Pay it forward. FAILURE.

A great story/lesson, on why you should ALWAYS be nice to the people around you.

So last night, I was lucky enough to be offered a spare ticket to the premiere of "Time Stands Still" (2nd time around with 3 out of the 4 cast members from last year).

I didn't really know what to expect at a premiere.  My other theatre-mates were stuck in traffic (with my ticket) so I waited outside the theater for a good 20 minutes.  During this time I noticed that there was random crazy lights flashing going on opposite of where I was standing.  I got closer to get a look and I realized there were paparazzi/photographers for the famous people who were going to be in the audience.  As I waited, I only recognized two of the many photograph-worthy faces:

Al Roker

and Jessica Hecht, the actress who played "Susan" (in Friends)

Well, the photographers and flashes went CRAZY when this lady arrived:

I had no idea who she was.  And when I ended sitting next to her in the THIRD row from the stage, I didn't pay much attention. 

Things I noticed:
1.  She and her lady-friend were both DRIPPING in shiny (what I assumed were and now am pretty sure were) diamonds.
2.  She and her lady-friend were speaking an Eastern-European language (I assumed Russian, after some research, it seems that it was most likely Czech).
3.  She started shivering and was apparently freezing in the theatre during the performance (I responded by holding my trench a little tighter lest I also suffer from the magical effects of modern temperature maintenance technology).

TODAY, I find out that she was, indeed, IVANA TRUMP.  WHY DIDN'T I OFFER HER MY COAT?  OR MY EXTRA SCARF?  OR SOMETHING???  Maybe in return, she would've been so grateful and appreciative of my helpful and giving nature that she would've given me a car, or a Trump Tower apartment, or a job in her fashion empire, or SOMETHING from her rumored divorce settlement ($20 million, the $14 million family estate in Connecticut, a $5 million housing allowance, $350,000 annual alimony, all of her jewelry and 49% of Mar-A-Lago, the family home in Palm Beach).  I'm sure the nice lady could've spared SOMETHING for the thoughtful, young Asian girl who offered up her coat.  Alas, here I am, sitting in my cold internship office, wishing I were a nicer person.

(I'm not saying you should ONLY be nice with the expectation of receiving something in return, but that you should be nice in general, because you just never know who you could be helping!)