Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Big Apple...

...is a completely different world. Seriously. I find myself in awe of the people, the chaos, the noise, and the contstant buzz of the city. I find myself trying to "keep up" with the rush of the crowd, so that god forbid I don't get trampled or bottle neck the masses in Grand Central. I am however really enjoying my time in Manhattan and feel confident that one day I won't appear as the outsider...maybe.

As silly as this sounds I was pretty damn proud of myself for navigating my way from JFK, to my hotel and then to my office with out getting lost once! I even managed to stroll around the neighborhood (ok, so a couple blocks) to check things out. Just imagine, I might actually get on the subway in a few months. :)

I did decide that my nails were in dire need of a fill and found myself at a Salon/Spa or so the sign said...yeah, this is when I was schooled in the fact that I am not from New York and sometimes it shows...the Russians (yes, I did find out that is where they are from) saw "SUCKER" on my face and had a hey day with me.

I asked if they could do a fill, which lead the lady to ask if I had ever had UV Gel Nails vs what I had on (powder gel), I told her yes, but it had been a long time. Well this is when she decided that those were the kind I needed, so off went my old nails and on with new. No big deal, my nails were getting a little "old" and so a new set would be a good change.

During this she also asked if I wanted a pedicure, hell, why not....I really did need one, but I didn't shave my legs and that is a pedicure faux pas for me...apparently that matters little to them...in fact she checked my legs to see if the hair was long enough to wax...thank god she decided it was not. Now mind you during all of this they had a sign on their window "Manicure & Pedicure - $26" so I figured the pricing would be similar to my nail place back home. WRONG (but more on that later)...Since they decided the hair on my legs was not grotesque enough to avoid giving me a pedicure I went with it. The pedicure was FANTASTIC...truly relaxing and with the week I am having I needed it.

While I was getting the pedicure, a girl came in and pointed to her eye brows and lip...I figured she needed a wax...yeah, that's when the Russian woman who was doing my nails pulled out a black string and went to town...what the...was all I could think. Then once she was done, I swear to you, she pulled out a steak knife (wooden handle and all) and did something else to her eyebrows and lip. I sat in awe over all this and just smiled, bad idea. She came back to me and said "I do you, after nails"...what??? She had to be kidding, there was going to be no steak knife near my face or so I thought.

They finished my heavenly pedicure and then back to the station I went to finish my finger nails. During this time, the Russian Woman and her Husband tried to convince me that my hair was too dark and I needed new hair products. I held strong though, I mean yeah it is a little darker, but hell I just had it done last Thursday and oh yeah the Russian woman had orange hair, total pumpkin head and I apparently I was the one with bad hair.

After completing my nails (btw...during all of this she also tried to see if I wanted a bikini wax or brazilian, um...HELL NO) she came around the table took her "string" and started on my eyebrows and then came the steak knife...maybe this is why Beer Daddy wasn't keen on me wandering Manhattan. After she completed my eyerbows she looked at me and said "you no do your lip?"...yeah pretty sure I am mustache free so far, but maybe next time. After some googling I learned that this torture treatment is called "Threading"...we back in the MN apparently aren't as advanced or maybe we are and I just don't know about it.

After the fingers, toes, and eyebrows it came time to pay...that is when I realized I got screwed...$210 the husband said. I couldn't even argue, it seemed so insane, but I was tired and wanted to head back to my hotel. Luckily I grabbed a brochure and after some serious thinking there was no way it should have been that expensive. So what do I do? March on back after work today and tell them they over charged me.

Well I get there tell them that I think they over charged me and apparently that is when the secret, small print fees (which btw are not listed in their brochure) were broken down for me or aka the breakdown of how I got screwed:

UV Gel Nail Set = $95
Spa Pedicure = $55
Threading (remember the one I didn't ask for) = $15
French Design on Toes = $15
Scrub & Oil "Treatment" for Hands = $15

I know freakin ridiculous, but I figured if I pushed the issue out would come the steak knife. So what have I learned, don't assume anything and ask for all pricing first. Thank goodness Brian just laughed it off and hoped it was as good as it cost.

I decided to take it easy tonight and pick up a bottle of vino and hang out in my room. Figured it was cheaper. :)

No comments: