A Boy has No Name… Tag (5/29 Mixer)

[TheBuzParticipant]

Hey All,

Firstly it was an absolute joy to meet you for the first time in person. Lots of lovely people. I’m happy to be on the same path as you all.

Now I’d like to share my unique experiences yesterday at the Mixer.

First though, some backstory that is important.

-When I first joined I had only submitted an email address yet was immediately given a call from the institute telling me that we were ready to begin. I did not give them my number.

-Shortly after filling out my questionnaire I received another email from the Institute in which they spelled my name wrong a few times in the body of the email. You see I’m Buz with one Z. They spelled it “ZZ”. Now this shouldn’t be as big of a pet peeve as it doesn’t really matter but I was slightly miffed and wrote them back an email that said:
“I didn’t accidentally misspell my name on my questionnaire, email, twitter, Facebook, instagram, or email signature line.
It’s Buz. One z. Looking forward to the light. ”

Pretty cheeky of me, I will admit.

And then I got the following response:
“please accept our sincerest apologies.

thank you for pointing out our… error.

rest assured, for pointing out our shortcomings, we now plan to make this up to you. this week.

prepare yourself, we are coming. ”

They called me that weekend, greeting me with “Hello Buz, with One Z” however I was in Atlanta at the time and I couldn’t do anything about their current visit to my apartment.

So fast forward to the event, after waiting outside and meeting all of you we are beckoned inside by Mary, the cheery woman. She asks me my name and I say Buz… she looks at her name tags and says “Oh Dear… I don’t see your name here hang on.” She starts to write my name on a new tag and I quickly say “It’s Buz with one z.” She ignores this and writes the double “Z”. Then walks away for a moment… then tells me to go wait outside. I do so and then am promptly told to come back in.

I’m given the rose, but not the name tag. What the hell?

I got to meet my fellow Participants and then enjoyed some refreshments before the young woman who gave me the rose pulls me aside and hands me a note that says “None of this is what it appears to be… Don’t go any further… Leave while you can” The “can” being underlined. She then told me to not sign any life insurance as that is how it all starts.

I snuck off to the rest room to read the note because I had the sneaking suspicion that the Cheery Woman, Mary would not be too pleased about me reading that note in front of everyone.

The show gets on the road, they bring out a traitor that I now know as Michael Rizzo however at the time I abstained from voting for him one way or the other because I had no knowledge of his transgressions. The cello woman plays, Michael Fontaine gives his wonderful speech (in which he quoted Dwight from the Office…who was quoting a rather infamous historical figure). The other speaker kept looking at me and I attempted to keep my face blank of emotion.

Then came the disrobing of Addison…which was interrupted by her father and a rather large hole in the wall now.

Through all this… I recognized someone… who was working behind the scenes. I do not want to give too much information out as I do not wish to get them in trouble. However after the event this person called me and in a friendly manner asked what I was doing there, and what this whole thing is. They seemed to really have no clue what any of this was about… and was treating it as just another job.

I met with them and had a long discussion but to be perfectly honest… I don’t know yet if they part of it, or simply hired help. Time will tell I’m sure.

Either way, the entire day was quite illuminating. I look forward to digging in further and rolling with whatever the OOA Institute has in store for me.

A Boy has no name… Tag.

-Buz

[Author]

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