How to date a PR professional.

I guess this is where I give away what I do for a living. From PR Daily, by Laetitia Redbond.

Here are four things you should know about dating a PR pro: 

Our relationships are our top priority.

Because our job involves satisfying the needs of multiple people, we’re good at relationships. We’re good at mediating, moderating, and making things happen. “Fantastic,” you’re thinking, “this all sounds lovely.” 

Oh, wait, did you think we meant our “relationship” with you? Oh, goodness, no. We have vast networks of contacts; we have more “relationships” than Richard Branson has islands. (Actually, that’s a rubbish comparison—he has only one.) 

The fact is, we are people people, inherently social, and we will undoubtedly know at least three times more people in the bar than you do.

We’re very positive.

Come to us with a problem, and we will always give you a solution. We like turning situations around—so much so that sometimes you might forget how things actually were in the first place. 

Some people call this spin, but we don’t. We prefer to think of ourselves as incredible storytellers; there will never be an awkward silence over dinner when we’re around, ever. 

We know what’s hot and what’s not.

We are very much on the ball in terms of what’s hot or not. We work six months in advance, so we live that way. Early adopters, some might say. 

When you think something’s cool, chances are we’ve been there and done that—most likely at an industry event. Some of these industry events require us to exist on a diet of champagne and the odd canapé, normally handed out at the latest “unbookable” restaurant. We can be a little tricky to wow at dinner.

We’re incredibly efficient.

Returning to the “everybody” of my first point, we have a lot of people to stay in touch with, so we are rather good at organization. 

However, this makes for an incredibly packed schedule, so you could find yourself being allocated a time in the ever-present BlackBerry calendar, possibly as a weekend or evening activity. 

You could also find dinner interrupted by the red flash of the BlackBerry, alerting us to an essential social media checking appointment. Please just allow us to ensure each of our social networks is up to speed; it won’t take a minute. The world could end if you prevent us from doing this.

With that, you are fully briefed on what to expect from your other-half—the good, the bad, and the sometimes-baffling traits of PR people. Treat us well, and you’ll become like a favorite client: We’ll want to spend all our time with you.

Anything to add? 

Laetitia Redbond is an account executive at Flagship Consulting in London. A version of this story first appeared on the company’s blog.

My month in meme.

Boy meets girl.

First Friday: two drinks after work. I go home feeling like I made a new friend.

(whatttt, making new friends is awesome!)

Second Friday: I was away on a business trip. First text from him, he tells me not to miss him too much. Two days later I get another text from him late at night (he was clearly intoxicated), he told me he misses me more than he should. Irrelevant, but it was a pretty damn good business trip.

Third Friday: attends a function as his date with an open bar. May or may not have become more than friends.

This week: me trying to talk some sense in to they guy. Let’s be a buddy, let’s be friends, let me be anything but your girlfriend.

It’s too late, he said, I already fell for you, he said.

….but it’s only been like a month………

All jokes aside he’s an amazing guy, very attractive, and definitely someone I would hate to lose. Does “falling” actually mean falling in love??? Urban dictionary time…

Ghost of Boyfriends Past.

How often do you guys think of your exes?

I hate to admit it but apparently a lot in my case, and I’ve been trying to figure out what that means. Does it mean that I’m not over them, despite how happy I am in my current relationship?

But then again, it’s all about the technology, I guess. Facebook does the most amazing job of reminding you of them, and just because the exes are no longer in your life, it doesn’t mean that they don’t pop up on your newsfeed from time to time. In my case it’s even worse because many of them have previously “poked” me, so whenever the poke history comes up, I’m reminded of them. This makes a whole lot of sense since the one guy I hardly think about is my very first serious boyfriend who pretty much cut me out of his life.

Remember how it was like in high school? That’s when I met him and boy, was I smittened! It sounds so stupid now but he was up there on the social hierarchy and it was kind of a big deal to be seen with him, let alone date him. After a few months of being friends (and that alone pissed off a few girls already), he took my first kiss. I remember I was like “um, why are we doing this?” and he responded with  “because you’re my girlfriend now!‘. Yes, he actually said that, and yes, it actually worked on me, because I just shrugged and went with it. Believe it or not, this is going to be a repeating pattern for years to come..

Anyways, this ended up being my longest relationship to date, but it was a really unhealthy one which ended terribly. He ended up being overly controlling, irrationally possessive, and just abusive on so many levels. I remember when we graduated high school and it was time to decide whether I wanted to go to my first choice university, or to follow where he was going, and I picked my university which he reacted badly to. I thought it was time to end the relationship, but like many times that I have previously suggested it, he sweet talked me out. That’s not even the worst part, because this is his exact word “now that I’m letting you go to your choice of university, you have to listen to everything that I say”. Did I tell you how controlling he was? I was desperate to go to my pick of university so I agreed to it dumbly just to shut him up.

I’m not even going to go in to details about what happened with us. He got too much (I kid you not, he was capable of being worse than that), but he wouldn’t let me break up with him that in the end I cheated on him to have a valid excuse to get out. Even then he was willing to overlook it (or so he claimed), but I was done. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore. For a long while, I was seriously concerned that he would one day show up unannounced to hurt me, I’m not joking. It took him a while but he eventually left me alone, wiping off all of my traces from his life, including from our friends, who I have lost touched with after he told them all about how I betrayed him.

If you guys are curious as to how he’s doing now, I think he’s doing fine. After about a year or two after we broke up, I found out he’s dating someone, who goes to my university! What a small world, huh? I have lost touched with most of my friends from high school which is sad, but I guess it’s not too much of a loss if they didn’t bother to hear my side of the story before deciding to take sides. The very few friends that I still talk to wouldn’t do it publicly just to avoid any drama from my ex, which I respect. Though according to them, talking about me in front of him is still a taboo subject.

You know what, I know why I keep thinking about my exes! Because we all left things on bad terms, and I actually want to be back in their lives to make sure that we are civil. I want to say I’m sorry for hurting you, I’m sorry we didn’t work out, but I hope you are happy. I hate the idea of someone wishing that I have never entered their lives. Is that so much to ask?