These are not just nails.
While other services require less time or simply no face-to-face contact, manicure is a completely different. Being at a table for an hour or two, less than half a meter away, with someone you don’t know, can sometimes be a little awkward. If you don’t speak, you may seem a little unfriendly, or if you ask the wrong questions, you may make a bad impression and be rude, so to speak. With new Spanish clients, I still have the feeling that I have to prove myself in some way, maybe because I’m not Spanish, and then I tell myself that I have to try harder to be worthy in this country and in my profession. It may seem absurd to say it, because I’ve been living here for almost 9 years, but I think that when we live abroad, we all have this internal insecurity, some more, some less. Especially if your language skills aren’t at the perfect level, sometimes you feel like you’re unprofessional about certain things. Sometimes I think I’m actually a lot smarter, but I just lack the courage to prove it. If the client is a foreigner like me, then I feel more challenged to do better than what they are used to in their home country, especially if their nails are not very pretty previously.
However, with loyal customers everything is much easier, I know what they like and they know what to expect. It takes the tension off both of us, because when the client comes back, they’ll probably be happy with my work (which makes me feel more secure), and the client knows they’ll leave satisfied, with no unpleasant surprises. I may be serious, upset, tired, or some days I just don’t feel like talking, or I feel like expressing myself and I leave the client speechless, and that’s okay, there are good days and bad days. But loyal customers understand it, just as I understand them: If someone falls asleep at the table, forgets the reservation or is late.
I meet more than 500 different people a year, with so many different nationalities, cultures, personalities, different lives and in fact, to put on a good face and always be polite and friendly, you need thick skin. It’s not that I’m not nice and kind, but with some people it comes naturally, but with others it needs to use more strength. I think I’ve learned enough over the years in public work that people are different in so many ways that you have to accept it. I don’t have to share the same opinion about things, but I can hear arguments and sometimes it even makes me see things from the other side.
I have over 150 loyal customers, and about half of them have been for years. And as a result, the title will be on today’s blog. Are they just nails? Customers who come one or more times a month can’t no longer be called just nails. Behind the nails there are people who have become more important in one way or another, they are no longer just customers. We’ve gained more confidence, we know each other pretty well, it’s not just a myth that you get therapy when you’re in a manicure. Sometimes I need to empty myself, sometimes they need it. Do we always have that friend or partner with whom we can talk about our problems, or maybe you just don’t always want to talk to someone who is too close to you? And the more I hear stories about different lives, different relationships, and situations, I realize that we’re not that different at all. There’s always a recurring pattern, we try to figure out men, to be better and more understanding, and this pretty teenage theme is like hitting with the same tree. Oh, how good it is sometimes to hear that there are things that don’t happen only to me and that many things happen to all of us. Different stages of life find us at some point and it seems that we must to know how to deal with them. I haven’t received an instruction manual for birth, or for my children’s, so life is an experiment. There are no right or wrong decisions. There are ups and downs, we win and we lose. We fall and get up. Sometimes we run with our eyes closed, for fear of keeping them open. But what’s coming has to come, sooner or later, and you just have to accept it and face it.
A lot of my clients are experienced in life, open-minded, and I really enjoy hearing about all these exciting things in their lives they’ve had, what they’ve seen, and where they’ve been. I’m very grateful in my job, just for the fact that I meet so many different people that broaden my horizons and honestly, I learn something new almost every day. And I hope that they have also received useful information and good advice from me which has been worth it.
It is said that the best job is the one you enjoy, because then you don’t work a single day. To be honest, there are days when I don’t work. And this is largely due to my extremely friendly customers, who are great people and make the job enjoyable. But, of course, that doesn’t mean I’m not tired after a long day at work, I still am, even nice things get tiring, especially if you’re striving to do your best. 😊
My son once told me that I could do a much more important job than being a nail technician, he thinks I’m too smart for this job and it’s not a vital job at all.. I replied that of course it is an important job, I make people happy. Isn’t it so that if you get a freshly done new manicure, you’ll be happier? Of course, if the nails are still done beautifully. A little while ago I had a new client whose horrible nails accompanied her for the whole Christmas and in that case the nails don’t make happy. But not a freshly done manicure either, the nails stay beautiful for a very long time. And a beautiful manicure is a woman’s mirror; we use our hands in almost every activity and during these three weeks you will definitely get some beautiful comments that will make you feel better again.
Some time ago I saw my client nervously hiding her nails while I was making her eyebrows beautiful, and then I noticed that her nails were half bitten and she was ashamed of her nails, she felt so insecure. So, are they really just nails? I offered her that we would fix her nails and he could confidently take his hands out of his pockets. She thought her nails were in too bad a condition to be able to fix anything. We did that, and I can honestly say that he is so proud of them and is now waving these with joy.
Most of people who bite their nails stop doing so when they start polishing their nails with permanent polish or gel. So, it’s much more effective than all kinds of different liquids, which are supposed to take away this bad habit. And it’s unbelievable how many people have this problem, or rather a bad habit. Are our lives really that stressful, and it makes us nervous. Or it is also largely a matter of genes, as it very often happens that one of the parents has faced the same problem at some point. But maybe it helps a little to give it up if you knew how much dirt accumulates under it and as a result, it can cause health problems. Stopping it is very important for your health, not just your beauty…
Sometimes I can’t see who is really behind those nails, maybe sometimes it’s better not to know. Who knows?
One thing is for sure, we are different, and sometimes we should not change ourselves, who and what we are, we should rather be understanding and more humane towards each other and accept that we are different.
Wouldn’t it be a bit odd if we were all the same?
What do you think, dear readers, are these just nails?
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