Day Twelve - Chelsea
Greatest Strength -- Upbringing in theater from a young age left her immune to all forms of rejection (a very valuable skill to have when online dating)
Weakest Weakness -- Missed out on the part of a lifetime (Young Nala) for not being "ethnic enough"
Feelings about the Olive Garden -- "It's terrible. I'd rather go to The Old Spaghetti Factory."
Snapshot: Chelsea and I are discussing how rude people can be to waitstaff. She tells me that when she worked as a waitress, people treated her differently.
"It's like," she says, jabbing fruitlessly at a dry rigatono, "the second you put on that apron, you're suddenly..."
"Ethnic enough?"
Creative Challenge --Olive Garden seems to focus the brunt of its marketing towards its core demographic of middle-aged suburbanites. How would you change the messaging to appeal more to millenials and the economically disenfranchised?
Result:
(Transcript)
Marketing Plans for a Millenial Olive Garden
-More alternative Diner Options
-Gluten Free, Vegan, Organic Etc.
-More "culturally aware" procedures
-A buy one, give one structure
-More charitable opportuntes
-Promote their ethical practices
(Well paid employees, local farms)
-Lose their earnestness + participate in the current climate of social media (ie Wendy's sarcastic Twitter posts)
--
Chelsea is a former child actress (had to give it up due to chronological pressures) who was notably "on" throughout the date. As a struggling artist myself, I am keenly aware of this feeling. It's like you're always on stage, entertaining others. It sounds worse than it is, and I am probably overthinking it and putting too much of my own personal experience into someone I only sort of know. I can be a little self-obsessed. For example, in this paragraph that is ostensibly about Chelsea, I've used personal pronouns seven times.
Let's try again. Chelsea has a great deal of mental agility and is fun to talk to. She even has her own podcast about stupid movie sequels snappily titled The Stupid Sequels Podcast, which you can listen to for free! It's like being on a date with her without the hassle of going to Olive Garden.
Chelsea's Chow
Apparently, Not Worth Finishing
38 dates to go! Thanks for dining with me, Chelsea. My pick is The Fox and the Hound 2.