Lunch with David Neeleman

After watching David Neeleman on Charlie Rose and finding his approach to customer service interesting, I went to the JetBlue website, and used their web form to ask David to lunch.

Now I’m pretty certain that (a) I will never get a response and (b) David Neeleman is too busy and important to have lunch with the likes of me.

Which got me wondering: who isn’t too busy and important to have lunch with me, and where is the cut-off line?

For example, I’m pretty sure that if I invited my local City Councillor, Clifford Lee, to lunch, he would come. Same thing for my local MLA, Bobby MacMillan. If I made a compelling enough case, and took advantage of some connections, there are a couple of members of Cabinet that I could probably get to the lunch table. But I’m pretty certain that Premier Binns falls in the “too busy and important” class.

I’m pretty certain Dave Moses would come to lunch. But probably not Brian De Palma. And somewhere between the two of them is a dividing line that separates the lunchables from the unlunchables.

In music: Sally Taylor, Jane Siberry, Stephen Fearing, Lucy Kaplansky, Garnet Rogers, yes. And James Taylor, The Dixie Chicks, Bono and Mick Jagger, no.

I could probably swing a meal with Ian Hanomansing, but not with Peter Mansbridge. Dick Gordon, yes. Noah Adams, no.

That all said, I’m reminded of the wise words of a former teacher of mine, Judy Libman. She went to the huge University of Minnesota and took first year psychology with hundreds of other students in a large lecture hall watching recorded lectures on closed-circuit television. One day she decided to go and seek out the professor on the television, and when she found him she was amazed that she was the only student who had done so. And he was amazed to see her, and compelled by the notion of meeting a real live student. He asked her if they laughed at his jokes. They got on well. And both profitted from the meeting.

And I recall the experience a professor from Trent who got into Harvard mostly because he bothered to apply when so many others didn’t even try, because they assumed it was impossible.

So maybe David Neeleman will write back, and maybe we will go to lunch. Never hurts to ask.