oh, Vicki

today's lesson is about standing up for yourself.

as you may or may not know, I love to save a buck. I enjoy thrift stores, finding (& actually using) coupons, reduce, reuse, recycle, etc. I am also not the type of girl to get her hair done every 2-4 weeks and keep my nails polished, but for those days that I want to pamper myself, I had found a great, cheaper alternative - use a beauty school.
beauty schools are cheaper (because they're students), do everything by the book (because they're students), but also takes twice as long (because they're students). when they are done with whatever service they're providing, there is a teacher to make sure everything went smoothly and you're satisfied with your service.

so I met Vicki. she was an older student, in her sixties. she came back to school so she could work out of her home I applaud Vicki; she is disabled (can't walk very well) but being proactive about her situation. an old dog, but willing to learn new tricks. :)
turns out, Vicki was new to the floor (working with actual people) only providing services for a month. so I got the rookie.
obviously I knew it was a school, it's a learning environment, and that there will be students not quite as good as others. that's fine. however ... well, here's what happened ...

* after she dropped her nail clippers, instead of getting new ones, she used a cuticle cutter. do you know what that is? DO NOT CUT YOUR NAILS WITH IT. I said ouch a few times.
* she totally skipped the massage part :(
* I had requested a french pedicure. I've never had one of those, and apparently, Vicki has never given one. she winged it best she could, but it was awful! I don't even know the words to describe it. being in her later sixties, she was a little shaky, so the white line just looked like a white out mess.

in the end, one foot was passable, the other, butchered.

I told the instructor that she gave good service, and in a way she was. she was friendly, we chatted, she did what I asked ... she just really sucked at it and I didn't bother to mention that part. it was partly because she was standing right there. I just totally chickened out.

before I left the school, that conviction of not standing up for myself was strong, so I asked if there was a comment card or something I could fill out. they gave me a notebook and a pen, but hey, at least it was something. I hope it made a difference somewhere.

Vicki, I'm sorry for doing you a disservice by keeping my mouth shut.
to everyone else, don't pretend the truth isn't obvious. tell the Vicki's in your life how it really is!