The Teacher Learns a Lesson

I've never had my nails professionally done. Not even for my wedding.

So you can imagine my surprise when one of my students' parents handed me a twenty-dollar gift certificate to Happy Nails for Teacher Appreciation Week last month! I finally used it yesterday, when two of my colleagues and I decided to go out for lunch, then get our nails done. I was expecting a very nice, relaxing experience, and I anticipated feeling pampered...

What I got was a hurried, harried experience. I wasn't prepared for two major factors:

1) The two women who worked with my feet and with my hands were Asian, and their accents were so thick that they might as well have been speaking in their native language. Their English was so bad that I'm pretty sure I could have spoken better Spanish... and I don't know any words in Spanish.

2) Apparently, nail salon employees are trained in the very fine art of nickel and dime-ing their customers. It's like going up to the ice cream counter and asking for a free sample of one of the flavors--then, before you know what's happening, the lady is piling five massive scoops into a chocolate covered waffle cone. And all you have is a dollar in your pocket!

Had I known these two facts, I would have been much more prepared, and much more assertive about what I wanted and what I didn't want. And I wouldn't have racked up an extra thirty dollars onto my bill. As it was, my awesome colleagues argued with the people at the cash register (while I cowered in the corner) that I had been taken advantage of, and insisted that all the extra charges for the extra treatments that I "wanted" should be dropped.

They were. And my nails look really, really nice.