I have been selling gift certificates for the holidays with a special to try to boost sales. Some of the responses I have gotten have been interesting.
Of course, I have gotten the normal rudeness of “I’m on my way there now to buy some gift certificates” where the people never showed up. (I need to stop believing everything I’m told.)
But what was strangest were three separate occasions where a man walked into the shop looking for gift certificates. Two were looking for their wives, one for his daughter. They seemed very happy with the price, and the special I have running. But in the end, each one said that they wanted to check around and would get back to me. Of course, I never saw any of them again.
Now, I’ve gotten pretty used to that happening when men come into the shop looking for massage for themselves. I can understand a male preferring a female therapist. But I’m not used to the same standard being applied to the rest of the members of their family.
At times I feel I am truly living in Bubbaville instead of Jacksonville. The attitude toward male and female healthcare professionals is really astounding. One female doctor I had once told me that they usually gave a husband and wife physicals together because the women didn’t trust a female doctor touching certain parts of her husband. Wow.
Yet at the same time, Jacksonville is into alternative methods of healing much more that other Florida cities, like Orlando. But it seems the division is very well marked, and the dividing line very broad. But it is truly stunning when it hits you in the face.
I guess these men that came into my shop were thinking “I don’t want some man touchin’ my wife or daughters.”
Oh well. What can I say?