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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Mirror Mirror
“OK! Look alive ladies. It’s go time. Let’s sell, sell, sell!”
Emily Rodriguez hid a smile at Sophie’s overly enthusiastic pep talk. It wasn’t every day that Prettifeye launched a new makeup line along with high tech razzle dazzle. It was one thing to be told about the try-on mirrors, and quite another to have them right there in store.
Emily filed out of the break room together with the rest of the sales associates, their black aprons pressed to perfection, hair expertly coiffed and makeup as chic and sophisticated as the store’s gleaming interior. She took her station beside the first of five black booths at the back of the store, the other ten associates spreading out to stand by other booths, point of sale terminals or store aisles.
Sophie Nowak, their manager, pressed the wall-mounted switch that controlled the store’s security shutter. It rose the rest of the way to cheers from the long line of customers that snaked around the perimeter of the Prettifeye store, down the stairs of the mall and onto the second floor landing.
“Welcome to Prettifeye. This way to the try-on mirrors,” Emily called out in a sing-song voice, beckoning some of the customers closer.
They surged forward.
“One at a time, please. Olivia,” Emily said, recognizing the medium toned skin and long black hair of one of their regulars. “Please step right in.” She pulled open the door to the first booth.
Olivia stopped beside Emily, her hand on the handle. “So this is a try-on mirror?” Olivia asked, peering inside.
*** abbreviated version for website ***
Deceptive Reflections
“Olivia!” Emily said. She rushed forward and was just about to use her override key fob on the first booth when the door creaked open from the inside.
Olivia stepped out, all smiles.
“Are you alright? What happened?” Emily asked.
“Oops! I didn’t mean to scream. Couldn’t help it. Have you seen the soft glam look in that mirror? I am the fairest of them all! Take all my money! I want everything it recommended.”
“False alarm,” she said to the crowd and her approaching manager. “Olivia was just excited.”
“Olivia Yoon?” someone asked. “The influencer?”
“The one and only,” Olivia said. “@yoonglamor.”
“So you’re endorsing the products?”
“Find out tonight. Don’t forget. @yoonglamor.”
For the rest of the day, Emily manned the try-on mirrors. She transferred every customer to a point-of-sale associate who rang in sale after sale. Prettifeye was making a killing, that was for sure. The line of waiting patrons that remained at the end of her shift was even longer the following morning. It took five days of overtime for the line outside the store to finally disperse.
“Welcome to Prettifeye,” Emily said from her post beside the booths. “Oh, I remember you. You were here on the first day.”
*** abbreviated version for website ***
Face-Off
Emily stepped out of the booth in a daze. She walked one way, then another before she remembered that her phone and bag were still inside the booth. She retrieved them, tapped on the Prettifeye app on her phone to bring up the facial recognition interface, and logged in. The pictures automatically taken by the mirror were already on her profile, along with detailed instructions on how to achieve each look. She scrolled through picture after picture, shaking her head. These weren’t what she had seen in the mirror; not exactly. They were still beautiful, glamor shots, but the whitening filters were absent.
She started typing on Whatsapp.
Sophie. The mirrors r using whitening filters or smthin.
Good morning 2 u 2 Emily. What do you mean by whitening filters?
It’s difficult to describe. U’ll have to see it in person.
Send me the pics.
That’s just it. The pics don’t have filters. Just the mirrors.
Oh. It’s probably a marketing tactic then, like when stores use thinning mirrors. You show the customer an idealized look to get them to buy the product.
U don’t find that offensive? Y does an idealized version mean lighter skin or a thinner nose or… Anyway, if this gets out, it’s going to be an issue for the company. No wonder we’ve had so many returns. Does upper management even know how the mirrors really work?
I’m not sure. This is above both our pay grades. Just focus on selling the products. K?
How can I? We need to make upper management aware of the issue. People will eventually find out and it’s going to be a PR disaster. Prettifeye needs to do smthin now to get ahead of this.
*** abbreviated version for website ***
Last Stand
As the events of the previous day flooded through her mind the following morning, Emily rolled over in bed and screamed into her pillow. Before she left for work, she double checked her savings and updated her resume, just in case. Whether or not she was fired, she had no intention of continuing to work for Prettifeye if the work environment became hostile.
“Welcome to Prettifeye,” she said, looking up from her station beside the booths that morning, her smile slipping sideways when she realized who she was talking to. “Olivia.”
“There’s something off about the mirrors and I want to know what it is,” Olivia said without preamble.
“Uhm…”
“I can match what I see in the app to a tee, but I looked different in the mirrors, I’m sure of it. No matter what I do, I can’t match the looks I remember seeing; not exactly. Some of my followers say they’re having the same issues. I’ve even lost subscribers!”
“Uhm…” Emily said again, scrambling for a response. She couldn’t outright tell a customer that the mirrors were lying to them, could she? It was all about perception so what proof did she really have? “OK. Why don’t you try using the mirrors again.”
Emily opened one of the booths. “This time, take a very close look at each reflection as you go through the entire list. Maybe that will help?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Olivia walked into the booth. Five minutes passed, then ten. Emily was about to ask if everything was okay, when Olivia stepped out. “I couldn’t take a decent picture with my phone because it’s so bright in there,” she said. “It’s lightening my skin, isn’t it?”
*** abbreviated version for website ***
Credits
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Delivered by our SOURCE Newsletter, Short Stories explores the drama of work through real and fictional storytelling. All characters and storylines are fictional unless otherwise specified. To sponsor, collaborate or report an issue, please use the suggestion button in our main nav.
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