Word: pachter
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...pickiest part is yet to come. Pachter evaluates my appearance from haircut to shoes. "The first question people need to ask themselves: Is my clothing appropriate--for my job, my profession, my company, my part of the country? What's appropriate for a corporation in New York may be very different than that for a small office in the Southwest. You send a message through your clothing, and you want to know what that is." Then the particulars: "Your glasses are fine. You could go to a slightly hipper style without being funky. Let me see your watch. What kind...
Careful eating is required because you are properly dressed for the occasion. Pachter shows me photographs the class members have submitted of themselves in casual and business garb. The second set of pictures looks like a catalog of ill-fitting suits and hopeful smiles. In order to appear more professional, many of the women have tied back their hair while the men have toned down wild coifs. It's kind of sad, in a way, to see them begin their way along the corporate conveyor belt. Pachter expresses fondness for teaching college students: "They think this is great. They...
...this is just prelude to my last stop. I'm back with Barbara Pachter for a one-on-one coaching session a few weeks later at her stylish home office in Cherry Hill, N.J. If you are a voluntary visitor to Pachter's studio, it means your employer cares enough about you and your future to plunk down more than $3,000 to smooth your rough edges. But if you appear via corporate command to what has been called charm school, you are probably in manners trouble. Sometimes bosses use Pachter to deliver embarrassing news, like the caution...
...course, Pachter is wearing black again. She sits me down and puts me through a series of questions, watching me all the while. I tell her about my train ride to nearby Philadelphia that morning and discover that I have just been evaluated on small talk. I pass. (I got into trouble for just that talent in high school.) She asks me about my background, my education. She evaluates my posture (Stand up straighter!), my demeanor (there is a "slight current of negativity"), my conversational mannerisms (I put my hands on my face and forehead...
Name brands. Status symbols. Is that evil? Is that loathsome? Nope. We are talking about getting ahead here. Pachter and her fellow practitioners are offering Biz Et as a path to move you up the business social ladder. At least it's democratic. You don't need an M.B.A. to behave like a businessperson...