By Hannah Reich Berman

On a regular basis, I take myself into one of the local nail salons to get a manicure. Every salon that I visit has one thing in common. I don’t mean the fee that they charge or the quality of the service they provide. What they have in common is their workers’ peculiar habit of speaking in undertones. Each time I sit for a manicure or a pedicure, I am astonished by how softly everyone speaks. In that regard, every manicurist in every salon is alike; they converse in whispers. As I do not speak Chinese or understand a single word of the language, all of it is foreign to me. But it would make no difference if I did know the lingo because I cannot hear a word these ladies say.

I have never visited China. I have never even been to Chinatown, which is right here in New York City, so I am unfamiliar with the customs and have no idea if everyone in that country speaks very softly. But my guess is that this is not the case. It might just be a female thing. Because when my friends and I are eating in the local Chinese restaurant, the shouts coming from the men who are working in the kitchen can be heard clear across the dining area. But the sounds that escape the lips of manicurists are so low that they are more like murmurings than actual speaking. It is amazing that they are able to hear one another. But they do!

And not only do they speak softly, but further muting their sounds are the cloth masks that they wear, presumably to prevent them from inhaling the fumes that emanate from the chemicals they use. But the masks don’t seem to be the problem. The problem, as I see it, is that behind those pieces of fabric that cover their mouths, they are whispering. Patrons in a library speak louder! Perhaps it is inaccurate for me to refer to this as a problem since it is clearly no problem for them–only for me. And it is never me that they are speaking to!

Even more astonishing is that the conversation is rarely between two manicurists who are sitting next to each other. Most of the time, the duo doing the chatting are sitting many feet apart from each other. But even the distance that separates them poses no difficulty. Yet I, the customer, sit in a chair directly in front of the manicurist and when she occasionally does speak to me (in English, of course), I never get it right on the first try. I simply cannot hear a word she says, so, inevitably, my responses to her are: “Pardon me, what was that?” and “Can you repeat what you said?” She probably thinks I should be wearing a hearing aid. At one time I thought she could be right about that. But I have changed my mind because, while my hearing is not what it once was, I get along OK when others speak to me. It’s only when I am being spoken to by a lady who is doing my nails that I run into trouble in the hearing department.

Another mystery is how one manicurist knows that she is the one being addressed by the other. Maybe they are friends and do not speak to anyone else but each other. These gals have names like Gina, Elaine, Eunice, and the like. But chances are that those are names for customer use only and that they don’t use those names among themselves. Possibly those names on their nametags are just the English names they have selected or those that have been selected for them. It’s doubtful that they use those names among themselves when they address each other. So it’s possible that when one begins a chat with her friend and coworker, she does address her by name, but she uses the Chinese name, so there is no way for me to tell. But even if that is the case, the fact that they hear one another is astonishing.

It is obvious that they occasionally share an amusing story because often, after one murmurs a little something, the other–sometimes as far as 10 or 15 feet away–will give a soft chuckle. Hopefully they are not talking about me! But if they are, so be it. What’s important is that they are always pleasant and that my nails are getting beautifully manicured. In the salon, those are my priorities.

Referring to his foreign policy, President Theodore Roosevelt was known to have said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” I share a similar philosophy: “Speak softly but carry a strong nail file.” That’s the way I see it, so that’s the way it is.

Hannah Berman lives in Woodmere and gives private small-group lessons in mah-jongg and canasta. She can be reached at Savtahannah@aol.com or 516-902-3733.

 

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