After my first visit to BronzeNwax and my experience with Jane, the owner, I found myself daily wishing my pubic hair would grow so that I could have another go. When I finally thought that a visit would not be laughed at, I was to be disappointed. Jane was there, but she was not to do my waxing, it was another lady called Debbie. Debbie was very pleasant and thorough, but the entire procedure was conducted with consummate professionalism and without deviation from the service description in the salon brochure.
I was left highly disappointed. As I was leaving, I bumped into Jane arriving back from the wholesalers loaded with stock. She beamed at me and apologised profusely. It turned out that she had seen my booking and put herself down as therapist, but then got held up in traffic going to the wholesaler and had been forced to call the salon and get Debbie to do my waxing. Jane asked if I would like a coffee, to which I replied that I would, and she asked me to hold on a few moments and we could go to the café along the street where the coffee was less instant and far more satisfying.
As Jane emerged from the salon, we quickly fell into step as we walked towards the café. We exchanged small talk as we did and soon arrived into the steamy warmth of a well-known coffee chain outlet. We fell silent for a few moments while savouring the taste of our drinks. It was Jane who broke the silence.
'I have wanted to talk to you for a while now, but didn't want to call you or make a point of it'. My mind immediately thought that she was going to apologise for what happened at my last appointment. I thought I would head her off at the pass so to speak. 'Look, what happened that day, well, just to let you know, it wasn't a problem, well what I mean is it was lovely....' Jane raised her hand to stop me. 'That wasn't why I wanted to speak. Although, for the record, it was lovely and I hope we will do it again one day'. I sat puzzled. If that wasn't the reason she wanted to talk, what was? I didn't have long to wait for an answer.
'You have heard the saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch?' she enquired. I nodded, looking directly into her hazel eyes. There was a smile in there, but also a look of serious intent. I allowed her to continue. 'That day was a happy coincidence in one way' she purred, 'You recall that originally you were booked with someone else?' I nodded in agreement. Jane continued in a low, almost conspiratorial voice. 'Well, unfortunately Amanda, the therapist you were meant to see, is not going to be able to return to work for quite a while, she has undergone some quite serious surgery and it will take months to recover from that'. Again I nodded, wondering what this was leading to, surely not a job offer. I decided to allow Jane to finish without interrupting.
'I wondered if you would be interested in working for me part time to take up a small part of Amanda's workload.'
I almost coughed a mouthful of coffee all over Jane. I had been certain I wouldn't get a job offer from her; after all, I knew nothing about beauty therapies. I started to stammer an objection. 'I, I don't know anything about your business, I am not any kind of therapist, I would cover everyone in nail varnish or rip someone's skin off instead of unwanted hair'. Again Jane held he hand up to silence me. She was very effective. Jane continued her explanation.
'Amanda didn't just do waxing and beauty for me, she helped out in a little side-line I have going.' She paused to let her words sink in. I decided to stick to nodding rather than interrupt again by grabbing the stick at the wrong end. 'We cater for some 'special' clients offering discrete services to satisfy their spiritual needs as well as their physical ones.' I nodded again, although I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but I really had no desire to make myself look foolish again. 'Are you with me so far?' Jane asked. I started to nod, then shook my head. I really had no idea.
'Let me put it this way' continued Jane after a moment's obvious consideration, 'You could get paid to do the sort of thing we did when I waxed you. Not the waxing though' she giggled. She leant back in her chair and regarded me with a smile. I wiggled uncomfortably for a good few moments before replying. 'You mean, well sex? With your customers?'
'Yes'. Just one word and then that look from her that I knew was reading every emotion running through me. I only wished I could. I decided to ask a bit more.
'With the women? In the salon?'
'No, not just women, men as well and no, not in the salon, we have a very well appointed apartment upstairs that we keep just for the purpose. '
'Oh my God, a brothel' I said, probably too loudly for mine, or Jane's privacy. A few customers looked around.
'Keep your voice down' hissed Jane 'Not a brothel. In fact, it is not used every day and it certainly isn't packed with people 24/7'