Taking the Temperature

Yesterday I met with a book club at a software company. And as I stepped off the elevator to the open office I instantly felt a kinetic vibe. It was alive. At first, second and third glance I noticed a gaggle of twenty-somethings buzzing about way past the five o’clock whistle. Maybe it was 6:15 p.m. – but that qualifies as “way past” in my book. Go home – be with your families I thought… No wait, they were twenty-something New Yorkers – this was their family and the five o’clock shadows seemed to be running a tad late…

Beers had been cracked and work was still getting done.

And without meeting a single employee I told myself “I like these people.”

Almost immediately I was offered a Diet Coke… I guess that means they really read the book. But even as I was being led to where our meeting would commence I was still taking the temperature of the office. I’ve worked in a few over the years.

And I realized that it’s something I always do – I take the temperature. And why wouldn’t I?

One of my best friends from today and yesterday is a professional blackjack player. He counts cards. I don’t think I have the capacity to count cards. It seems like a lot of work. But one of the very basic elements to playing 21 – that everyone who sits down at a table should know – is that you don’t play your hand – you play the dealer’s hand. Who gives a shit if you have a 15? It’s a great hand if the dealer is showing a 6. Okay maybe it’s not great, but you know what I’m saying. So when I say I took the temperature of the office – I just really mean I was checking out what the dealer (the book club) was showing. And from everything I was picking up – I knew it was going to be a great night.

My plan was to play to my audience, but I say that with hesitation because I’d never tell anyone to be fake. But I think you can still be authentic without being fake. Ugh… I really dislike fake people… The word dislike doesn’t really resonate as well as “hate” would, but recently I’ve been trying to correct my daughter from using the word hate – especially when talking about people. You shouldn’t hate anyone – right? – Sorry for the PSA – it won’t happen again…

I told myself I was going to keep this under 400 words, but I’m already at 414.

And just as I predicted I had a fun night. It was very relaxed and felt like I was talking to some old college buddies… I just happened to graduate twenty years ahead of them.

Some of my favorite questions of the night…

Q: Were you at all concerned about STDs?

A: Um… No.

Q: What’s the most amount of cocaine you’ve ever seen in one place?

A: Well, in Atlantic City once I saw several names spelled out in finely cut white powder on a ten foot coffee table. It was a lot…

Q: How much money did you spend on cocaine?

A: Not a lot… I was on the Buy Side dude…

Q: Would you ever go back to working on Wall Street?

A: I’d rather collect recyclables.

I’m not taking full credit for the fun and playful night we had because it always takes two. I’ve had plenty of speaking engagements, book clubs or whatever where I stuck to more of the basic topics like Wall Street, insider trading, addiction and the process of writing a book. But when I realized this book club wanted to have fun with it, I let them know I was game.