I went for a sunset walk tonight after work. I'm in Lahaina, Maui, which is lovely if super-touristy. I like touristy places because they have options for food and lodging. I also like remote places if I have rented a car and the lodging is cheap and has great wifi for my workday, but I can't think of when all that has happened. It's usually the wifi fall down, go boom.
Anyway, I walked along Front Street, and when a young woman in a cosmetics store tried to give me a sample, I said an abrupt no and kept walking. It's like being at Bloomingdale's with people trying to spray your wrist with perfume. Go away, don't put that on me.
Anyway, I felt guilty after being abrupt, so when the next young woman tried to give me a sample, I took it.
Which led to an extended interaction where she told me her magic cream (the improbably named "Stemtox") would magically take years off my face's age. And she was going to show me RIGHT NOW.
She did, and it seemed to work. "I have to figure out that trick later," I thought. My guess is any moist cream looks like it changed your skin. It moistens it, for a moment anyway.
And then she tried to sell me the tube for a mere $399.
Obviously, if it actually worked, I'd buy it, but also obviously, of course it doesn't work.
She continued to lower the price as I firmly said I wasn't interested.
Ultimately, I grew tired of this game and said good night, and I thought about the psychology behind this. I imagine this is all about preying on the fantasy of a magic solution to aging and wrinkles. The real magic is probably called "your dermatologist with some Botox."
But when people go on vacation, they tend to become enamored of magical thinking, or at least more open to new possibilities. I bet they sell a lot of Stemtox in Lahaina.
Anyway, here is the sunset.
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