Forget first impressions

A famous artist tells of attending a public lunch honoring a sculptor who had done work for New York City. She sat down at a table next to a stranger, a sleek youngish man who, as soon as they had exchanged names, turned away from her and began talking to the woman on his other side. The guests were from both the art world and the city government, and he was a politician.
“He was clearly disappointed,” she said, “that someone who looked like me should have sat next to him. I could see him saying, ‘What a waste of a lunch.’ I thought of sitting somewhere else, but decided to stick it out.”
Soon, the woman sitting on her other side asked her name and figured out who she was. Then a couple across the table, also understanding, began talking to her. Eventually, this guy, taking it all in, said, “I didn’t get your name.” When the others told him who she was and what she did, his whole manner changed and he suddenly became very interested.
“But by then,” she said, “he had lost me.”