A Day in the Life of a Lobbyist

source: washingtonian.com

People often ask me, “What do you do as a lobbyist?” The simple answer is that I engage in public relations on behalf of public policy. But, I recognize that that doesn’t really answer the question. So, I decided to catalog one day’s worth of adventures to see if that would offer a better glimpse into the life of a lobbyist. Check it out . . . .

7:00am – Alarm goes off. Press snooze button.

7:15am – Sit up, throw legs over side of bed. Flip on tv and keep switching between the Today Show, the Weather Channel and QVC. Repeat until your actually somewhat awake.

7:49am – Decide that you can’t keep messing around. Reluctantly climb out of bed. Remove sleeping cap and rejoice that yesterday’s wash-n-go has lasted a second day.

7:50am – Hit the shower. Lather up in shea butter. Make some coffee.

8:20am – Beautify! You’ve got a day full of events – being a schlumpadinka won’t do!

8:45am – Realize the outfit you picked out last night won’t work. That shift dress doesn’t quite go with the blazer you wanted to wear. Scrap entire look and throw on the dress that’s been hanging over your bathroom door for a week.

8:50am – Grab your keys, coffee, and purse and head out the door.

8:55am – Decide at the last minute to drive instead of metro. Pray for parking.

9:45am – What’s this? A parking spot on Capitol Hill?!?!? FTW!

9:46am – Get scolded by police officer for holding up traffic while trying parallel park.

9:50am – Arrive at Senate office building for a 10am hearing. Score a decent seat inside the Committee room, thanks to your line-stander.

10:00am – Try to avoid checking work email during opening statements and witness testimony. Fail…but not miserably. Continue listening for anything relevant to my issue. Zip off quick notes to boss whenever such things come up.

11:45am – Hearing ends. Walk across the Capitol to a lunch briefing on the House side.

12:00pm – Don’t really care for the meal. Nibble on a cookie instead while listening to subject-matter experts discuss their new research.

2:10pm – Briefing ends. Chit-chat with Hill staff and industry friends. Exchange cards with new contacts.

2:35pm – Head back to car. No ticket! Race over to the office to prepare for internal meeting.

3:01pm – Prep for internal meeting. Review notes from previous meeting on this topic. Make sure you have your completed action items ready to share.

4:15pm – Meeting begins.

5:30pm – Meeting ends. Leave the office and hail a cab. Heading back to Capitol Hill for a fundraiser at a fancy hotel for a friend-of-a-friend who is running for Congress.

6:00pm – Arrive at fundraiser. Make small talk with people you know only vaguely. everyone is nice, though. Stomach is starting to growl. Realize that they are only serving snack food and remember that you didn’t have lunch (or breakfast!)

7:10pm – Politely exit after the candidate makes his speech. Decide to grab a solo dinner at the hotel next door.

7:15pm – Ignore the fact that you’re overpaying for calamari and seafood bisque. Instead you revel in the fact that you have a few minutes of down time and pull your Kindle out of your purse.

8:00pm – Grab a taxi back to the office. You never had a chance to sit at your desk to tackle any of the projects on your to-do list. Most of them are due on Monday and working this weekend isn’t an option because your family is going to be visiting. Hope that you’ll be done by 9:30pm.

10:20pm – Decide you are no longer being productive and head home.

10:25pm – Because it’s too late to give anyone a call (using your Bluetooth, of course!) you decide to continue listening to your audiobook on the drive home.

11:00pm – Arrive at your apartment. It would be too depressing to go straight to bed, so instead you flip on the tv and watch your DVR’d episode of “Braxton Family Values.”

12:00am – The episode flew by, but you can’t justify staying up any later — you have a 9 am meeting to make. Head to bed.

— curvyceo

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