What the WHAT is Shecky’s?  From the ads and emails for Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out that appeared in my inbox for the past few weeks, I found myself thinking that I was paying for a ticket to a fun and light-hearted girls’ night out last week.  You know, the kind with cocktails and laughing and shopping for bargains…all in a very light-hearted way.  I had heard from a friend that it was “so fun” so I arranged to attend last Tuesday’s event at the DAR Constitution Hall.

Full price tickets are $30, with discounts to be had on Goldstar.  What do you get for the price of admission at this “exclusive” destination?  Well, you get to stand in a long line with a multitude of other women.  You get to have your information (last four digits of your driver’s license, to be exact) taken down by Shecky’s employees (turns out Shecky’s is a marketing company and can’t wait to feast upon your buying history).  You receive a goodie bag full of sample size toiletries and bottled water.  And if you have no aversion to the aforementioned long lines, you get free drinks.

Maybe I’m still bent out of shape from seeing the Komen Foundations profligate use of pink everywhere and on everything, but seeing women climb into pink pop-up changing rooms in the middle of Constitution Hall threw off my fun quotient.  I like a good deal as much as the next person, but this is not only not fun, it’s bordering on demeaning.

Besides the crowds and well, the crowds, there wasn’t very much else to remember.  Yes, there were some cute accessories.  Yes, there seemed to be some fun being had.  But mostly, it was a letdown.  Why cram ourselves into a marketing company’s clutches when we can stroll along under the sun at Eastern Market instead?

I’m amazed that women keep coming back to this event; this was its fifth year, at least.  I’m still miffed that I paid to be part of a marketing scheme, but perhaps, if the conditions are right and you’re with your best girlfriends…  No, nope, this is a marketing scheme.  Go to Eastern Market.  Or the Grey Market.  Just go somewhere else.