Pierced

My birthday present to Em was a pair of earrings and installation of said earrings.

Em got pierced a few years ago but freaked out about cleaning them and pulled the posts and let it all heal up. Same thing as when I got my left lob pierced at 18. I think I actually made it the six weeks with some infections, but after that, I tried a couple of pieces I found that I really liked and I could never get the infections to stop. So I said screw it and let the hole heal up.

In hindsight, my nickel allergy is likely the culprit. Once I got past the starter post, I know one of the pieces I wore was one I bought off a hippie who had a table at the Maple Leaf Festival.



I've thought of getting pierced again, maybe both lobes. But I don't really wear jewelry. I didn't wear a wedding band most of the years I was married because I have tapered fingers and it was always either painfully tight or falling off and getting lost. I haven't worn a wristwatch since high school. And it's only when I think about it that it strikes me as odd that I am so utterly unadorned that way.

Anyway, as always I wanted to document the madness. As they were getting ready to do the deed, I whipped out my camera and took a few before a manager told me Wal-Mart has a policy against any photography in their stores. Which is bullshit.

I mean, it's probably an actual policy, but it's not one that's enforced much. I've taken photos in this Wal-Mart before, and when I was looking online to see if Wal-Mart did piercings at their jewelry counter, I found about a hundred YouTube videos of people getting pierced in Wal-Marts.

None of this impressed the asshead in charge. I could tell she wouldn't let the jewelry girl proceed until I put my camera away.



When I say the policy is bullshit, I'm sure Wal-Mart has legitimate reasons to not want photographs taken: people trying to set them up for lawsuits, for instance, or competitors trying to capture some detail. But me documenting a little family moment is not on that list. And when I say the co-manager is an asshead, it's because even if the policy is there, she didn't need to get all Wyatt Earp about enforcing it.



The reason it bothers me, the absolute glow and uncontainable glee of Em's face after the studs were in and she got a look of herself in the mirror, that was a Kodak moment if ever there was.