A man walks into a nail salon

A man walks into a nail salon

A man walks into a nail salon. He’s in his 80’s, is legally blind, and shares a house with one of his children in my parish area of Glasgow.

This man has long since retired as an engineer. His career started in the early years of the Second World War, and his job was on the list of reserved occupations. But later in the war he was called up for active service in the air force, and he was given the choice of either training for six months to become a pilot or six weeks to become a gun operator on a bomber plane. Young and eager to get going, he chose the latter—although he told me he wished he had learned to fly because then after the war he could have secured a well-paying job as a civilian airline pilot. Instead he stayed on the ground, or rather underneath it as a mine surveyor.

Now a widower with great-grandchildren, this man is pretty self-sufficient given his age and visual impairment. He takes care of most things around the house whenever his son is away on business, and he gets help for the few things he can’t see to do by himself.

One of the tasks he needs assistance with but doesn’t want to bother his children about is cutting his nails. And so he goes to a nail salon.

The first nail salon he went into, years ago, he noticed all the other clients were women. So he asked the receptionist, a young Korean man, if they did men’s nails. The receptionist assured him that they did and after giving him a seat proceeded to trim his nails and buff them.

The man then saw an older gentleman come out from the back of the salon and speak to the young man in a loud authoritarian voice. The man didn’t have a clue as to what was being said because they were speaking what he assumed was Korean. But he realized the older gentleman was the young mans’ father and clearly adamant about something, something involving the son who had just finished doing the man’s nails.

The man figured he was not supposed to be in this place after all and got up to pay for his nail job before leaving. When he went to the reception counter, the young man said to him, “There is no charge. Elderly people do not pay.”

The man has been going there to have his nails done ever since. He’s never paid any money, but each time he walks into that nail salon he brings a container of chocolate or cookies for the staff to enjoy on their tea breaks.