This is a true story that happened in a time before Covid. Everybody was well over 18 at the time this took place.
A wonderful perk of my last job was that I got to engage with a lot of vendors. I’ve heard stories about how things were back in the day with lavish expense accounts, and how things aren’t the same now. And that certainly may be true, but in my experience, there are still some vendors who really want to show clients a good time.
One of these vendors was a decent sized engineering startup that I’d built a relationship with over the previous few years. Due to them being based in California, we didn’t see each other in person very often, but when we did, it was always fun. Good food, good drinks, general revelry.
On this particular trip, the vendor, who we’ll call Austin, was going to do something like a tour of his NYC-based clients. Not a bad gig showing clients a good time and strengthening their relationship. So on Monday, I went out with my colleagues for dinner and drinks. As always, it was fun to catch up on their dime.