My nail technician remembered me after eight years. It changed my day from dark to bright.
I recently returned to my home in Palm Harbor, FL from Austin, TX. I was gone for eight years, renting out my home while I worked in Austin.
I was having one of those days where everything I tried to accomplish had a problem. I was not finishing any of my tasks.
Nothing had been crossed off my list, and it was midafternoon. It was a downer day. I was headed toward a miserable evening. The number of unpacked boxes in the afternoon equaled the number of unpacked boxes from the morning.
One thing that had happened was that I broke two of my fingernails, splitting one down to the quick. The polish on the other nails was chipped and peeling. My hands looked atrocious. I needed a manicure and a fill and I needed my eyebrows waxed. I needed the broken nails fixed now. I was having a mini melt-down over nothing. Time to stop and do something else.
I returned to the nail shop I was using eight years ago, before I left. I walked into the nail shop and requested a nail fill, pedicure, eyebrow, and lip waxing. The receptionist assigned me a tech.
Five minutes later there was a big commotion. One of the nail techs was at the front desk arguing with the receptionist.
The receptionist had asked me if I had been to their shop before. I said, “ Not recently.” She assigned me to the next available nail tech.
Evidently, the nail tech I used from eight years ago saw me waiting and came up to the desk.
When she discovered that I had been assigned to someone else, it got ugly.
I was HER regular customer. She was not having it any other way. She did not care how many years it had been since my last visit.
As she was talking, I remembered that I WAS her customer and went up to the desk to straighten it out. I would wait for her.
Wow. She remembered me. I don’t know why that realization made me feel good, but it did.
It was gratifying that she wanted me to be her customer after all these years. I had been her recurring customer for seven years before heading off to Austin.
I could not remember her name so was relieved to see a business card with her American name on it was on the desk.
She was very pleased when I called her by name.
“See,” she said loudly, “My customer.”
It was very nice to be remembered and even better to be wanted. When I left, I gave her a very nice tip.
I can’t wait to restart our laughing irreverent conversations about whatever is going on in our worlds. She and I had many philosophical discussions in the past.
The brief interaction with her changed my frightful day into a good day. Everyone who came in contact with me the rest of the day got the benefit of the uplifting effect of her remembering me.
She put the personal back into personal services. Her enthusiasm made me into the person I want to be each day. At least for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Amazing.
I think I will be her customer for a very long time.
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