Yesterday, I was working way out of my normal area.
One of the interesting aspects of my job is that thanks to an old and much neglected qualification in PR/Public Affairs, obtained for the hell of it when I worked for a firm with a very generous training budget, I sometimes get asked to work on some pretty high-flying things and yesterday, my employer was hosting an event connected to the UN and their sustainable international development programme. I was asked to put-in a few hours to help out our Public Affairs people, who were being run-ragged by the whole thing. The people I was due to be working with included representatives from the UN, various international NGOs, diplomatic people from several embassies and consulates, plus UK and various EU governments and someone connected with the film Slumdog Millionaire.
Anyway, I suited-up smartly in the morning and about an hour before I was due to attend, applied three drops of A314. One drop to each wrist, then split one drop behind my ears and lastly, one drop across my neck, just above my collar. My cologne for the day was Calvin Klein’s Eternity.
Once there, I attended the front desk to ask for our senior PR person and despite my wearing a work ID prominently, the young lady promptly whipped out her clipboard list of dignitaries and proceed to try and check me off! 
Then I found our senior PR lady - A sharp, forward and sociable woman in her 50s, who must have been quite a looker in her day and that is when things got interesting. Now we have always got on very well in a professional sense and today was no different but after she outlined what I was needed for, she began to introduce me to the people I would be looking after and as we went-on, she became more and more like a little schoolgirl trailing in my wake. Once she introduced me, she would stand right back, adopting a fairly submissive stance and let me do the talking, waitng paitently till I was finished with each person, before meekly leading me to the next. This is most unlike her! Also, when we were on our rounds, one of her young assistants approached to talk to her and whilst talking, the girl turned and stared hard at me before breaking into a huge smile when I smiled back at her! (pity - waaay too young! 
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Then she and some of her colleagues left to take a well-earned break/handle other parts of the event, leaving myself and another interloper - a former regional TV personality (quite an alpha characher himself) who now runs his own PR firm, to handle the event. The reaction from the speakers was surprising - It was like they were there to serve us, not vice versa. So we were moving them about, getting them up for their presentations, organising them into groups or singly for press photos, media interviews etc and they were complying, happilly and without demurr. All the time talking interestedly and hanging on our every word. I have never before worked an event like this that has gone so smoothly - the saying “herding cats” is usually more applicable! Even when mr ex-TV was holding forth to one lot, he would pause and direct people to me when I was marshalling another group for the media. In fact I would say we were both bouncing off each other brilliantly the whole time - I’ve worked with him on a few occasions before in connection with media interest in my own line but this is the first time I’ve done an event with him but it was like we had worked together for years!
In the meantime, I was also getting plenty of signs of interest - eye contact, big smiles etc from the young assistant and another older woman guest (attractive, dark haired but a bit plump) as I moved back and forth in the crowd outside the hall where the talks were happening. The assistant was also coming to sit/stand beside me in the odd quiet moment.
When our senior lady and the event organiser got back a few hours later, they were thrilled with the way we were managing things, and in particular thanked me profusely for helping out - but TBH, my role was pretty small and lastly, I called into the control booth for a chat with the tech guys and was immediately drawn into a discussion there and asked to chip-in an opinion on aspects of tech upgrade policy for the next few years.
Oh.. my.. gawd..! What a day. 
