Introduce Yourself, Doofus!

A few weeks ago I was at an event where a number of the guests were invited to come up and say a few words. Since the host was not likely to know every last one of us, he asked that we please introduce ourselves before we took the stage.

The first guest to stand up, walked to the front with a look as if to say, "I'm a celebrity and you're all lucky to see me in person and hear what I have to say."

Taking the stage, this guest was reminded to introduce himself, and he responded by mumbling his name with a quick chuckle as if we was being forced to state something embarrassingly obvious.

The only problem was, none of us had any clue who this guy was, and by not properly introducing himself all he succeeded in doing was convincing us he was some self-important nobody who wasn't worth listening to. Good job, doofus.

I bring this up, because over the weekend I met my wife's favorite chef, Alton Brown, who does a show on Food Network called Good Eats. The event took place at a shopping mall where several hundred people had all shown up to meet him. My wife and I had to wait in line for two hours to have her cookbook signed, but when we finally reached the front I was thoroughly impressed by Alton who held out his hand and sincerely said, "Hi, I'm Alton."

This guy has hundreds of people in line to meet him, yet he still remains humble enough to not presume I know who he is. It exhibited good etiquette on his part. With three simple words he had already earned my respect, let alone given a good indication as to what kind of guy he is.

Hopefully this post will serve as a reminder to me, as well as all of you, that no matter how famous you become, always properly introduce yourself.

(At the very least it'll give your fans another chance to applaud.)

-C-