IN MY OPINION

I participated in a focus group last night. I was amazed at the different people they managed to gather together. All ages, nationalities, sizes and shapes,from all walks of life.

We sat at a large conference table and gave our opinions on different forms of media, the company who hired us was considering. A lot of really good suggestions and comments were made. There were twelve of us. Eleven of us spoke. The man sitting to my left never opened his mouth. He sat staring at the table the entire hour we were there, except for the three minutes we all watched a video presentation. Heck, he might have been staring at the table even then. I had my back turned to him, so who knows. Anyway...he'll collect his fee just like all the rest of us.

There was no camaraderie with this group. I did a pizza taste test a few months ago and we all had a good time before the actual testing began, talking and jabbering together. The group last night barely made eye contact. When I arrived there were eight people already seated. I did a quick scan of the table and smiled at each person. Only one smiled back. Sigh...we're so comfortable in our own little shells aren't we?

Anyway, this was a simple, fun way to make a little extra cash and I look forward to being asked to participate in another one. Maybe I'll just sit there, not say anything and collect my fee. NAH...I've got too big a mouth for that!