by Chinwe Okafor
He didn’t faint… be calm.
Imagine being told to dress up for a casual appearance at an auditorium only to discover you were having a round table meeting with the most powerful man in the world.
President Barack Obama visited Utah last Friday to hold a closed-door meeting with some very high-powered people and a man named Marvin Lance Futch was very surprised to be in attendance.
According to Business Insider, his company thought a White House invitation was simply for someone to sit in the audience of Obama’s Utah speech. As a result, the company reportedly sent him for what ended up being a small roundtable meeting with the president.
He told the Post, “I was told that it was going to be an informal event — that it was going to be business casual, so when President Obama walked in the room, I’m looking down at my white polo going, ‘Well, if I would have known this, I would have worn my military blues or at least a suit and tie.’ I admit I was feeling a little underdressed at the moment.
I was sitting there. Honestly one of the first thoughts to go through my mind is: ‘My commander on the base is going to kill me for this.’ I should have known better.”
His colleague who posted the photo on Reddit wrote, “The Obama administration sent an invitation to his speech in Utah at Hill Air Force Base. We thought they wanted a representative from our company in the audience. Turns out they wanted the representative for a special round table with the president. Due to this mix up we sent my friend (a leader in our CAD dept) instead of the CEO. I know the person responsible for the mix up is in some serious trouble. But I’m sure the CEO is kicking himself over missing this chance to meet the President,” the Reddit user added.
The discussion lasted about 40 minutes and President Obama asked Lance personally about Vivint Solar, the second largest residential solar provider in the United States, and whether there was a career path for transitioning military service veterans in the solar industry.
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