I was a VIP
Last Saturday evening My Irish Buddy Paul (MIBP) invited me to the VIP section of the UBS Arena, which is actually an outdoor theater where they’ve set up a huge screen to watch the Euro 2008 matches. Why did MIBP invite me? His wife doesn’t like European Football. Yes, I know. Hard to believe. Why did MIBP have VIP tickets to share and not me? I think it has something to do with yearly salary and position in the community. But I digress.
VIP means you get greeted at the door by well dressed people; to sit wherever you want in the covered seating section looking down on those who had to pay for their seats and on the thousand who decided to stand for free; most importantly, you get to eat and drink whatever they’ve got on hand until you make yourself, or others, sick.
Before arriving, MIBP and I were thinking: What does a bank that just lost 40 gazillion dollars in the sub-prime market offer for dinner? Fish sticks? Hot dogs? All the water you can drink and a boloney sandwich? Well, don’t despair. There was all that stuff just mentioned (except for the fish sticks and the hot dogs) and lots, lots more. Since the second game was Greece-Russia, there were only 12 of us trying to finish the desserts that had been prepared for 200 people.
Though I never made it to a real stadium, I got to enjoy both MIBP and the Euro 2008 ambiance, and waddle home content that I hadn’t had to stand for 3 hours.
Now if I could just get VIP treatment from the airlines.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Sounds like a good time! Especially with the desserts…….
June 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
A friend once took me to a Tampa Bay Buc game which meant we got to sit in a corporate sky box! It was a different world for this poor public school teacher but I enjoyed the “punch bowl” full of shrimp cocktail.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
It will be that proverbial cold day in hell when we get any kind of humane treatment from an airline. You mentioned 12 of you “trying” to finish off desserts prepared for 200. I applaud you for effort, but am disappointed to read you weren’t successful. THAT would be a blog!!
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Congrats on being a VIP - it’s always an entertaining experience.