Elizabeth Montoya, Senior Account Executive, and I decided to attend the Latina Hat Luncheon on Friday, May 15 at the Carlton at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Long Island. I had been involved with the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (organizers of the event) for many years and haven’t been to an event in more than five years so we decided to attend. Here’s my story about the lost cell phone and other tales…
That morning Elizabeth came to work wearing a black and white dress and pink sweater with a big black flappy hat. She looked adorable with her long hair flowing out the hat. I wore a black suit and green and white blouse but didn’t have a hat. I told Elizabeth in the car that I will feel very out of place because everyone wears hats there.
When we pulled up to the driveway of the Carlton, we noticed a woman in a long dress getting out without a hat. I felt better…
Elizabeth and I walked in and were told to sit at table #2. We went into the cocktail reception and noticed Lord & Taylor was there with a variety of hats. I tried them on. I actually found one that I liked and bought it. There were other things for sale there too but nothing really struck either one of us. We sat by the fireplace and I met an old client I hadn’t seen in many years.
When the luncheon started, we went inside the grand ballroom and went over to table 2. I was very surprised that they put us up front. We took our seats and were quickly told that we weren’t allowed to sit at table #2.
“This is the TD Bank table,” a woman said to us. She wasn’t very nice and she actually startled us a bit. “You need to go back to the desk and find out where you are sitting because it’s not here. This is only for TD Bank people only.”
I shook my head. Really? Okay… So I walked to the front desk and asked where we were supposed to sit. The sheet said table #2 but the woman behind the table said that was a mistake and that we were to sit at table #15 instead.
Elizabeth and I moved over to table #15 and started to listen to the presentations. Suddenly, my watch started to buzz (I have a smartwatch and it’s connected with my mobile phone to get notifications). I looked for my phone. I couldn’t find it.
I looked under the table. I went to the cocktail area, it wasn’t there. I went down to the bathroom, it wasn’t there. I asked the people at the front desk, no one saw anything. I asked the wait staff, no one turned anything in. I was confused. Where could it be???
One of the waiters told me to follow him to the other building. “Let’s see if anyone turned it in,” he said.
When I got there, we were going to go on “find my phone” app but then one of the managers said, “are you sure you didn’t leave it in the car?”
I stormed out of there. I had been looking at the phone, checking my email throughout the event. I knew I had it.
When I got back to the table, Elizabeth said I should look at table #2. I went over to the table. I was getting dirty looks by the TD Bank staff. I walked over to the seat I was supposed to sit in and looked through the goody bag at the seat. It wasn’t there.
Then I spotted it. The mobile phone was sitting next to a woman from the bank. I grabbed it and as I did, she said, “that doesn’t belong to you!” I looked at her and said, “yes it does” and marched off.
I was really surprised that no one looked around table #2 when I told the TD Bank staff that I lost my phone. I always thought they were an honest bank… Oh, I guess they label themselves as the most convenient bank… ha!
