Getting Nailed

At Cuba Libre, on Thursdays, from 5 till 10 pm, you can get a martini and a manicure for $10. The martini by itself is $5. The manicure is, well, a $5 manicure.

Don't go with a guy friend. I went with Cheryl's Bitch. If you're having your nails painted, ladies, you get the old polish removed (sort of), a very cursory filing and buffing, a base coat and two coats of colored polish, then a quick squirt of cuticle oil on each finger.

Cheryl's Bitch got lotion, buffing, cuticle treatment, and a hand massage, and even though we sat down at the same time, I had to wait for him at least five minutes after I was done. And the beauty salon is supposed to be a woman's domain. It's so unfair!

It sounds glamorous, but there's something very sordid about getting your nails done: all the half-full bottles with dried polish caked around the caps, the damp folded towel under your hands, the bright fluorescent lights, the bored nail technician, who is authorized by her position to bark at you not to mess up your nails when she's done. You slink away from her station, chastened, taking exaggerated care not to touch anything with the fragile works of art she's wrought upon your fingertips.

In short, you kind of need the martini. It helps.

But what I really came away wondering is, what kind of drink would be offered with a pedicure?