Can you bail on a charity event?

Shari and I went to the Christmas in the Park charity ball on Saturday night. It was held at Winfrey Point on White Rock Lake. When we arrived there was a rather large line of people waiting to get in. We didn't know if they were trying to build hype so people would be thankful once they got in and would stay longer, or if there was some sort of issue. We eventually made our way to the front of the line after waiting about 20 min at which point a policeman told us the party was being temporarily shut down by the fire marshal because the venue was over capacity. The entry fee to this event was an unwrapped toy so Shari and I are both shivering in the freezing cold holding Cabbage Patch Kids in our cocktail dresses and heels while we awaited our fate.

At this point we were 4 people from the front of the line but had no idea how much longer the wait would be. I urgently needed a bathroom and really wanted to leave but, can you bail on a charity event? While we stood there and discussed our options of how we could ditch our CPKs and race to the valet line we were made! The partner that had invited Shari came outside to see how bad the waiting situation was. His wife has been on the board of this event for 9 years so it's not like we could ditch the party after we had been spotted. He did politely take our CPKs inside so that they wouldn't freeze to death but unfortunately we weren't as lucky. We waited a total of 45 min before the fire marshal finally agreed to let more people in.

Once we got inside we realized that it really wasn't that crowded and questioned why the fire marshal would shut down a party that clearly wasn't that happening to begin with. We found out that someone had tampered with the fire alarm and that was more of the issue than the number of occupants. In the end the whole party was a bust. The scene was lame, the wine was bad (like airplane quality bad), the venue was drafty, and the band didn't play anything that had been popular post-1978.

The only highlight of the evening was running into our orthopedic surgeon who was quite delighted to see both of us walking. He snidely remarked that it must not be soccer season...I stood 45 min in the freezing cold in heels for this???