Interesting or not so interesting fact about me - I hate to feel stupid. I hate it even more when I feel stupid at the hands of someone else. And I really hate when someone else is an unsuspecting recipient of that which has made me feel stupid.
Many moons ago, I received a generous gift certificate for a particular spa as a birthday present from one of my sisters. I had much difficulty finding a time I could go use it, but once I did - like a year and a half later, I opted for a package deal that included all the things I wanted to try. One of which was a detox foot bath. Now before you shake your head in disbelief that I would even succumb to such a thing, have a heart. Don't be judgy! The promises made about this particular service were just what I needed and I thought, "why not - it's my birthday present!" So I am sitting in this room with 2 other women who were singing the praises of this particular spa service and the attendant carefully explained why she was putting salt in the water - to balance the negative ions in the tap water, and showed me the card that would indicate what particular toxins were exiting my body by the colors the water turned. I was fascinated. I was thinking "Wow! How do they do this??" The two other women (one of whom was Amish - and that does have some significance -at least to me in this story) were talking about how much better they felt after a detox and how they just had to come in sooner than their scheduled appointment to "get this stuff" out of their bodies. And I'm noticing that the attendant also puts some salt in their water, but also keeps coming and adding more to mine. I am examining the card as the water turns brown - aha - the arthritis indicator - well that makes sense - I have it everywhere - some days I would swear even my earlobes are arthritic! The water for the other women turns brown also. Then there's this disgusting foam on the top of my water that is starting to feel like sludge and I am simultaneously intrigued and nauseated.....and a little more salt goes into my basin and soon there are shades of orange.....and I currently forget what that was supposed to mean....then whatever color indicates kidney issues. And part of me is saying "Hold the phone - I don't have kidney issues!" and the other part of me is acknowledging,. mm hmm there is some kidney disease in the family - good to be getting this awesome holistic treatment! And then there's the OTHER part of me going "How is this crap exiting my body through my feet without me feeling it? " and the attendant notices that there are shards of metal in my water and tells me about whatever serious physical condition this is healing. And I'm wondering to myself how I'm not bleeding into the water if there are shards of metal coming out of my feet, and how did metal get into my body in the first place??? I"M SO CONFUSED!! All the while the other two women are chatting about how great they feel and how I need to do this regularly to get the full benefit, blah blah blah.
Shortly thereafter I mentioned on our sisters page that I had done this and how fascinating it was and one of my sisters said she thought stuff like that was a scam. And I had a serious smack my head moment when I realized I had never researched this stuff to find that out. I'm not usually that gullible. At least I don't think I am.....anymore. So I googled it (because we all know that is absolutely the best research tool in existence) and lo and behold I came upon several sites debunking this particular practice as anything healthy and one video interviewed a science-y guy who said that the water color was simply the metal thingamabob that stirred the water starting to rust! Furthermore, the more salt that gets added - the yuckier the water becomes - and turns more colors! Kidney disease indeed! But because I was new, and hadn't already been doing the process of "cleaning out" my condition was much worse than the other two women according to the color charts. Or the salt shaker.
You would think with this newfound knowledge I would feel very smart. But no. I shared the consternation of the Burgermeister Meisterburger and declared, "I have been bamboozled!" And I felt stupid. And resentful. And not wanting to visit said spa anymore because I trusted them and now I wonder if I can believe anything that is promoted about any of the other services. And then I thought, I wonder if the spa people themselves have been duped? Do they know that what they say they are doing isn't really what they are doing?? Did someone sell them a bill of goods and they are passing that onto me unknowingly? But oh if they are..........then my blood started boiling. A little more actively than my foot basin. Bamboozling for bucks is what they are doing! And then I thought of these two other women - and probably countless like them....who are throwing money into a rusty foot basin for no real benefit. And here is where the Amish part comes in. I felt particularly bad for the Amish woman because she had shared that money was kind of tight for them but she and her husband decided that this investment was worth it for her health. So then I was seething about how unconscionable that is. I even thought about trying to contact her and letting her know what I found out.
I think I'll just stick to pedicures. The water doesn't turn gross and it comes with a killer foot rub and pretty toesies. And I never feel bamboozled.
