Abby, if you're out there, I received the "back rub." Ewww.

1 comment:

dd said...

Appreciate the SP shout-out...now I have a new role model for conducting negotiations...