So last night I went with a friend of mine from MTV to SoHo House. A members-only club steps from my office in the Meatpacking District, the six-story facility has everything from a trendy bar to uber-chic hotel rooms, a library and a roof-top swimming pool (featured on an episode of Sex & The City years ago where Samantha tried to sneak into the pool). Membership in New York is somewhat focused on the media industry. I have to admit, I was interested in checking out potentially joining.
As my friend told me about all the benefits--the fun summer parties, the convenience of having a private bar, the private movie theater-- he stopped dead in his tracks:
"Oh, wait, they don't let lawyers in---or Wall Street bankers. I am sorry...I just forget you are a lawyer"
What?!
Ok, the Wall Street bankers I kind of understand, but all lawyers? Even nice, funny, in-house ones like me?
Apparently a few years back, he said, they let in a bunch of I-bankers and Wall Street lawyer types. The "tone" changed too much, so they stopped it and now try to limit it to those in the media industry.
That is the first time in my legal career where the broad brush of lawyer-hating painted me. It was like getting a tour of heaven before St. Peter tells you that, unfortunately, you didn't make the cut. "I just forget you were a sinner," he says.
As a consolation prize, my friend assured me that I could go to SoHo House as often as I wanted-- as his guest. We will see. Feeling pretty rejected...but if I do go, then in the name of all the good lawyers out there, I will try to tone it down.
