Books, Covers, and All That

So this weekend the BF and I went "furniture shopping." We have decided that if we ever actually buy this house — but that's a different story — we want a bar-height pub set as our dining room set. And what better way to decide exactly what height and size you want your pub set than to visit a pub?

So Saturday afternoon we headed down to Main Street with our trusty tape measure and proceeded to walk up one side and down the other, and take a couple of detours down side streets to all the local establishments that have bar-height tables.

Let me assure you, doing a pub crawl to go furniture shopping is an expensive way to decide what kind of table will look good in your dining room!

Now, anyone who's every actually seen me in person knows that my own nails are almost never done. Spare me the lecture, you'll just be preaching to the choir. I know I'm a horrible example. And for that matter, my hair isn’t done either. And I don't wear makeup. And all my  jewelry and most of my shoes have been packed already. If you should happen to run into me on the street, I'm pretty casual. OK. Beyond casual. I come off as one of those "all natural" hippy-chicks. The last thing you would every think I did for a living would be nails. Which is why I have a website with a zillion pictures of my work, why I have a picture of my work on my business cards, and why I give everyone my business card and make a point to encourage them to look at the website.

Now, from the feedback I get from clients and friends, I understand that my name is known around town among other nail techs and civilian-types who are into the who's who in the local nail world. I mean, nowhere near celebrity status, but I do hear that when my clients say my name, quite often they hear, "Oh! MAGGIE does your nails?" or "OMG! I’ve seen her website! Girl! She does BOMB-ASS nails." (Yes, that is exactly what I hear quite often.) Stuff like that. And, of course, between my website, my Facebook page, my Myspace page, my Twitter account, my own blog, and this blog, the Google is strong with me. So I don't think you can chalk it up entirely to my ego when it doesn't surprise me when other nail techs have heard of me.

So, back to Saturday afternoon ... The local community college was putting on an event at one of the downtown theaters and a girl approached us to ask if we knew about it and if we were interested in attending. I couldn't even focus on what she was saying — and not because we'd already been to two pubs. I was distracted by her nails. They were long, curved, probably applied over tips, and they needed cuticle oil in a painful sort of desperate way — but they were all done differently with lots of glitters and embedded objects. By far, the most fascinating was the one with the genuine starfish embedded in it.

Naturally I commented, took some time to chat about nails with her, and find out she does nails at a local salon. (Wish I'd gotten her name.) So I told her that I also do nails, told her I own The Art of Nailz, and was actually able to point directly to my windows since we were just downstairs from my building. I gave her a card and told her to check out my website and keep in touch — since I love keeping in touch with other pros.

She gave me one of those "uh huh, sure lady" half-grins and semi-nodded. Her reaction and body language specifically said she was completely uninterested in me and that she had already decided that if I did, indeed, do nails, that I probably did it part time and poorly and maybe hadn't been doing it long and probably wasn't very good at it.

I know, because I've given other self-proclaimed nail techs that same half-grin and semi-nod many a time. Mind you, not when they actually bother to hand me their card. Mostly it's the grocery store clerks and medical office receptionists and people who are wearing the most awful, why-aren't-you-hiding-your-hands nails who earn that reaction. But even so, if you show some passion for what you're doing, I'm all about being friends. It's when all you want to do is talk smack about the economy or the competition that I write you off pretty fast as not representing the type of professional that I want to hang out with.

Anyway. I hope the girl with the starfish in her nail went home and checked out my website. At the very least, I hope she realized that I wasn't just some hag on the street who thinks she does nails. At best? I hope she went home, found me online and realized she just met MAGGIE FRANKLIN — THE Maggie Franklin! And felt really bad for brushing me off because I'm her hero and she reads my blog all the time and she totally wants to be just like me.

I don't understand? You say "delusions of grandeur" like it's a bad thing.