Through a long-story I'm not going to explain, I ended up at one of those hip "boutique" hotels that cater to the young upwardly mobile professional who likes to look cool, party sauvely, and score often.

The kind of place that has a glass shower that is totally exposed to the rest of the room, and it's difficult to even block the toilet from view.

The place that has keys on the phone for "fluffer" and "alibi", and may actually not be joking.

In the same way when you're in a bad neighborhood and you start to get tense and alert, nervous and jumpy, I could tell just how much I didn't belong there.

Not just because I was surrounded by beautiful people, dressed immaculately, sipping cocktails and playing pool, but from the vibe projected by everyone. They knew they were society's hot shit, and they new people like me knew it. And we'd never be invited to their reindeer games.

The bouncers gave me a cold, hard look when I walked in the door, so I huddled closer to the people I was with to avoid detection.

It was a pretty spiffy looking hotel, with luxurious rooms and a great view. Obviously money was spent on it, and money was being spent by the people staying there.

And not that I couldn't actually afford it. That wasn't the issue.

I've got a friend that used to be service staff for a similar hotel in New York. He has endless stories of hijinx going on, eccentric famous people staying there, and non-stop craziness. The common element to his stories was that the staff was totally invisible to the people staying there. They went about taking care of the customers while acting totally oblivious to the goings-on, and being treated as if they weren't there at all.

I kinda felt like that. Just without getting a large tip.

I couldn't get out of the place fast enough. I was just waiting for everyone to point and screech, like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake.

It was all about a world I'll never be part of. I'm not saying I'm sure I would even want to be. But I wouldn't mind trying for a bit.