Do not judge anyone by a name badge. You have no idea what they do, who their life-partner or relative might be.
I once asked Chuck, an advertising specialty person, to meet me at a mixer so that I could introduce him to Lance’s daughter Melissa. She and her father were organizing a golf tournament. Chuck could have had a nice order by furnishing the tee prizes, and I knew that they weren’t working with anyone.
Unfortunately, Chuck came to the mixer before I arrived. When Melissa said hello to Chuck, he looked at her name badge. He only saw Melissa’s first name, with reference to a company. Unimpressed he simply uttered a curt reply and then kept moving.
When I pointed Chuck out to Melissa later, she said she had already tried to meet him, but she didn’t think her father would want to work with him.
Melissa was obviously extremely offended by Chuck’s unintential rudeness and refused to even let him bid on their tee prizes. She didn’t have to explain why after Chuck told me he had been very nervous and distracted when he showed up and it didn’t occur to him that she might be the contact I intended to introduce to him.
It’s worth repeating: Never, ever judge anyone by their name badge, the way they are dressed or how they present themselves. This does not contradict everything I’ve said so far about how carefully you need to dress and develop your presentation because people naturally tend to make snap judgments. If you can refrain from jumping to conclusions, everything will work much more to your advantage.