In which I rant about being made to feel uncomfortable at work.

The other day I was made to feel really uncomfortable at work. And I couldn't do a thing about it. Where I work isn't really of any consequence to this piece, because I imagine this kind of thing has the potential to happen everywhere that you, as a member of staff, interact with the general public. But, for arguments sake, let's just say I work in a public facing role, at an attraction in the UK. Let me also say that this isn't something that I've ever encountered before - and I interact with scores of customers on a daily basis - so this is arguably something of an 'isolated incident', but, in my opinion, that doesn't make it any less worth talking about.

Picture the scene: there I was, sat at my till, minding my own business, when a guy comes up and asks me for a table for four. I don't work at a restaurant, or anything of the sort, so this request was nothing short of ridiculous. Perhaps a weak attempt at humour? I didn't laugh. I inquired as to whether or not this was his intention, and he informed me it was. Too bad it wasn't funny. The man then told me in a somewhat arrogant tone that he was 'waiting for some friends' who could allow him free entry - something I hadn't been made prior aware of, so I treated it with due caution.

The man continued to hang around my till, to a point that put me on edge - it's definitely worth saying here that I was in no way 'alone' with the man in the room, I had several colleagues working on the opposite side of it, but I still felt uneasy to the extent that I might as well have been alone. Which probably says it all. He then proceeded to make incredibly inappropriate jokes with the help of his friend, something that made me further uncomfortable. Making sexual jokes in front of a girl half your age and expecting her to join in? Alright then.

I can only imagine that his game was one of intimidation - I'm a 22 year old girl, but I definitely look younger, perhaps even as young as 16 - and I'm pretty sure he was hoping that I'd allow him and his friends in for free, probably by making me feel so uncomfortable that I'd do it just to get them away from me. To be honest, at that point that was all I wanted.

Mercifully, he trudged off to the corner of the room, where he and his friends lingered. Eventually, I overheard a snippet of their conversation - a cocksure "I'll get us in", just before he sauntered towards me. He proceeded to bear over me, flashing me his driving license, and attempting to coerce me in hushed tones to allow him complimentary entry. Perhaps he thought he was being 'charming'? If so, he was sorely mistaken.

This was essentially the final straw. I was through with feeling awkward - I just felt incensed. When did it become acceptable for a grown man to use intimidation tactics against a girl less than half his age? When did it become alright to harass someone in so public and subtle a way, that it's not something that you can even properly pinpoint until after the event? When did it become ok to make someone feel so uncomfortable that they're considering breaking the rules in order to just put an end the situation? And when did it become alright to employ these tactics when the chosen target is completely unable to speak out, because they're at work, and talking back to a 'customer' could get them in really big trouble/sacked?

There were many things I would have liked to have said to the man, of course I said none of them, because I wasn't in a position to. A fact that he knew, and doubtless why he did it. You'll also be pleased to know that I didn't let him in for free - I wasn't about to bow to that kind of intimidation.

I'm not really sure why I'm sharing this, perhaps because I for one am sick of the subtle harassment we all have to endure on a daily basis. Arguably, this incident is barely even reportable given that I was never actually propositioned or threatened, but I'd like to know where the line becomes blurry. When does something go from 'joking around' to 'intimidation' or 'harassment'? It seems to me, a lot sooner than you might initially think...

In which I rant about Shellac and apologise profusely.

The finished article.

It was probably always inevitable that I'd ultimately neglect this blog (SORRY), but as is almost customary with me, there's nothing like a grievance to provide motivation, and in this case it's motivating me to write a blog post. It's about time. The main reason I wanted to write this post is due to the fact that I've heard very few negative responses in relation to Shellac polish, but as I've been less than overjoyed with the experience, I thought I'd share my honest thoughts with you all. In what will essentially become a big rant.

Shellac is one of those things that seems to be talked about all the time, and almost always in ridiculously high esteem. Due to this I was expecting a lot - in hindsight, probably too much - from the latest 'wonder' in the world of nail polish. I want to begin by saying that the Shellac manicure I had done was in no way awful. It was just disappointing.

I found that the Shellac polish itself was strangely sheer, and even after two coats I could still see my nails through it in places. As someone who is almost always gunning for the full opaque look, this wasn't fantastic news. I also found that the wear and chip resistance of the stuff wasn't great - this is probably where I felt most let down by Shellac - I had a fairly noticeable chip in one of my nails after only 3 days. Being brutally honest here I've had cheap, drugstore nail varnishes fair better. In fact, I'll often manage a full week of blemish free nails when using the likes of Barry M and Essie. To put it simply, for over £20 I expected more.

My final grievance is how difficult the stuff is to remove. I'm sure, in an ideal world, you'd go and have it removed by a professional, and that's probably a much nicer experience than having to sit soaking your nails in a bowl of nail polish remover for 20 minutes just to soften the polish to the point that you can painstakingly pick it all off to remove the dehydrated nail bed beneath.

I'm genuinely writing this post with my nails drowning in almond oil in the hopes that this will put some much needed health back into them. To say they're dry is an understatement.

However, having said all of this, I'm not necessarily steering clear of Shellac manicures for the rest of forever. I did get a lot of compliments and comments about how great my nails looked and it was nice to have someone do my nails for me, and for it to be instantly dry - one of the big, genuine selling points of Shellac. I didn't have to sit afraid to touch my nose or pick up a pen for an hour after they'd be painted; a definite advantage. So I'm not swearing off Shellac forever - but I'm not contemplating it anytime soon either. In the meantime I'll stick to my old polish favourites and spend the money I'm saving on G&T's - let's face it, things could be worse.

  

Something a bit different...

The decision to write this post was certainly not an easy one by any means, because it’s incredibly difficult to bare your soul to people, both to people you know and to the internet en masse. And trust me, I know how difficult it is – I’ve pretty much experienced every reaction under the sun when telling people I’m agoraphobic and suffer with bad anxiety: from genuine concern and honest curiosity, to blank looks and even outright contempt. One ‘friend’ of mine even had the audacity to suggest I was putting the whole thing on for ‘attention’ – that was probably the worst reaction of them all.

Belated Blogmas - the final countdown..

haul of the last week of blogmas..

Today's post is going to be a super short one. At least that's the plan, we all know how much I like to go off on a tangent...but anyway. During December, as many of you will already know, I began a series of 'daily' posts cataloging what products I received in my ridiculously extravagant advent calendar. If this is the first you're hearing of it, feel free to take a browse back over my blog to catch up - that is until you reach the post about the 17th of December when all suddenly went quiet and I went MIA for just shy of a month. I know, worst blogger ever. In my defence, in the lead up to Christmas I was working an awful lot more than initially expected, and thus my blogging schedule (if you can call a post-it note covered in semi-illegible scribble that) had to be abandoned. However, given that I loathe to leave anything unfinished I thought I'd take the time today to just fill you all in of the last 7 days of 'Blogmas'. Better late than never.

Guess who's back, back again? #2

So, I realise that I have been absolutely terrible when it comes to updating the blog. I apologise. Christmas, as it often tends to, descended into a present wrapping, chestnut roasting madness. (I know, I know, I miss it already too...) But, I'm planning on updating more often from now on. In fact, regular updates is one of my new year's resolutions - but given that some of the others were: 'curb the addiction to tonic water' and 'go running at least once', I'm not sure how achievable any of them will actually be...

I don't feel like I have all that much to update you of, such is the boredom of my life, except for the fact that I've become obsessed with lemon and ginger tea and irish setters. (I didn't see it coming either.) My first plan of action is to post a haul of all remaining days of 'blogmas' that are currently outstanding, given that I hate to leave things unfinished. After that, I'm also thinking of doing a couple of posts dedicated to what I got for Christmas, so if you're at all interested, or just plain nosy, you might want to stick around for that.

As ever, I'll tweet about blog posts as soon as I've published them - literally hot off the presses - so if you like, you can follow my twitter to be kept in the loop (it's also where all the fun goes down, as is illustrated by the twitter exchange I like to call 'bird-gate' that's shown below..)    

after reading this, how could you not want to follow my twitter..

Or you can follow me on bloglovin. (If you like, obviously it's totally up to you and I won't judge you either way.)

Now that the shameless plugging is over, I do hope you'll stick around for a bit, there's lots of different products and things that I want to talk about/show you, and also lots of fun things planned this year that I'd like to share over the course of 2014. Hopefully, it'll be a blast.

P.S If you'd like to see the video montage I made from last year's 'kodak moments', you can see it here.

P.P.S It's good to be back...

Blogmas #17 - exciting stuff.

day seventeen...

Blogmas #16 - eye stuff.

door sixteen...