I can never help eavesdropping when I’m on the train home from work. The content is rarely noteworthy or insightful, but it’s generally capable of keeping me from reaching for my phone, which is good enough for me. Today this woman across the aisle was pontificating loudly on the best place to get a lip augmentation in Melbourne.
The train was so packed that I couldn’t see her at first, and assumed she was talking on the phone , but when someone moved out of the way I saw that she was recording into a note-taking app. Her appearance suggested that she was some kind of beauty editor or upscale cosmetics buyer. I couldn’t tell if she’d had the lip filler injections herself; if she had, they must have been very well done.
While I contemplated this, she got started on comparing laser hair removal clinics. From the sounds of it, there’s a very reputable one in Ballarat, of all places. When she started detailing the equipment they use there, it occurred to me how little I know about new cosmetic procedures. To be honest, until this afternoon I was just barely aware of medical grade laser technology being used in cosmetic applications.
This woman, on the other hand, sounded like she was not averse to the odd trip to this laser hair removal clinic in Ballarat. I therefore became increasingly curious as to the nature of her job – she must surely be in some high-flying role in the cosmetics industry. She got off at the same stop as me, so I took the opportunity to ask her.
Well, she told me that she’s a commercial lawyer, and didn’t appear to make any connection between my question and her beauty-based monologue. Go figure. I must say that she did look extremely polished, with not a stray eyebrow hair or clear indication of gravity anywhere in sight – a pretty decent advertisement for the clinics she was on about, if you ask me.