Paul aims to fix things

After a very long hot shower and repeated attempts to scrub his legs nearly raw, Paul was left with drying legs with streaks down them and small splotches that looked like early onset of liver spots.

After a pat down, he sat down and reached out to the tanning salon. Brooke was the one to answer the call after only a few rings.

“Hi, Brooke, I’m calling about the initial tanning services I had this morning.”

Pulling up his account, she sees he had the tanning schedule, “Ah yes, I see you had your first session. How did it go?” after which she pulled up the session notes and bit her tongue.

“Ya, I about that. I’m really not happy with how this turned out. I was expecting better quality and it’s all streaked and discolored. This really is not acceptable.”

“I see, Sir,” she says bitterly reading through the comments about his attitude and lack of preparation, “noting some entries here, I see there were some concerns by our technician.”

Paul was feeling frustrated by the technician posting crud about him, “well, I would hope so! This leaves some real concern about any future sessions if it has these sorts of issues”

“Sir,” she cuts him off, “I have very deep concerns about your lack of preparation, failure to work with our well documented steps & expectations, and most importantly your treatment of our staff. If you are not willing to work with us towards a successful outcome, I suggest you consider options elsewhere. Sir.”

Paul thinks about how he couldn’t possibly send Molly there now, how much money he would be out, how another facility would scuff at his cruddy looking legs, and how Bill might cut him off too if he didn’t get this right.

“Um, no, Brooke, I’m sorry if I put this wrong,” he started cautiously.

“Mmhm?” she responded curtly.

“No, um, what I was meaning was that with me rushing through things it seems to have caused problems and I was hoping to enlist your services to resolve the problem.”

Brooke was liking the sound of “service*s*” and how she could push him for more; she just had to keep him on his heels. “I see. As I read here there were issues with your skin’s state, abundance of hair, and lack of continuing with the full closeout procedure. Is that you’re referring to?”

“Well, umm, yes, that and making sure things were taken care of. And the state of my legs is definitely not something I want to keep. Is there some way I could come in for some sort of repair session?”

“Well, there is potentially I lot we would have to do. And I’m afraid I can’t put my staff through this again especially if you are not ready, so I would need to make sure they prepare your skin to the highest standard in addition to whatever is need to smooth out your hues.”

“Well, yes, I can understand that; I really want to do what is needed to make this right.”

“Alright, well, to work with the full body tanning session you have signed up for we will need to setup a full body scrub & exfoliation as well as a hair treatment. I am will to schedule you for either a waxing or an electrolysis. Keep in mind the waxing can be very painful the first time and I will not tolerate it if you get too irate. Electrolysis is slightly more expensive but is miniscule temporary blips. Which do you agree to?”

“Uh, guess the Electrolysis.”

“Good. We’ll setup the electrolysis surface treatment. The absolute soonest I could possibly do it is Saturday if I can get the staff to agree to seeing you again.”

“oh, um, Saturday? Ya, I’m I could do that. I would really appreciate it. Around what time?”

“You would have to be here at 10am and no later to ensure everything is done in the proper sequences. In addition, you will need to ensure you follow explicit instructions of the staff. If I find out you are giving them any sort of issues, I will have them stop mid treatment and you can work with another facility to finish you off.”

Thinking of him in half and half sent very nervous shivers down his back, “no, no absolutely! I understand! I’m looking to defer to their expertise for a successful outcome and I understand that there will need to be additional services for this.”

“I see. Hold on while I go confer with the staff while I see if they’re willing to put their time into this.” *to which he hears hold music start*

“Well, hopefully this works,” mumbled Paul.

Brooke got up from her office to go check with the technician how she felt about seeing him. She had to assure the technician about the conditions and she would totally back her up if she wanted to kick him out at any point in any state. “This should be fun day,” responds the technician, “I was scheduled to be here without clients so might as well.”

Brooke also got a few of the other members of the staff to agree to be here to fill in other pieces as it was going to be a long day.

During this process Paul was beginning to get worried it wouldn’t happen as it was almost 15minutes on hold.

Brooke was enjoying letting him sweat now that she had it lined up. After a good long sip of water and setting back reading a few instagram posts, Brooke picked back up the line, thinking about one more thing she needs to push him on.

“Okay, she was really rather apprehensive about it, but I got the staff to agree to work with you again with the conditions we talked about before”

“oh, great! Thank you so much!” Paul interrupted.

“Yes, but there was one other item they wanted to make sure of.”

“Oh? Um, what was that.”

“Well, the noted here that you were wearing sweat pants and sneakers. I’m assuming you probably dealt with some stains.”

Cringing at the thought of the workout shorts, “um, ya?”

“Okay. We are only here to give our clientele the utmost best experience and highest quality results. Therefore, I must require that you please bring an appropriate change of attire to wear after the procedures. As indicated on our site they must be loose fitting, dark in color, and minimal contact. Therefore, I will need you to have a pair of loose running shorts, a sleeveless loose workout shirt, and a pair of open sandals. Understood?”

“Uh, ya, I can do that.” Paul made a mental note to see if his contact could help with the equipment.

“Alright. One final note, I assume you don’t want electrolysis or waxing your face so you will need to properly trim your face and hair yourself as we are not licensed for barber services and I need you to ensure there is no stubble or loose hairs to interfere with the application. Can I trust you with this, Paul?”

“Oh, yes, yes, I can definitely take care of that.”

“Very well, I will let you do that piece. However, if you fail to prepare your head, face, or bring appropriate attire I will not allow you to proceed and you will have to cancel the services under our standard late termination clause and the next time I can squeeze you in may not be for weeks.”

“Weeks?” Paul squeaked out.

“Maybe even months, Paul.”

“Um, yes, I will make sure.”

“Very good. Will see promptly at 10am on Saturday morning, sir. Also, we will provide you a lunch as part of our services so you will not need to concern with that piece, but I would suggest a light breakfast and schedule for a later dinner. See you then! Good-bye!” *disconnect*

Lunch? Late dinner??? How long was this going to take?!? Oh well, he made a mental note to talk to Bill about some change of clothes.

Thinking about a shave. He still had his pandemic Van Dyke beard and mustache. He was planning on removing them before the party anyway, so might as well do that now. Plus his hair was straggly, so he figured he would see if he could get into his barber before Saturday.

Calling up his barber, they luckily had time at 8a Saturday, so figured it just be an early morning for him.

Getting dressed in some pants and shirt before Molly got home, he got dinner going. When she did finally arrive, she was beat down and ragged.

Apparently, she’d been fighting another migraine all day. She ate down a few bites and discussed how she lined up some time with Katie on Saturday. They were planning to spend the day together catching up and discussing the party & their plans. She was too tired to go into details though and retreated to the dark bedroom to take medicine to knock out the migraine before succumbing to exhaustion.

Paul was just glad he didn’t have to try to dance around his pants, but regretted she was in such pain. Always hates how he can’t do anything to help alleviate her pain. The best thing he could do at the moment is let her rest in silence and darkness so he got caught up on some work before quietly sliding in bed next to her.