{"id":182,"date":"2009-09-19T09:55:51","date_gmt":"2009-09-19T09:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/pedicures-why-do-they-make-me-uneasy.html"},"modified":"2009-09-19T09:55:51","modified_gmt":"2009-09-19T09:55:51","slug":"pedicures-why-do-they-make-me-uneasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/pedicures-why-do-they-make-me-uneasy.html","title":{"rendered":"Pedicures: Why Do They Make Me Uneasy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Call it a case of white liberal guilt, but I’m uncomfy getting pedicures.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\"Pedicure.jpg\"<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I love how they look, and I’m hopeless at giving them to myself. Since I was a kid, I’ve tried; tongue caught fast between teeth, brow furrowed with a scowl of concentration as I guide the tiny brush across my tootsies, only to end up with a glob of polish that looks as though a runaway road-divider painter slopped over my feet on its way off a cliff. Manual dexterity and I do not exactly go hand-in-hand. Or hand-on-foot, as the case may be.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But I just don’t like handing over my feet to a stranger and saying, “Here, attend to this, will you?” It’s bizarre, considering I don’t have a similar issue getting a haircut (though I do with manicures). It’s that sort of embarrassment about being waited on “hand and foot.” (Again with the aphorisms this morning!) I feel like a jerk asking someone to trim my cuticles and scrub my calluses; get their faces that close to an ugly part of my anatomy (and no, I don’t get waxed!)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A part of it is that the folks who do nails in my neighborhood are clearly recent immigrants who aren’t being paid a lot and who perhaps can’t get better jobs due to language barriers or other immigration issues. On the one hand (foot?), I suppose this means they need the work and don’t need my idiotic qualms. On the other, I don’t want to waggle my big privileged foot in somebody’s face who already has it tough enough.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What to do? For now, I just get pedicures very rarely, tip extremely well when I do, and go sans<\/i> polish most of the time. (It’s more in line with my budget anyway.) To address my ethical squeamishness, however, I thought about just asking a manicurist what they think about their job, but I didn’t want to put anyone on the spot and make them more uncomfortable. <\/div>\n

<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
So… anyone out there reading this currently or ever been a manicure\/pedicure artist? Want to weigh in? And, for the rest of you-all, anyone relate? Think I’m being ridiculous?<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Incidentally, Paddy tells me she has something to add on this subject from the POV of someone coming from a background of “brown liberal nonchalance.” Can’t wait to hear it!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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Call it a case of white liberal guilt, but I’m uncomfy getting pedicures. I love how they look, and I’m hopeless at giving them to myself. Since I was a kid, I’ve tried; tongue caught fast between teeth, brow furrowed with a scowl of concentration as I guide the tiny brush across my tootsies, only…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-hillary-fields","category-personal-ethics"],"yoast_head":"\nPedicures: Why Do They Make Me Uneasy? - Everyday Ethics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/pedicures-why-do-they-make-me-uneasy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pedicures: Why Do They Make Me Uneasy? - Everyday Ethics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Call it a case of white liberal guilt, but I’m uncomfy getting pedicures. 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