AGDee's Retro aka How NOT to do recruitment

[AGDee]

I didn’t take any notes and this is all from memory from 23 years ago, so bear with me! I have been thinking about it a lot and I think I remember most of the details. Keep in mind, this was January in Michigan. Nobody was wearing any sundresses. We were wearing boots, bringing shoes to change into, wearing parkas, scarves, gloves, etc. Sometimes you even wore a pair of jeans under your skirt so you didn’t freeze your legs.

All events were held in the student union because nobody had official houses. Tri Sigma had an unofficial house as did the Alpha Gams (which the TKEs ended up leasing after Rich burned their house down, but that’s another story).

I am using old terms because I am old and those are the terms we used.

There was some sort of informational session during which we filled out a form and were organized into groups. We met our Rush Counselors and I can’t remember AT ALL who mine was or what role she played, if any, during rush. In my group was a gal named Renee who lived on my dorm floor and a gal named Kirsten who I just took to very quickly. I had really liked Renee from the first time I met her too. She was bubbly and enthusiastic and just a pleasure to be around because her positive attitude was contagious. Kirsten was more quiet, but very very nice and I liked being around her because she was so serene. My sort of friend, Nancy, was also going through recruitment and she really wanted to be a Labrador, but she wasn’t in my group. One of the sophomores from the Ambassador Society was also going through rush. Her name was Libby and she was this hyper spaz enthusiastic gal who I really liked from the first time I met her.

They introduced all the Panhellenic officers who had disaffiliated and they told us things about Greek Life. I knew a couple of them from the Ambassador’s Society so the disaffiliation didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I understand it better now, but people didn’t make a huge deal out of it. Nobody tried to guess what group women were in or anything. They gave us the basic Go Greek pep talk and told us what to wear. We got an info booklet with symbols, colors, flowers,and financial information on all the groups. We were told that we would be receiving invitations to the first parties in the next day and that we would be invited to all the first parties and go with our rush groups. I still really had no idea that cuts could happen and that some women wouldn’t get bids, etc. I thought you just went, saw which group you liked and then joined them.

I was wrong!

[AOE2AlphaPhi]

I'm so excited about this thread!

[AGDee]

I received my invitations the next day. I only remember what one of them was like (and this probably makes it very obvious which group this one was) but it was in the shape of a record (yeah, we had records back then, it was post 8 tracks and cassettes were getting popular, but we still had records) with the invite information as the record label. It was very cute. It was from the Airedale Terriers. All were handmade invitations from construction paper and they all looked like they took a lot of time to make (and they did, as I found when I was Rush Chair the next semester)

Since I knew I didn’t want to be a Poodle or a Russian Toy Terrier, I didn’t go to their first parties. Nobody had told me that this could impede any chances of getting a bid or that I had to go to their parties and, to be honest, I don’t think anybody cared back then. Almost everybody wanted to be a Poodle, except me.

I knew we had to dress up a little, so I wore basic black pleated dress pants, black pumps and a silvery/gray silky blouse. I wore the ever-present gold herringbone chain and some simple gold hoop earrings. Nothing too fancy. I had (cringe) a bi-level cut with big permed hair. If you don’t know what a bi-level is, I’m not telling, cuz they call it something else now and I don’t want to admit it.. BUT, it was VERY in then, I swear it.

I caught up with Renee outside the Airedale Terrier room in the student union and we waited outside together. She had already been to the other two parties. I had no idea what to expect. We walked into the room and there were two lines of women dressed in 50’s clothes.. poodle skirts, sweaters or blouses, with pony tails and saddle shoes! How adorable! They were singing some catchy song with their letters in it. As we each walked in, one of the girls stepped out of the line and escorted us to a table where they gave us a nametag and we wrote our names on them. They were homemade nametags and these were like the outline of a ’57 Chevy. They took us over to a table where there was punchbowl of root beer floats and platters of cheese and crackers and helped us get some food and a root beer float. Yum! I liked this rush thing. I enjoyed talking to the girl I was with a lot. She took me over to meet some other sisters. The room was all decorated like a 50’s diner. I chatted for a while with several different sisters and then they sat us down for a skit. It was a Grease skit and ALL the words to the songs were adapted to fit the sorority! How clever these women were! I was so impressed. I had no idea what to expect coming into this and I was really enjoying it. The skit was touching as Rizzo decided to become a member of this great sorority and all the sisters sang “We go together” and looked like they really loved hanging out with each other. Wow! I wanted to be part of that! Then, we had to leave and I was bummed out.

Renee and I headed to the next party, the Labradors and waited outside again for the party to start. We talked about how much fun the Airedale Terrier party was but Renee wasn’t quite as impressed as I was. Maybe because she’d been to two parties already?

We walked into the Labrador party together and stopped at the nametag table to fill out a nametag. Then, one of the sisters took Renee into the crowd but nobody picked me up. I kind of stood there, not knowing what to do. Nobody came and talked to me. I felt like a Martian. What was up with this??? I went to the refreshment table and they had assorted candies.. m&m’s, mints, etc. and a punch. I helped myself to those and tried to kind of hang out near a group of girls who were talking, but was too intimidated to just join in with a group. When the skit was going to start, I found Renee and sat by her. I don’t remember this skit at all. I think I was just shell shocked because nobody had spoken to me.

I left that party knowing that I wouldn’t be going back to them.

[FSUZeta]

oh gosh dee. how awful for you. i think you were very brave to have stayed!

[AlwaysSAI]

Whoa....that's horrible. Maybe they just miscalculated or someone got out of place or something. But still! No one ever came in for the save?

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by AGDee

. Then, one of the sisters took Renee into the crowd but nobody picked me up. I kind of stood there, not knowing what to do. Nobody came and talked to me. I felt like a Martian. What was up with this??

Sounds like the recruitment chair made a mistake or something. It happens. I'm really surprised that they didn't have someone (who didn't pick someone up at the door) come talk to you ASAP. That's one of the big "no no's" of recruitment (leaving PNMs alone).

[AGDee]

Rush was spread out over a couple weeks, only on weekends, so it was 3 weekends in total. I had so enjoyed my time at the Airedale Terrier party and knew that was the only sorority I wanted to be in. I spent the week in Rich and Michael’s dorm room watching out the window for Airedales to walk by (because their dorm was more in the middle of campus where you could see a lot of people). Each sorority had baseball type jackets, which were worn year round, and each sorority had a different color jacket. I kept my eyes pealed for the Airedale jackets and would get excited whenever I saw one.

Around Wednesday, we got invitations for the second parties. The Airedale one was a grass skirt on the front with an invite to their Luau on the inside. I also received an invitation from the Labradors. I talked to Nancy and found out that she had not been invited back to any parties. What??? How can that happen??? Oh, she didn’t make grades. She’d had a 1.99 our first semester of college (a little too much partying I think!) and you had to have at least a 2.0 for every sorority on campus. Whoa! Grades matter? Who knew??? Well, I had a 3.8.. so if grades matter, then I have NOTHING to worry about, right? I sought reassurance from Michael, Rich, Karen and Theresa (they knew I didn’t want to be in their sorority and were OK with it) and they all assured me that I was the ideal sorority girl and I just had to pick where I wanted to go. I wasn’t quite so confident by this time.

So, Saturday comes and I go to the Airedale party only. If the Labradors couldn’t talk to me the first time, they didn’t get a second chance. Humph! But, I wondered now if maybe I should have given the Russian Toy Terrier a chance though. Kirsten really loved them when she went to their party. Oh well, what’s done is done. Renee was going back to all four parties. She liked things about each of them. She was so positive! We didn’t have to cut until Preference.

I went into Airedale Terrier very excited because I’d had such a good time before. I am pretty sure that I wore a floral print skirt and maroon sweater with black pumps and the same jewelry as before. The details on this one are sketchier, but I remember the food! They had a huge fruit platter with tropical fruits and toothpicks with the fluffy plastic things on them. They also had a fruit punch. The nametags were pineapples. The girls were in beach attire (shorts and t-shirts, not bikinis or anything). We talked for a long time and this blonde gal named Sherri, who I had talked to for a long time during the 50’s party, came by and chatted again. She was so nice and friendly. I really liked her. Some officers got up and talked about what our altruistic project was (we called it that, not philanthropy then), finances, leadership, etc. The President was especially impressive and was running for President of Student Government. I also heard that she had a 4.0! She was an incredible woman and I admired her a lot. Every single woman I met was friendly and fun. Libby was at that party and I was glad to see her there. All the girls I talked to seem to know things about me from high school.. like what clubs I was in, where I was from, etc. That really impressed me too. They seemed to really like me and I really liked them. During the party, we were each presented with a lei and a keychain with the sorority flowers on it. Yes, I wanted to be an Airedale. They kept singing this same song that got so stuck in my head. “I just wanna be an Airedale” I loved that song and hummed it constantly.

We would receive invitations to Preference by Wednesday. I was checking my mailbox over and over all day long and finally.. an envelope. Wait, and another envelope too! Two Preference invitations???

[Ocalagirl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I was checking my mailbox over and over all day long and finally.. an envelope. Wait, and another envelope too! Two Preference invitations???

That is just SOOOO wrong to leave us hanging like that!! I want more!!!!!!!! Great descriptions

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Two Preference invitations???

I bet it was the Labradors!

How much you wanna bet? $10? $20? You know what, $50, I could use $50. I bet it was the labradors!

Maybe they were trying to make up for the little mishap on the first night. Good hearted people make mistakes.

Did ya give 'em a chance this time?

[AnatraAmore]

Here's another view... update please!

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I had (cringe) a bi-level cut with big permed hair. If you don’t know what a bi-level is, I’m not telling, cuz they call it something else now and I don’t want to admit it.. BUT, it was VERY in then, I swear it.

A victim of the mullet trend!

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Ocalagirl

That is just SOOOO wrong to leave us hanging like that!! I want more!!!!!!!! Great descriptions

Isn't that the real fun of recruitment threads? The suspense?? I mean, I had only gone to one party and blew everybody else off... What I've been doing is waiting until there are 100 additional views and then posting the next part.. lol. I typed out the whole dang thing last night in a Word doc so I just have to cut and paste it now.

Originally Posted by violetpretty

A victim of the mullet trend!

Oh my gosh, you said it! But nobody called it that then! Really! It was a bi-level and a very poofy one at that!

ETA: The TKEs were always calling me Adrienne because they said I looked like Adrienne Barbeau and my hair was really very much like hers (but I didn't wear such low cut shirts!)

[Ocalagirl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Isn't that the real fun of recruitment threads? The suspense?? I mean, I had only gone to one party and blew everybody else off... What I've been doing is waiting until there are 100 additional views and then posting the next part.. lol. I typed out the whole dang thing last night in a Word doc so I just have to cut and paste it now.

I know I know but I am just an impatient person. Forgive me
It cracks me up that you blew everyone else off because I don't think most women today do that, but in the retro stories that has happened a lot. I didn't know it was an option not to go to parties and my rho gamma never told me if I suicided I wouldn't be eligible for snap bids. I only learned about that after the fact on here.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Ocalagirl

I know I know but I am just an impatient person. Forgive me
It cracks me up that you blew everyone else off because I don't think most women today do that, but in the retro stories that has happened a lot. I didn't know it was an option not to go to parties and my rho gamma never told me if I suicided I wouldn't be eligible for snap bids. I only learned about that after the fact on here.

I really cannot remember having any contact with my rush counselor. I remember them saying not to suicide at some point but I'm not sure I knew what that meant anyway. I meant it when I said I was clueless. Plus, I was getting most of my rush advice from TKEs.. who don't get NPC rush at all!

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by AGDee

All events were held in the student union because nobody had official houses. Tri Sigma had an unofficial house as did the Alpha Gams (which the TKEs ended up leasing after Rich burned their house down, but that’s another story).

If you are able to do so, please elaborate.