Got invited to WOW at the very last minute this week by management at the private hospital where I work part time. This was an absolute first, and I jumped at the chance, even though I was obviously only being invited because someone else had bailed at short notice. It was a great time, and a real glimpse into corporate life that government workers never see. It’s like the legends of a work car or a Christmas bonus. My husband was sadly unavailable to join me (“Oh please no, last time I went I was bored to tears”), so I took along a colleague who is luckily far more gregarious and well socialized than me. Our ticket included dinner at a table of ten amongst all the other corporates, before the show. We had three white male middle aged doctors and their wives (all very nice, and clearly not here for the first time), the lovely hospital manager who had invited us, and Jonathan C, the shiny new figurehead of the company. You may remember him as a National MP and minister of health, who decided being in opposition was lame and he’d rather bail out to make some cash and enforce a by election rather than stick it out for another 3 or 6 years. Did he even throw his hat in the ring to be leader at one stage? If I could be bothered, I’d do some fact checking on that, but I quite like just putting it out there as a possibility. Anyway, in person, he’s even more oily and corporate than you’d expect of a politician. I’ve met Bill English a couple of times, and he struck me as a really nice, honest, straight up kind of guy who really genuinely wanted to help people. JC is not like that*.
The meal was delicious, and the conversation was fun, with not too much about work – more along the lines of what sort of car one should buy next, and upcoming joint holidays to the Maldives. The show was excellent, very professional and entertaining, whilst showcasing the enormous number of very different garments without it ever being boring or repetitive. It’s a real feather in Wellington’s cap, and I’m glad we stole it from Nelson all those years ago. They even managed to put something in there supportive of Muslims that actually brought a tear to my eye. It’s a shame the creative arts aren’t supported better in our society. Although, also, its a shame that science isn’t better supported. So, what is supported in our society? Solely the ability to make money, it seems. Can anyone explain to me why currency trading is a thing? Where is the benefit to society, apart from the huge wads of cash that you can put into a trust fund to spoil your kids with in the future? Ah well. I had a lovely evening, and it was very enjoyable to see how the other half live. I wonder how I can wangle an invitation to go again next year?
*in retrospect, we only spoke about twenty words to each other, and mostly platitudes, so I may be being a little unfair. Blind prejudice? Me??