Anything you abhor more than a cocktail party?

Post Reply New Topic

I went to a party where all the guests were people who do improv comedy. It was wonderful. I wish my whole life was nothing but improv comedy.

I'll count art openings as a cocktail party-people schmooze and drink and ignore the likes of me. Once I was talking to someone I knew and the curator came up, interrupted our conversation and actually got in between us and turned her back to me. I don't even try anymore.

I can do a reasonable impression of an NT. If the people are interesting, I'll actually enjoy myself as I won't be engaging in idle chit-chat. Less interesting people will leave me bored and wanting to escape.

The last one I went to (about 4 years ago- for students who had been abroad that year), I went with a friend, hoping to talk to her the whole time. She wanted to mingle though, so I left the party and went to explore the rest of the building. That's my usual plan- to escape elsewhere into the building and find something interesting to do. When I was younger though (in adolescence), if I was forced to go to a party where I didn't know people I would bring a book and read the whole time. Now I realize that other people think that is odd.

I've never been to a coctail party, but if I was asked to I'd probably go, it doesn't sound too horrendous as long as there are people there I know well.

i might go to "people watch" but then i don't drink, so i may as well go to the Zoo

I've never been to a cocktail party, thankfully.

Barbeques - I've been to about 6 I think. Like a previous poster, I could never see the point, and I don't eat anything that's been cooked on a barbeque as it's either burnt to a cinder or so undercooked that you can taste the food poisoning.

Then find people who know how to barbeque...

I love barbeques, freaking LOVE 'EM! I just eat constantly, my mouth is always full of food and my hands are covered in blood and saus. So I never talk, never shake hands and I leave completely satisfied.
Mmm barbeques, the only good thing about this hot weather.

Yeah, and don't you hate it when you wield the ax, and some dumb politician's head rolls over your nice, clean shoes?

Avoiding the bloodspill is a social skill that can be learned...

I prefer the guillotine... I love the sound of the falling blade.

Normally, my answer to party invitations is, "Please, no, don't make me." I usually turn down invitations -- or ignore them or, on several occasions, actually forget them until it's too late to do anything about it, usually because I've gotten caught up in something I enjoy doing instead.

However, I attended one on Saturday night that wasn't half bad. It was a reception for some visiting professors in my department. I wasn't looking forward to it because I'd just spent several days as a conference volunteer and hadn't had time to relax. I was really getting worked up, too, because of something that had happened earlier, but decided to go anyway and hope for the best.

Once I got to the restaurant, I found the party was being held outside on the patio and I was able to find a table where I could sit with my back to the garden so that no one could walk behind me. There were too few tables for all of us -- an error in the reservations -- so several people from the department came and sat at my table including several professors and I was able to talk briefly about my interests and just mostly listen in on the rest of the conversation. At the end of the evening, I actually felt better than when I'd arrived instead of drained and frazzled as usual.

Regards,

Patricia

Hate 'em. Loathesome undertakings, one and all.

I usually just sit in the corner and pout. Seriously. Or pretend to be taking a cellphone call intermittently. Great fun to make up what the call is about--"Oh, pardon me. I have to take this call from my flight instructor," or "I'm sorry--I put a bid in on a(n) {fill in the blank} at an auction and I think that this is an update..."

Never been to one; I'm probably not quite of the age yet to be invited, and also am still a uni student and not in the workforce. I have no idea whether I'd like it or not. I am sort of unusual in that I do like parties (on occasion, not every night); so long as the people attending are interesting.

I can and do enjoy this kind of thing when it's with friends, but the more people I don't know, the more I dread it. If it were important to my career or my husband's that I successfully mingle and engage in chatter, I would be miserable and through-the-roof anxious. Yes, I'd rather die.

Fortunately, I rarely have to do this kind of thing. The last one was a company Christmas dinner a few years ago, and it was not bad at all. My background is mathematics and computer science, and I was lucky enough to be seated (a) next to my husband and (b) at the end of the table where the geeky computer types were. I had interesting conversations and fit in just fine.

I did once attend a dinner for a client of mine (I'm a translator), and it was sheer torture. The client writes computer books, but I had the misfortune to be stuck at the female end of the table, instead of at the end with the guys who wrote the books I translated. It sucked. I only did it because I'd declined the year before and felt I couldn't get away with refusing again.

Never been to a cocktail party, but parties in general, blah. I never have anything to talk about that would interest any of the other people, and I can't do small talk. So eventually people just go talk to someone more interesting and I end up sitting alone the whole time or trying awkwardly to find something interesting or some way I can help out.