Specs and grey hair
I am off to Southampton to visit NC and see all their new things for the catalogue on Tuesday. All well and good, but my main problem is figuring out how to make myself look a bit older. I know, I know -I'm quite old enough for my liking, but you wouldn't believe how many people gasp "You sound young," when I answer the phone.
I'm not sure quite how young I sound, but clearly people want a 40-something writer rather than a 20-something writer working on their sole marketing mailshot for all their million customers. And so to the age-increasing techniques.
The first one is glasses, but these tend to make me look googly-eyed, although they do have the advantage of emphasising my eye wrinkles. My second stroke of genius is to have my hair straightened, which means you can see the grey hair. After that I am a bit stuck, but toying with the idea of opaque black tights? And dorothy mary-jane type heels? That might be going a bit far. It is summer.
I wore flip-flops to my Peacock Blue meeting last week but they have known me for a long time, and not been put off. Unlike one client, for whom I worked every week until we met. It was my youth.
I'm not sure quite how young I sound, but clearly people want a 40-something writer rather than a 20-something writer working on their sole marketing mailshot for all their million customers. And so to the age-increasing techniques.
The first one is glasses, but these tend to make me look googly-eyed, although they do have the advantage of emphasising my eye wrinkles. My second stroke of genius is to have my hair straightened, which means you can see the grey hair. After that I am a bit stuck, but toying with the idea of opaque black tights? And dorothy mary-jane type heels? That might be going a bit far. It is summer.
I wore flip-flops to my Peacock Blue meeting last week but they have known me for a long time, and not been put off. Unlike one client, for whom I worked every week until we met. It was my youth.
posted by Anna @ 1:06 AM
4 Comments:
At 3:46 AM,
Liz Hinds said…
Who was that?
At 12:45 AM,
Chris said…
I've been pondering this age thing for some time now. Is there one particular day in the whole of your life when you change from needing to look older to HAVING to look younger? Is it the day when you no longer get admiring glances, wolf-whistles, etc. that stops you in your tracks and makes you hoist up your socks? (or your boobs?). I can distinctly remember feeling very disappointed the first time I mentioned the age of my children and didn't get the response: 'Oh, you look far too young!' Now I console myself with the thought that I don't want admiring glances, etc. from the mostly unattractive males around these days.
narma - the land where time stands still
At 12:55 AM,
Chris said…
and also..... I was also want to comment on this what you sound like on the phone and people's expectations. Because of my androgynous Christian name, lots of people expect me to be a bloke. This was sometimes a problem for callers when I was working in a fairly male dominated industry and was in a position to make decisions. The phone would ring, I'd answer and the caller would say 'Can I speak to Chris Moore, please?' When I answered 'Speaking', there'd be a horrified pause and most people would then confirm that they were expecting a man. The funniest was after speaking to someone on the phone who didn't question my gender but, when we did meet, then said 'Oh, I was expecting a man'.
At 2:10 AM,
Liz Hinds said…
Oh, I remember that. When Anna was university and I'd mention this to people and no-one ever said, 'You're too young to have a child in university surely?'
But I'm actually feeling better now than I've ever felt in my life!
For goodness sake - that is a squeaky door not a verification.
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