“Can somebody help me, please? Not getting any younger standing here, you know.” - I was marching back and forth by the Clinique counter for what seemed to be an eternity. The girl shoots an angry look at me. “Coming,” she put away her cell phone and started moving slowly in my direction. I planned a quick run to the mall that day to grab a bottle of clarifying lotion.
“We are out of number 2s”, she declared after having a quick look under the counter. “You have to go up each time anyway, I suggest you switch to number 3 today”. “But there are only three lotions, two of which are not even for my skin type.” – I said only to realize that I wasn’t making any friends there. The situation reminded me of one of my girlfriend’s ordeal, when she asked a shop assistant at Estee Lauder’s for a night cream, and ended up with a few cans of products for two different skin types five hundred dollars later. “I’ll check some place else.” – I desperately wanted to get out of there. “Oh, wait!”- she dived down again and finally produced a bottle I was asking for. “Missed it the first time”, she said.
“That’s better”, I said to myself. “You have beautiful eyelashes,” – out loud to her. She slows down stunned. “Thanks, it’s our new mascara, works wonders.” “What else in your opinion is worth trying that I might have missed?” – I asked. She is warming up to me now: “I’ll give you a few samples.” She disappears under the counter only to reappear moments later with her hands full of little cans, bottles and tubes. Immediately it felt like Christmas. Never in my life have I seen so many samples given to one person at once, and I was the lucky one.
We spent a good half an hour chatting about all things we loved the most – beauty products. It turned out that she was an aspiring makeup artist, and was doing bridal makeup on the side. She gave me her card and promised to always give me new things to try when I stop by her counter at the mall. I was in the uplifting mood when I headed towards the exit. Before disappearing around the corner, I looked back at her. She was standing in the same spot, talking on her cell phone. When our eyes met, she smiled and waved me good-bye. I waved back with a warm feeling that we both saved each other a whole lot of frustration that day.
