The Congressman and I entered a busy corridor, and he was quickly targeted by some lobbyists. A tall, dark and handsome one high-fived The Congressman.
High-fived him?
As the crowd carried him away, the lobbyist turned over his shoulder and announced loudly to no one in particular, “I love that guy!!”
He sounded like a lunatic, but The Congressman acted as if nothing strange had happened.
Apparently, high-fiving is normal lobbyist behavior. I quickly crossed it off my suitable career list.
We headed back to the office. He had a meeting with a constituent.
The Congressman turned into Mister Rogers when he entered his private office. The suit jacket came off, and the cardigan went on.
The constituent and I sat on the sofa across from The Congressman who positioned himself in a chair with his back to the door. I don’t know feng shui, but I’m pretty sure this is a power position.
The constituent starts rambling about… Family member with immigration status problems? Potholes? A Ten Commandments statue on public property? Whatever it was, he was quick and to the point.
The Congressman nodded and got up to get one of his staffers to sit in. While we were waiting for him to return, the constituent turned to me and started talking as if I had some power to assist. He used technical legalese, and I pretended I knew what he was talking about.
Luckily, The Congressman and one of the Things returned before I was forced to say something. Constituent reiterated his concern over… Healthcare? Unleashed dogs? Debt forgiveness?
Thing 1 or 2 took some notes and said they would look into it and get back to the constituent. The whole meeting took four minutes handshake to handshake.
The Congressman put on his suit jacket, signaling that it was time to ditch the neighborhood.
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