It’s been awhile since those carefree days of mall shopping but I did manage to get an afternoon of that done at the end of April with Ann until she broke her leg. That’s a story for another day. But one of the things that Ann has taught me over our years of mall shopping is to not make eye contact.
Now what does that mean? You know –all of those kiosks in the middle of malls where there are displays of things that supposedly you can’t do without. I am usually the one that they hunt down and follow all the way down the mall hallway to the next anchor store because I make eye contact and can’t not be nice to those sales folks. Ann tries to tell me to keep walking, avoid eye contact, boldly say I am not interested. Well that does not always happen.
So the last trip we both got these little packages pressed into our hands. Ann threw hers away almost immediately but I knew that this was fodder for a future blog post so I kept mine and rediscovered it the other day.
Apparently snail cream is a thing. Now I am pretty darn hesitant to put something from a snail on my skin but apparently it is a wonderful “new” advancement in the beauty regime. Apparently the mollusks secrete a mucus that protects their exposed bottoms against bacteria, cuts, and UV Rays. This has now been included in rejuvenating creams for humans to slather on their faces. Uh…..no.
This was definitely one time I should have avoided eye contact. Any one out there have a similar experience in a mall or is it just me that they target? Let me know in the comments and remember that each comment made this month means a 50 cent donation to our Comments for a Cause —Uvalde Victims Relief Fund.
12 Comments
Leave a commentI still want to know what it was about us that said “ they need to rub some snails on their faces”?
Right? We must have looked BAD!
Interesting you are writing about the mall today. I learned yesterday there’s a new book out about the history of malls in America. I love the title- “Meet Me at the Fountain.” Or in your case, “meet me at the kiosks”. I’ll have to ask Laura about the snail cream.
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Yuck. That’s my comment.
😊
No thank you. Soap & water is just fine for me.
Snails???? Really?????? Ewwww
I can’t even.
I was disturbed when I heard yucky things about eye shadow years ago……
Right? It went in the trash.
I’ve worked those kiosks, and it’s not that people look as if they need your product. You may know very well that nobody needs your product, that it’s a stupid fad, that you wouldn’t take it home yourself if you weren’t being paid per sale. You also know that X number of sales will pay for what you want to buy. It’s amazing what being young and desperate will do. I remember watching old farmers enter the unfamiliar mall–not making eye contact, dazzled by the holiday lights–and you don’t get to manage the kiosk by waiting for them to make eye contact. You leap out and wave. You train yourself to see the old farmers with straw and muck stuck to their boots and visualize them all having daughters who want the glamour of a $45 crystal nail file. Those of us who got promoted to “manager” had no shame.
Snail slime? She sold people snail slime? What’s her phone number, I want her for my book booth.
Hehehehehe….. oh, my!!! Yep, don’t make eye contact!! What a hoo!
That’s a hard no for me. The snail cream anyway. I find the kiosk employees (owners?) annoying for sure. I don’t look, I walk fast. I even walk the long way around to avoid certain ones. Our mall is in a big oval, so when I used to walk, just to walk, there, I’d often go almost around and then turn around and go back the other way…just to avoid the most pushy of the sales people.
Okay, ewww. That’s what I think about snails in general so why would I want this ‘cream’ on my face? I laughed at your description of walking through the mall because as one of those people who seem very approachable, I too have learned not to make eye contact.