how much will you pay for "free"?
we attended another yelp elite party. this one was held at townhouse. I'd been wanting to go there so we made a big effort to make the event. there was a long-ish line and people on the street kept asking the girl behind me what we were lining up for. she seemed a bit put off and would only issue a cold reply "it is a private party" that left the curious looking a bit dejected. there was a big sign by the door that said "PRIVATE PARTY, Yelp Elite". I asked her if she did not want to tell them it was an "elite party" at the risk of sounding like an elitist... I thought I was being clever. she sneered at me and rebutted, "what is this? your FIRST elite party"! she went on to explain that she was afraid that they would want to get in WITH HER if she told them what was REALLY going on. somehow I doubted that.
then came the free drinks....
these were hibiscus lemonade with deep eddy sweet tea vodka... or that is what they were billed as. tasted like straight up lemonade. we had to fight our way for some bar space and fight for the bartender's attention, we got another round, then we were convinced that there was something not right with the drink. other people we spoke to suspected there was no vodka at all. as more and more people poured into the tiny bar area....
it wasn't an environment where we felt an urge to be social, it inspired territorial behavior. we didn't want to let go of our two sq ft of personal space. eventually, we figured it would be cheaper to BUY drinks some place where it was actually a bit more comfortable and less competitive. I had a groupon to J Black's feel good lounge just a few blocks away, or so I thought.
got to J Black's feel good lounge to find our groupon had recently expired (after a round of about a dozen emails of refusal, groupon did credit me for the purchase of the expired groupon, just so you know it is not legal to put a expiration date on a certificate you paid $ for)
so we paid full price at J Black's... but then I noticed some action at the end of the bar and these pretty girls in blue dresses. I know the smell of free booze and I was not shy about it. sure enough! grey goose was on hand passing out FREE cocktails! and these were the real deal.
after all that effort, we went home happy. but, we still don't have a yelp lunchbox. we really want one for some reason.