Go Home Already!

It is ridiculous that it should take me over two hours to finish my last client of the day. Sure, occasionally, the last client of the day represents that final "ahh" when you relax and realize you don't have to stick to quite the same schedule you have all day.

So I see my last client come in and I relax a little. When she asks for lots of nail art, that's OK. When her nails need a little extra TLC, that's OK. When we get to talking, I might sit back and gesticulate wildly a little more, knowing that I won't be running over into anyone else's time.

Then I look up as she goes to wash her hands after I'm done buffing. I notice that the service I booked an hour for has taken us an hour. Hmm .... except she's in the bathroom scrubbing her hands and lollygagging for far longer than necessary. That's not really a big deal. She's my last client. It's OK if she ends up taking an hour and a half — after all, she also wants nail art.

So she finally gets back to my table, writes out her check, and I start pulling paint bottles from my drawer and making sure we're on the same page as to what she wants on her nails.

We get to talking about something else as I begin to paint her nails. First polish, then nail art. Old-fashioned, hand painted nail art. It takes half an hour. The whole service is done in an hour and a half. It's a little bit longer than I'd originally scheduled, but she's my last client, so it doesn't matter.

Except now I'm ready to go home. I have a boyfriend at home who has been home from his job for four hours. I have dogs at home who haven't seen me since this morning. No one at home has had dinner yet, because they refuse to eat without me. And I haven't eaten since this morning because, well, I just don't usually, but by 9 p.m. my stomach is beginning to suggest that I should.

Yet, here's my last client. Sitting around. Talking. Her nails are done, her check is written, her next appointment has been made.

Is she waiting for her nails to dry? Because they were dry 10 minutes ago.

No. This is what happens when your last client is a single woman with no one at home waiting for her. She just hangs out. Visiting.

I used to have two ladies who ended my Fridays. Both of them had husbands at home that they couldn't stand. So every other week I was stuck at work entertaining them until I found a way to slowly herd them out the door. Not just out the door, but out of my parking lot because I always felt uneasy about leaving them there, talking to each other hours after their nails were dry.

Now I'm finishing my daily chores here at home just after midnight, with the BF waiting on me to turn off the lights. Actually, he'd really like me to get around to icing those cupcakes. But I think they'll have to wait another day at least.