Posted 3:11 am Sunday, October 21, 2012
Send to Kindle
'My Tattered Man-Card' or 'The Ultimate Prize'
By Nelson Clyde
isitjustme@tylerpaper.com
t is good to have people looking out for you. Some people just have that maternal instinct. Last week this was true when our veteran/ace reporter Jacque Hilburn- Simmons covered the competition between our team and the city manager’s team in the Firefighters challenge.
isitjustme@tylerpaper.com
t is good to have people looking out for you. Some people just have that maternal instinct. Last week this was true when our veteran/ace reporter Jacque Hilburn- Simmons covered the competition between our team and the city manager’s team in the Firefighters challenge.
Jacque asked me how it felt at the end of the competition. I looked at her with total conviction and said, “after a crushing defeat like this there is only one thing to do — get a pedicure.”
She laughed in a way that made me feel “funny.” Not mocking laughter, laughter of real concern?
Resident Marlboro man Kenneth Dean protested vehemently and declared my “man-card” revoked.
He wanted no part of such pampering. Adam Russell and Brian Pearson just shook their heads. I suggested they go home and roll around in some dirt and eat some jerky or something.
They looked at me like I was “funny, or crazy.”
Yea, like a fox.
As soon as I got home my daughter Sarah and I got an appointment secured for the afternoon at our favorite place to get pedicures.
For the most part this is one activity we do together whenever Sarah comes home. It gives us some time together to get caught up and chill.
Then something funny happened the next morning. When it was time to read my Sunday paper, I looked for the quote I had given Jacque so I could show it to my family and get their eyes rolling early.
It wasn’t there. Did she decline my comment? Apparently so. No one but a few of us were in on the deal so the morning was not a total loss.
On Monday morning I strolled through the newsroom and saw Jacque at her perch with Kenneth sitting at his desk behind her.
Resident Marlboro man Kenneth Dean protested vehemently and declared my “man-card” revoked.
He wanted no part of such pampering. Adam Russell and Brian Pearson just shook their heads. I suggested they go home and roll around in some dirt and eat some jerky or something.
They looked at me like I was “funny, or crazy.”
Yea, like a fox.
As soon as I got home my daughter Sarah and I got an appointment secured for the afternoon at our favorite place to get pedicures.
For the most part this is one activity we do together whenever Sarah comes home. It gives us some time together to get caught up and chill.
Then something funny happened the next morning. When it was time to read my Sunday paper, I looked for the quote I had given Jacque so I could show it to my family and get their eyes rolling early.
It wasn’t there. Did she decline my comment? Apparently so. No one but a few of us were in on the deal so the morning was not a total loss.
On Monday morning I strolled through the newsroom and saw Jacque at her perch with Kenneth sitting at his desk behind her.
“What happened to my quote?” I said.
“I took care of you, man,” she replied.
“But just so you know, I was fully prepared for everyone to know (who didn’t already) about my metro-sexuality (a man who enjoys life at the spa),” I said.
Kenneth was beaming. He loved the fact she had pulled rank.
I loved it too. Sometimes it is better to get forgiveness rather than permission.
Jacque had saved my butt from my mouth and she was delighted.
At a staff meeting of the news department this week I reflected on the value of Jacque taking care of me and the fact that as we reward those with some recognition for a job well done they should get one of the ultimate prizes; a pedicure.
I even suggested they do so at the place I have gone most lately — Foxy Nails.
Here’s wishing you a week of pampered tootsies.
“I took care of you, man,” she replied.
“But just so you know, I was fully prepared for everyone to know (who didn’t already) about my metro-sexuality (a man who enjoys life at the spa),” I said.
Kenneth was beaming. He loved the fact she had pulled rank.
I loved it too. Sometimes it is better to get forgiveness rather than permission.
Jacque had saved my butt from my mouth and she was delighted.
At a staff meeting of the news department this week I reflected on the value of Jacque taking care of me and the fact that as we reward those with some recognition for a job well done they should get one of the ultimate prizes; a pedicure.
I even suggested they do so at the place I have gone most lately — Foxy Nails.
Here’s wishing you a week of pampered tootsies.
