A Little Bit of Lipstick

From time to time when I was working at the lab the press would cover a news story about tainted water. And when I was 20 and working as a summer intern the Westchester beaches were closed due to sewage contamination. The local NBC station sent a crew to the lab to film lab procedures. They also came to interview important lab personnel.

And when I heard News-4 NY was on its way I immediately ran to the ladies room to fix my hair and touch up my make-up. And when I returned to my work station looking more glamorous than I had 5 minutes earlier my co-workers laughed at me--particularly Jerry--my supervisor  who was slated for the interview. He reminded me that I was just an intern—not even an official lab technician. I was merely the summer help. He quipped that a little bit of lipstick could not change that fact. He mocked me and the possibility that I could be on the news that night. I was too inconsequential.

But when the news team arrived I edged my way forward and flirted with the twenty-something year old cameraman. The cameraman then called over the news reporter who was engaged in conversation with Jerry. The cameraman suggested that I should be the one filmed performing the lab procedures. And although Jerry told the news reporter that I was only an intern the news reporter agreed with the cameraman that I should be the one recorded on camera.

And so it happened. I pipetted a water sample into a petri dish and then did a pour plate. I discussed the hows and whys as I performed the procedure. And because I had been so thorough in my description the newscaster chose to not interview Jerry at all—they had enough material.  I had completely robbed Jerry of his 5 minutes of fame. He shook his head and walked away defeated.

Today I decided it was time to upgrade the layout of my website. I kept the originally used font in the heading of my blogsite but added and modified other things to be more aesthetically pleasing to the reader. And while I will remain true to the content I understand that sometimes good-looks are a decisive factor. Sometimes good-looks are more important than the core. Who knows who might happen to view my website and make me famous just because the format was visually appealing. It could happen. Sometimes a little lipstick is all it takes—God knows Jerry learned that the hard way.