Ok, so this weekend my brother was invited to have a wellness booth at a reality show audition in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He invited me to come along and help out since they were expecting a LOT of people.  We were told that for participation we would be invited to the red carpet party and dinner.  It sounded like a great opportunity with some fun afterwards.  The “mini expo” was a waste because there were maybe 100 people who walked through the hand selected booths.  The fun came later.

Reality Show

So they were having auditions for Gear Girls which is a new reality show someone is putting together.  This is a show that has women competing in events like car maintenance, race car driving and other such things.  There were women from several western states and all walks of life who came to audition.  My niece, Rebecca Morgan, came with us to audition.  Please vote for her on the Gear Girls Facebook page.

Some were a lot of fun to talk to as they wandered from booth to booth.  Some just walked by and glanced, by their demeanor you could tell they didn’t want you to engage them in conversation.  Anyway, as a people watcher, it was fun just to watch them.  We became friends with the ladies in the lingerie booth next to us who were also avid people watchers.

Dinner?

So we were supposed to be fed dinner.  At least that is what they told us.  Their idea of dinner turned out to be some very interesting but delicious hors devours that included drinks at the bar.   (My brother, niece and I don’t drink.) We had teriaki chicken kabobs (a single piece of meat on a toothpick), mashed potatoes (served in small dessert cups with even smaller forks) and sweet potato fries (also served in 1/4 serving cups).   The two ladies from the lingerie booth, my brother, my niece and I all sat together at one of the small tables.  Actually my brother stood because there were not enough stools.  We made friends with one of the servers who was kind enough to bring us several rounds of hors devours.  We enjoyed excellent conversation while we consumed our “dinner”.

The Fun Begins

All of us being avid people watchers began talking about the people attending this “party”.  It was an interesting assortment of men and women who were walking around and sipping at their drinks.  They seemed to be talking quietly in small groups.  Several of them were enjoying themselves at the two black jack tables.

The Poor and UNder Dressed

Some of the women attending obviously were so poor that they could not afford anything but a t-shirt.  Some of them could not even afford the whole t-shirt.  These “dresses” barely covered the bottoms of these women.  There was one who was obviously poorer than the rest because she could not afford the sleeves and shoulders of her t-shirt.  She had just enough to cover her bosom and her bottom.  We couldn’t help laughing because she was constantly pulling her “dress” down to cover her small bottom and then up to cover her gently endowed (small) bosom.  The girls in our group were feeling very sorry for her and thought that maybe if she had more to support the top of her dress it would not be such a problem.  We discussed where we could get the supplies needed to teach this poor girl how to stuff her bra.  We did decide, finally, that it would be too embarrassing to this poor girl and chose not to offer our well-meaning assistance.

She’s From Las Vegas

One woman was from Las Vegas and had auditioned in all the locations they were held.  She wore a long strapless dress and spent the night looking like she was just about to fall out.  At one time the sides of her bosoms seem to have gotten away, but she caught them just in time and put them back into the dress.  One thing to note about this woman was that when she moved, her bosoms did not.  She stopped by our table to chat us up.  She seemed to be a cross between a California Valley Girl and a Las Vegas Show Girl.  It is rather frightening actually.  One of the lingerie ladies chatted her up while the rest of us kept our mouths tightly closed.  Both my brother and I couldn’t open our mouths even to put food in them because we knew what would come out and we did not want to offend this interesting woman.  After that we carefully but firmly avoided any eye contact that would result in another visit.

Put Your Face On

We’ve all heard women say that they need to put their face on before they feel presentable.  Well many of the women in attending this “party” took it to extremes.  It looked like they had used spatulas to apply much of their make-up.  We wondered if there would be an actual face if the make-up was removed.  Now don’t get me wrong, there were no clowns in the group.  All the make-up was tastefully done, it was just thick enough for the wicked witch of the west to hide behind.

Only Fun For Us

As we watched the people around us we noticed that very few, if any, smiled or laughed.  They all seemed so serious and boring.  It was almost like attending a funeral.  Our little table got a lot of funny looks because we were laughing and chatting animatedly.  We were having a very good time.

What has happened to the art of schmoozing?  People talking, laughing and getting to know each other.  I may live in Utah but I was not raised here.  I grew up in California and spent many years in Reno, Nevada.  I’ve attended social and they were nothing like this one.  I was very tempted to put on my schmooze and work the “party” but my brother wouldn’t let me.  Not because it wouldn’t be fun but because I would have an anxiety attack at the end of the night and be good for nothing the next day.  I’d already had one anxiety attack earlier that day and didn’t want another.

Have a great Monday everyone and don’t forget to watch the people around you.  It is the best reality show ever!