Dress for success: dinner with the parents
So the other night I was getting ready to meet my parents for dinner, and I thought to myself, “I should dress up – look nice – show my parents how well I’m doing living on my own.”
Then a realization hit me, I should do the exact opposite and look like I’m barely scraping by. I could make it a little social experiment and see if it increases offers of food, care packages or better yet, money. So I wore what may have been my nicest dress shirt 10 years ago. Now slightly too small, just a little ripped and noticeably stained, it made me look like I had found it in a dumpster.
A nice touch with the folks, when the meal was brought out, I said to my parents, “Wow, a whole meal of food. I haven’t had that since the last time I ate with you.”
Success! I left that night with two bags of groceries, some cleaning products for my apartment, and a gift certificate to Banana Republic. I’m going shopping tomorrow at a thrift store to see if I can find an even better outfit for the next time I eat with them.
Then a realization hit me, I should do the exact opposite and look like I’m barely scraping by. I could make it a little social experiment and see if it increases offers of food, care packages or better yet, money. So I wore what may have been my nicest dress shirt 10 years ago. Now slightly too small, just a little ripped and noticeably stained, it made me look like I had found it in a dumpster.
A nice touch with the folks, when the meal was brought out, I said to my parents, “Wow, a whole meal of food. I haven’t had that since the last time I ate with you.”
Success! I left that night with two bags of groceries, some cleaning products for my apartment, and a gift certificate to Banana Republic. I’m going shopping tomorrow at a thrift store to see if I can find an even better outfit for the next time I eat with them.
posted by Kevin at
6:29 AM
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