I work in an industry where people are telling me, all the time, that they are off on their holidays or are treating themselves to some pampering treatments and I am consistently asking myself "how do they afford it?"
Now don't get me wrong there are people who work hard and genuinely can afford to and should treat themselves to whatever they want. But ... there are others who really get my goat!!
A few months back I was with a client who was having several beauty & holistic treatments and when I had finished she readily booked in again to have the same and more on her birthday. I was confused as I was sure she told me that she didn't have a job.
I spoke to my work colleague and to my astonishment she told me that the client in question was on benefits. Why was I surprised?
When her birthday arrived she came back in the salon for her treatments and during her time with me she divulged that she was a single mother, I asked how long she'd been single, bearing in mind she now had 3 young daughters, she told me she'd always been a single mother.
I asked who was looking after the children whilst she was having her birthday treat and she told me one was at school and the other 2 were at childcare.
I have to say (I shouldn't have been) but I was stunned, here I had a woman who was and always has been a single parent, no job, living on benefits. She had her rent paid for her, her council tax paid for her and childcare paid for her (when she had no job to go to). She told me about a holiday she was planning for herself and her kids at Centreparcs (that is not a cheap holiday). I felt myself really begrudging this woman her pamper session, birthday or no birthday.
When this client left the salon her bill came to £130 - one hundred and thirty pounds - can you believe this (I'm still shaking my head).
And this is where I started asking myself I must be a bloody fool. I work hard and so does everyone in my family, yet can any of us warrant, let alone afford, spending £130 on pampering ourselves.
Of course the other side of the coin is, could I live with myself morally if I decided to give up work and live off the state? I might get a holiday.
I don't think I could, and there we have the fool.
