The Toastmasters meet every Tuesday at noon, about 15 minutes from my home. Another group meets about 20 minutes from home. I visited the 20-minute-away group and really enjoyed it. Decided it was worth checking out a second group before I committed myself to anything.

We’ll call the 20-minutes-away group The Top-Drawer Toasters, and the 15-minutes-away group The Topsy-Turvies.

When I entered the large glass office building where the Top-Drawers meet and approached the front desk, the friendly security guard knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked where the Toastmasters meet, and outdid Google Maps getting me to the exact place. Today, when I entered the low-slung office building where the Topsy-Turvies meet, the front desk security guard looked positively panic-stricken when I asked where the Toastmasters meet.

While the unconcerned panic-stricken security guard looked around at her desk, wondering how she might get me to just go away, I hopped online with a helpful Toastmaster chat person called Jason, who was able to give me the contact email for the group. Then I switched over to the webpage of this Toastmaster group and called the contact number and left a message. Finally, I sent an email to the contact person. I hung around for a few minutes in case a Topsy-Turvy was checking the email or messages, but heard nothing back.

So, I drove away, a little disappointed, but saying “Yes, and” and then saying it again when I got all the way home and realized I had left my irreplaceable water bottle at the Topsy Turvy location.

The truth is, for something like this, I’m probably not going to try a second time. Had the security guard known any helpful information, that would have been super. Had the phone number been answered … oh, by the way? The person whose phone that is called me back and let me know I had called the wrong number, the one I clicked on on the website. And the return email I got let me know not one iota more information than I already had.

I’d say that group isn’t really interested in new members. Of course, I am forming a conclusion that may or may not be at all accurate, but that’s what us busy humans do these days. You only make one first impression.