Maggie Rants [and Raves]

DEA Agents Welcome

by Maggie Franklin | December 14, 2012 | Bookmark +

I’m cleared to return to my regular work schedule as of the first of the year. I’m very much looking forward to getting back to work, catching up with clients I haven’t been in touch with since I broke my wrist, and inspecting the work of other nail techs who have been working on my clients in the meantime.

 

It’s been about four weeks since my surgeon wrinkled up his brow, asked me what, exactly, I do at work, then said he was pretty sure I wouldn’t injure my wrist further if I were to practice a few nails here and there. He was also pretty confident in assuring me that it would hurt and I shouldn’t expect to be able to get back to work before the 1st. (He was right, it hurts.) But I have tried to practice a few nails to see just how difficult — and painful — it is.

 

I’m going to go with the doctor’s recommendation and just stick it out till January. Mostly, I still have very limited range of motion and aside from being difficult to do nails, it’s amusing for anyone watching.

 

Nevertheless, I got to use my duck foot tips. I have several clients who like the flared nail look, but no one has been eager to go all out with a true duck foot.

 

But one of my practice victims gave it a go.

 

The whole time I was doing these things I was trying to add up in my head the cost of the product I was using for them.

 

I put a lot of effort into a pretty careful cost analysis of services several years ago, so I have a decent feel for how much product I use in a typical set and what that sets me back. But these duck foot nails were really sucking down the acrylic! I estimate I used about five times more monomer and polymer for this set than for a typical set of even the same length!

 

Naturally, I have been trying to figure out just exactly how much I need to adjust the price of a set of nails if it’s going to take that much more product. But mostly, my little OCD brain needs to know exactly how much more product I actually did use.

 

Which leads me to searching for an extra sensitive scale that will measure in milligrams.

 

Which everyone assures me is going to “tip off the Feds” and get me investigated for drugs — since, obviously, only drug dealers would need such a thing.

 

I guess when you factor in my consumption of acetone and — albeit seasonal — purchase of Sudafed (I dolive in the allergy capital of the world, after all), I probably do look pretty suspicious on paper.

 

So I’m going to keep looking for my scale, and I’d just like to assure any DEA agents who happen to love my blog — I’ll be happy to do your nails while you’re here. We can do one hand in duck feet and the other in a more typical style and you can help me track the difference in product consumption. It’ll be fun (mostly for me), but I’m willing to prove that needing a super sensitive scale to measure minute amounts of powder substances can be entirely innocent. A little OCD, but innocent.

 

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