Hotel Lobbyists is pleased to announce the appointment of a junior associate, who is quickly working his way up to being a full fledged partner. Meet Riley, our 18lb bichon frisee who spends more time at Hotel Lobbyists headquarters than even the firm’s founder, Brett Sterenson. His enthusiasm for coming to work, his ability to work well with the President of the company, his thoughtful companionship and occasional licking of the owners hand, has made this eager young (56 years in people years) pup a sure fire future leader in our industry.It is rather amazing, the life of Riley. As I’m having breakfast in the kitchen, Riley is ready to get into action, often beating me to my desk. Though I use the more traditional upright seated position, Riley does his best work when curled up at my feet or just off to the side blocking my primary cabinet. Riley has successfully gotten over his once irrational fear of my printer, who, in all seriousness, does sporadically choose to recalibrate and clean itself without any prompting.
About twice a day, I break from my position at the desk and take my junior associate for a walk. Given all the challenging hotel negotiations of the morning, it’s easy to explain why Riley likes to mark his territory around the neighborhood and sniff the grass and weeds for a half an hour. Then, when we return from the walk, we like to spend a few minutes wrestling on the carpet where I rub his jowls until he makes a very special groaning noise. This is equivalent to a review and Riley lets me know often how much he enjoys working here.
Riley is as loyal an associate as I’m going to find. If I choose to move my portable office to the kitchen, Riley jumps up and runs to the kitchen table. How are we going to negotiate if we’re in separate rooms. And should I choose to up and office from the couch, Riley races me to my seat. The biggest area of discontentedness, I would surmise, is when I choose to office from Starbucks, or worse, from Washington. When my luggage comes out, my junior associate can get very mopey. Still, upon my return, there’s no better greeting in the world, and if he is to hold a grudge, it’s not for much longer than an hour.
Look out meetings industry!