embarrassing moment

i am not one who finds himself stuck in sticky situations that may cause extreme embarrassment to everyone involved. say again?

i woke up this morning, hopped in the shower, picked my clothes for the day and put a little gel on my hair. as was usual, i plopped into my gray 'cariton network' shirt from spoofs and my tattered and faded blue jeans. to complete my nonchalant get-up, i decided not to wear shoes. slippers are now in, welcome summer!

while waiting for my bagel to be toasted, i got a call from my cell. it was nixon, one of our (company) drivers; he's indonesian. he asked me where i was, i said i was home. he said, "me too!" and i go, "what?" "i'm at the gate," he said.

naturally, i had to ask why. "picking you up," he quipped. "going to the office?" i asked. "you already in the office?" he asked back. "no, i'm at home," i replied. this was getting difficult.

i asked him to wait for a couple of minutes. i didn't want to leave any burnt bagels in my toaster. so i went out, and sure enough he was there.

i hopped in and we exchanged 'good mornings.' he said, "santa monica [boulevard] is there, right?" pointing to the right. i said yes. we went to santa monica blvd. and turned left, going west. we passed by vermont, then normandie, then western.

when we reached highland, i asked him. "where are we going?" "pacific design center," he replied.

me: why?
him: you have coverage.
me: i do?
him: yes
me: where?
him: iw group
me: really?
him: really.

anyway, so we reached west hollywood's pacific design center. i went into the green building and looked for iw group's office. fifth floor. and finally, i got there.

my nightmare was about to happen. i was about to enter into a room full off nicely-dressed ladies and gentlemen. i inhaled and entered the room. i picked the last chair by the edge of this really long conference table.

true enough, 20 plus people in corporate attires and power suits, plus me in tattered jeans. i looked around, desperately trying to look for someone who was not in a suit. god is good, there was one from across the table. i heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

the speaker was late, she was, as she told us later, stuck in traffic. someone commented, 'welcome to los angeles!' there was no other space for her to squeeze her butt. she chose the space beside me. i had no choice but to give out a forced smile.

she introduced herself. she's from chicago and she's the VP for Communication of nielsen media. she then asked us to introduce ourselves and looked at me. 'i am momar and i apologize for being so overdressed today!' that broke the ice.

the meeting lasted until around noon. at least my embarrassing moment did not stretch for hours. lesson learned: was there any? at all?