Sunday, March 6, 2011

I Don't Think I Broke My Rule

Alas, Not Meg
But it feels a bit squishy.  And it's all because of a tiny hole.

Thursday, I had a pedicure and my eyebrows waxed.  My regular spalady was off, so I took whoever was free.  C turned out to be very nice.

I had planned to tell her the Meg story: I crossdress sometimes, I'll be going out in about ten days and I need some work done.

But I didn't know her, or know anything about her.  That worried me a bit.  I want to be sensitive to other peoples prejudices, no matter how unreasonable they are.  If someone says "ewww....  crossdressing" I won't talk about that with her.  In fact, I won't talk to her at all, the same if she said "ewww....  black people" or "ewww.... rednecks" or "eww...." anyone else.  I'm not without prejudices, but I beat them down in hopes of stomping them out.

C wanted to get started on the brows before doing the pedicure.  I needed to ensure that she knew I wanted slightly more feminine brows than most guys who get this done.

So I told C a bit of a story.

Keep in mind this was special circumstances.  I wanted her to be comfortable, and I wanted my brows right and I did NOT have much time.

A bit of a story.

I told her that V had cleaned and shaped my brows, because I was going to a Halloween event as a girl.  And now I was going to repeat at a Mardi Gras party.

She understood immediately what I wanted ~ something a bit fem, but something I could live with on not-party days.  She joked about how "your friends are going to be amazed at how far you went for this costume when they see what I did to your eyebrows!" while I couldn't see what she was doing.  I was nervous for a moment, but then I realised she was just teasing and was glad she felt comfortable enough that she could tease.

She asked if I wanted my toenails coloured ~ I said I was thinking about it, but wasn't sure.  She wanted to pick out a Mardi Gras colour ~ she suggested blue; when I said I was thinking red, she suggested purple as a more Mardi Gras colour.  We settled on a deep red.

She also suggested a "spa pedicure" which is the relaxing, feel-good pedicure ~ massage and lotions and one of those secrets that women don't want to share with us.  I considered how I was stressing myself out trying to keep the boys organised and my wife comfortable and went with it.  I also told her about my big toe with the ingrown nail and she said she'd take care of it.  She asked if it bothered me, and I said normally, no, but women's shoes are flatter and they'll press on the toe.  She looked at me sneakers and pointed out that I'd have trouble finding women's shoes in that size.  I said I wear a 9-1/2 W.  She said "in womens'..." and I said "11 W."  She looked surprised and I said "I've done my research."

This is why I hate stories: they smother the truth.  I had to parry questions, and that's why it didn't feel right.  She said "so you had a pedicure for Halloween and now you're having another."  I said "I had a manicure at Halloween."  She said "so this is your first pedicure."  Well, no.  I wrote about one previously.  But I said "I've never had one here before."  There were other things I had to sidestep.

She commented on how expensive this would be; I told her how little I actually spent last time, and I showed her a few pictures from the rally that I just happened to have dug up for her.  She really looked shocked, as if she didn't think it was me.  She then grabbed the pictures and showed them to another spalady who laughed in surprise when she was told who it was.

I did try to be as truthful as possible, within the initial fib.  She asked who did my makeup; I said I did, but my wife did my eyeliner.  Thankfully, she didn't ask how I did such a convincing job.

The pedicure took longer than expected, and I had four clients afterwards.  I had to be at the first by 4 in order to keep any semblance of schedule so I told her we'd have to skip the polish.

Oh... I talked freely about getting dressed last time, how I have a dress for this time, what I paid for things, makeup, etc, etc, all while I ignored the woman was sitting in the next chair.

That morning, I had picked out black socks with flowers on them.  I figured even if she didn't notice I was wearing a women's shirt (she didn't), she'd notice the socks.  Then I saw that one had a hole and I picked a different plainer pair.  I looked for similarly flowery ones but it's dark in the bedroom and that's all I found.

If I wore the flowered socks, there would have been no story.  It wouldn't have been believed.

And it turns out I am sure I could have been completely honest from the start and she would have been fine.  She might have even enjoyed my visit more.  I know I would have.

As I was leaving, C smiled and said "next time we'll go farther."  I said "farther?"  She said "nail polish.  Maybe I can paint pictures on your toenails."  Does she know?  I think so.  It doesn't matter.

I will drop by after I return with pictures and come clean.  I owe it to her, and to myself.  I'll even tell her why I didn't tell her right away, and beg forgiveness.  A promise to me and you all.

Now I have another problem.  I really like V, but I think I like C better than V.  The only solution is to only show up on V's days off.



1 comment:

  1. Your honesty shows thur... I think that C enjoyed working with a person whom knew what they truely want.. and still let "her" do the "treatment" without "overly" directions. So very often "women" want a pedicure, etc. but do not have an iota of an idea what they want "really"... tell it's done and then it's not right! You've found a great manicurist and I'd consider doing a contiuous biweekly or month visits.

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