Evil Beth Strikes Again

I am writing this late, and whilst very angry, so I am sure there will be typos. I apologize in advance. :)

My daughter has been asking harassing me for a while now to allow her to get a second hole pierced in her earlobes. She is 14, almost 15, I don't see much harm in it. Most people in her age group (and mine, too for that matter) have two holes in their ears. So, tonight after we finished Easter shopping she starts in on me. We are still on mall  property, so I tell her if the store is still open we will get it done. We walk in 15 minutes before they close and they say no problem they will do it.

It's easy enough. She picks out what she wants put in (thankfully just a simple CZ stud on a white gold post, not some of the ridiculous things they have to choose from). The girl marks her ears and the piercing begins.

Now, let me say this: they go through a whole big schitck about keeping them clean. How they are just so particular about everything being sterile. They have to sterilize their hands in front of me, lay everything out, put gloves on, sterilize all the tools, take out clean studs, etc. All this is shown to us... I have a gazillion places to sign saying everything is sterile, yada yada yada.

The first hole goes great. Then it's time for the second. I admit, I'm squeemish. Anyone who knows me well, knows I get sick easily when it comes to anything related to bodily functions that are not my own. So the thought of watching a stud being punched through my 14 year-old's earlobe was not something I wanted to see. I watched the first one go smoothly, then I started wandering down the aisle looking at some of the jewelry they had.

That's when I hear it... CLICK of the gun... groan of the assistant manager (who was doing the "procedure")... "That's not good," she says. WHAT?! I come back up the aisle very quickly (I'm only about 3 feet away, so I can still see what's going on - I'm just trying not to front and center watching).

Dear Daughter is doing fine, the stud is in her ear, but the back of the stud lays on the floor by the assistant manager's feet. I pick it up. I put it on the counter. I wait to see her next move.

This is where I should probably say that just a couple minutes prior she had marked dear daughter's ears to show me where the studs would be inserted. I touch her lobes to see if they look even. Now, my hands are clean. I'd just washed them. However, I was scolded because nothing "unsanitary" can touch the lobe prior to the piercing. Her ears had to be "re-sanitized" and re-marked.

Back to the earring back picked up from the floor. The girl doing the piercing calls the manager over... "that fell on the floor, what do I do?" Manager: "clean it and put it on her ear."

WHAT????!!!! Enter a person I like to refer to as "Evil Beth." Evil Beth hasn't made an appearance in a while. She's been somewhat tamed over the years. However, she still can pack a pretty nasty growl when necessary. And the thought of that dirty earring back going on my daughter's ear was enough to awaken Evil Beth from hibernation.

I am standing there staring at store manager. In something we'll call a restrained growl a very authoritative voice (it should be noted that I am probably at least a couple years older than the store manager, and the assistant manager can't be more than 20/21 herself) I tell her that in no way is that thing going on my daughter's ear.

"Well, there's nothing we can do. She has to use it, otherwise we have to categorize it as damaged merchandise, then damage another set to get a new one out," the manager informs me. This sets Evil Beth into a rage. I see red. The manager is now a big, glowing bullseye waiting for my daggers to pummel her in the heart.

Again, very restrained, I tell her in no uncertain terms is that thing going on my daughter's ear. I tell her that I will take that waiver I just signed and rip it to pieces, I will take my one ear-pierced daughter out of the store and somewhere else before I let that thing touch her. I ask why there's such an emphasis on sterilization when they are going to put something that just came up from the ground on her head. I ask if they even know what's been on the floor? I mean people are walking out in the street, stepping on cigarette butts, walking in public bathrooms/urinals, etc. and then walking into their store. I myself have on a pair of tennis shoes that have walked countless miles around the neighborhood not just in nice weather but in awful, grimy blackened snow. Sure they look brand new, but Lord knows what's touched the soles of these shoes, I was in a public restroom less than 20 minutes prior (and a department store dressing room with a dried booger on the wall *gag* so no telling what was on the floor, but that's another story all together) and I walked across that very same spot where the earring back lay. No way in hell is that thing going on her ear. Take my business or leave it. I do not care. But if you want me to pay, you'd better put a brand new stud and brand new back into that gun and repierce her ear.

You know what they did? They did exactly what I told them. They apologized profusely, took out another (sterile) stud and repierced the ear (come to find out it didn't go all the way through the ear the first time because the gun jammed, if the idiots girls had been paying attention instead of harassing me, they'd have realized this and the argument would not have occurred).

So, in the end, Evil Beth went back into hibernation. The store gave in and did what she told them to do. My daughter has vowed to tell her friends to go somewhere else, or take a stern bodyguard with them, when they go get their ears pierced. I asked her if I embarassed her. And, for once she said, "No. I'm glad you were there. I probably would't have spoken up and my ear probably would end up rotting off."

I'm gonna have to teach that girl to stick up for herself. She's a sassy thing to me, gotta teach her to give it to people who deserve it.