Yes Sir, I Just Let It Happen

I went in to get a manicure last week, in preparation for my trip up to VT for a wedding this past weekend. It's a good thing I picked a dark color so I couldn't see how blue my fingers were from the cold up there!

I am in the process of switching to a new nail salon so I'm unfamiliar with the people that work there and unfamiliar with their process. I had only managed to get a pedicure there once and last week was my first manicure. In short, they sold me - they're very thorough and do a great job - and for a great price, I get a hot stone massage on my feet and back, depending on if you're there for a pedicure or manicure.

So back to the part about getting my manicure and not being familiar with the nail technicians. I got a girl that did not do my pedicure - and it was pretty clear that her English was not very good (It took me a couple of tries to figure out that she was asking me for my phone number). At the beginning, we exchanged pleasantries and left it at that. When she was done prepping my left hand, I got to soak it in a bowl of soapy water to soften the cuticles. She had her cuticle cutter in hand and started going at the right hand - so you can say that my hands were occupied. While sitting there, trying not to fall asleep to the operatic music of Pavoratti, I noticed a little fly flying around us - except it wasn't a fly at all - I had a hunch it was a mosquito. It came near my soaking hand a couple of times, tried to land on it - but I blew it away or lifted my hand from the soapy water to try and get it away from me. Another part of me thought maybe I should take one for the team and let it bite me so it'll go away and die. But I was being selfish and didn't feel like having a mosquito bite on my hand. So I shooed it away somehow.

The mosquito flew away for a bit but it came back eventually - and it started flying around the nail technician's head. I figured if it was around her hair, it wouldn't be a big deal. Mosquitos don't usually bite on the scalp - so it landed safely on her hair for a little bit before she shook her head to shoo it away. And so the mosquito flew around a bit - the nail technician was stellar in her lack of annoyance. If it had been me in her place, that cuticle cutter would've been flying around just trying to get the mosquito out of the vicinity - but no, she was extremely calm about the whole thing.

And then it happened. The mosquito landed on her forehead, near her left side hair line. I watched it, wondered for a little bit if it was really a mosquito - and just continued watching. I didn't want to blow into the nail technician's face. I didn't want to shoo it away with my soapy left hand or pull my right hand out of the technician's death grip (it seemed rude at the time) to slap the mosquito dead on her face - so I just let it stay where it landed and watched. Watched as a small, red, bump had started forming in the area where the mosquito was. Watched as she finally shooed the mosquito away but thinking to myself, 'it's too late!' Watched as this perfectly nice woman got a mosquito bite on her forehead becuase I didn't say anything.

Then the guilt set in - 'Why didn't I speak up' I kept thinking to myself. As I pondered this to myself, I heard the sounds of Enya in the background - seeming to 'Orinoko Flow' my guilt away...I started feeling better and not so guilty. But then the Enya song changed and it was dark and brooding. And the guilt started coming back. How do you do that Enya - make me feel so serene one minute and then guilt-ridden the next? (Must be her gift of song.) And I suddenly couldn't take my eyes off the technician's bite.

When she was finally done with my manicure and set me on the side to let my nails dry, she was nothing but polite and kind. I, on the other hand, felt wretched. I just sat there, staring at the wall, like a dunce in the corner, thinking, 'how could I let it happen?' But I did - and I left - keeping my head down in shame as everyone said goodbye to me. I did manage to give her a good tip - like an invisible olive branch that only I knew about.

While we were in VT having lunch, on Friday, with a group of friends, I told them about the whole situation and they all stared at me in horror, and perhaps some amusement. I'm thinking having my new purse break and finding a hole in my brand new pantyhose was payback for keeping my mouth shut about the mosquito. Well played, Karma....well played.