Three weeks ago.
Mr. Fix-it: I guess my company does a nice holiday party at a hotel downtown.
Me: When is it?
Mr. Fix-it: I'll find out.
Me: What's the attire?
Mr. Fix-it: I'll find out.
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Two weeks ago.
Me: When is that party?
Mr. Fix-it: I'll find out.
Me: What's the attire?
Mr. Fix-it: I'll find out.
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10 days ago:
Mr. Fix-it: The party's on the 13th.
Me: Great, what's the attire?
Mr. Fix-it: I don't know.
Me: I need to know.
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7 days ago:
Me: What the hell is the attire for the party?
Mr. Fix-it: I'll find out--I'll see if there any pictures from last year.
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December 10
I'm sitting in the parking lot of an outlet mall (Loehmann's, Nordstrom Rack and Marshalls) near my college.
Me (on the phone): What. Is. The. Attire. For. The. Party?
Mr. Fix-it (to another guy): My wife wants to know what type of dress to wear to the party.
Other guy: Just whatever.
Mr. Fix-it: He says whatever.
Me (through clenched teeth): I heard him. I doubt that's true. I NEED to know what kind of dress to get.
Mr. Fix-it: I'll ask Shannon tomorrow.
Me: You do realize we're talking about a party that is happening 3 days from now? I don't think you realize what buying a dress entails. I need to know. NOW.
Mr. Fix-it: Hmmm. The receptionist is still here--do you want to talk to her?
And so I did, and the answer was that the President of the company usually wears a tux and his wife does a long dress, but most of the women do cocktail dresses, and a few even do dressy slacks. Now hard was that?