The Economics of Nails

This is not about nails used for building things, so if that's what you were after, you can stop reading right now. This is about fingernails. Acrylic ones to be exact. Exciting stuff, eh?

I was finally able to get my nails done today, and I have spent only $41 to do it. To give you some perspective, it should have cost $25, but I seem to like to do things the hard way, so I was able to spend much more for the same thing. How, you may ask? An excellent question my friend.

A few days ago I broke off a nail, and I also needed a fill, so I left for work early in order to have enough time to hit the nail place near my work. When I arrived I asked how long of a wait and was told "15 minutes". Okay, sounds good. I sat down to read a magazine from February while I waited. (Fortunately I don't keep up on celebrity gossip so it was all new to me.)

I waited, and waited, and waited. Then I was moved to a chair where I waited some more. By the time someone was ready to work on my I was hopelessly short on time, so I had him just replace the missing nail.

Yesterday I got up early (yuck) to go into town with my son and try again to get my nails done. I bought a few things at Wal Mart and had exactly enough for a fill and a modest tip. The woman started removing the polish and we found fungus under one of the nails. This was not good. It had to be replaced. Problem here, as I didn't have enough cash for a fill, replacement nail and a tip of any sort. I told her just to treat the fungus and replace the one nail and I went home again with unfilled nails.

Today, another nail popped off while I was making the bed. Upon examing the remaining nails I decided that I should just go ahead and have the rest of them replaced as they were looking kind of scroungy. Chanting "Third time's the charm" I trotted off to try again. I hit the bank for cash AND made sure my checkbook was with me, so I was prepared.

I explained my problem, showed off my two stunning new nails and requested that the rest of them be ripped off and replaced. After a lovely chat and more quality time than I have spent with my kids lately, I walked out wth ten gleaming new nails, complete with a brand new polish color. (Rosy Sands, in case you are interested) Of course, making three trips meant three tips, and I ended up needing more work today because I had waited so long and walked around with bare nails, but hey, I like to live dangerously.

Here's to nails and supporting the immigrant population!