Being a Hair Stylist... Who does a lot of pedicures!?!?

Ugh....

One more reason why I am so looking forward to starting a new career and not having to work at a salon anymore: Pedicures! I absolutely hate doing them. It is a little bit due to the fact that I find it pretty degrading (thanks to my Memere, who was shocked when she found out I "wash other people's feet, like a servant"), and also because it really is quite belittling: Here I am, crouched down over the feet of someone who is sitting in what is appropriately called the "throne", working my ass off to scrub their feet and remove the nasty calluses they have built up. Half the time, I don't even have the right tools to use in order to remove the calluses because everything is either broken or unordered. The stupid stool I sit on randomly pumps up and down, so I have to try and keep my weight pushed to the back. My hands smell of the product for hours afterward, reminding me when I take a bite of my lunch where my hands have been, reducing my appetite.

One time I actually threw up in the middle of a pedi. Granted, I was still pretty much drunk from the night before (I was almost 21 and had gotten into a club because the lady at the door did not read the date closely enough).

Even more annoying is that the pedis are a lot of work before and after the service is completed, and clients don't tip enough to do it. Pre-ped, I have to set up, which is not too bad, but after, the sanitation laws-which I follow to a "T" because I don't want any bacteria to contaminate ME- I have to spray, then soak, then sanitize the tools, then vacuum the room, take out the trash. It is about 20 mins of cleanup. I don't make much on the pedis. I hate them!

So, today, one of my fellow stylists would like me to give her one. I have complained about how much I hate doing them, yet that does not seem to matter. It is my own damn fault because I say, "Oh, sure, I don't mind!", with a big smile on my face. I was going to go into work later so I would have time to do my homework, but that just meant she bumped her pedi down. Her feet are fine, and I love her to pieces, I just don't like doing pedis! I do my own so I don't have to subject anyone else to the degrading and time-consuming-not-worth-it-especially-because-it-is-free-for-employees, so why can't everyone else?????? I only work 4 days at the salon, and really don't like taking up the time I am there to work on unpaying feet when I could be with a paying customer!

(If you read this, you know I love you, and you know how much I hate pedis.... Yet I will still give you one when you ask because I don't know how to say no!)