by Maureen Bordelon

Created on: December 03, 2008

One of the job duties of a marketing manager is to attend various trade shows throughout the year. While fulfilling my duty at a trade show in San Antonio, Texas, I exceeded expectations in a way I'd sooner forget.

Not only did my marketing team attend, the CEO and owner of the company tagged along as well. This wasn't unusual; he enjoyed both meeting our clients and admiring the ladies, preferably blonde and leggy. A seasoned drinker, our owner looked forward to the festivities.

In order to preface my faux pas, I had a particular female team member that had caused some inter office strife among the rest of our group. She used her company credit card for personal items, was lax about regularly scheduled meetings with clients, and was consistently late, even to trade show openings. The CEO was well aware of this as I had pointedly had repeated discussions with him about my co-worker. However, she was very blonde and very leggy and he was not one for unpleasant confrontation.

The convention opening began with a gala cocktail party that ended in early evening. The alcoholic beverages flowed freely and our group took full advantage of the free drinks. I was no exception. I thought that since the party was only a couple of hours long, we would retire to dinner then call it an early night as the trade show opened early the next morning. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

As the cocktail party wound down, one of our clients suggested that we all regroup in the hotel bar. Because it was the client's suggestion, we answered in the affirmative. Our little party of seven announced our presence to the hotel bar in less than subdued fashion.

Quite rowdy and apparently thirsty, the rounds of drinks were never ending. No sooner had I taken a sip of one, then another drink would appear in front of me as if by magic. In my soon besotted mind, it would have seemed rude not to drink every last one and I did, every...last...drink. In fact, I lost track after the first five.

By 9:00 P.M., the bar population had thinned somewhat, and so had our group. However, the bar still contained a good fifty people. My "problem child" had left along with another older gentleman. Our client had excused himself and sat with another group of patrons. That left only three, our CEO, me, and another male team member.

If a policeman would have been nearby, we would have been arrested for drunk and disorderly. Our table was lively to say the least. A casual discussion about work always ended up in a loud

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