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SINGAPORE: He sang to me like a mermaid to Ulysses. He was silent in my inbox, but his call was deafening and irresistible.
This was a Groupon coupon for $ 38 for a single session of body analysis, consultation and fat reduction at a spa located in the heart of the city. Visible results guaranteed without the prohibitive cost and hassle of liposuction, I thought.
I will be honest about why I was attracted to this. For one, it's not expensive. And I can not deny the cheap in me.
For another, a decade of hyperphagia fueled by stress, the beer was still long, but the consequences persisted and visibly
And I was lazy. . Why spend months sweating in the gym or early morning jogging in the park when an inexpensive session in a comfortable setting is all that is needed? So I clicked, and that was it.
POSH FACADES
The spa facade was classy, with brown and velvety furniture and furniture, and subdued lighting, giving a sense of comfort and luxury. The music played in the background, and a slight refreshing smell filled the air, perhaps for the same purpose as frankincense and myrrh, to distinguish the patrician from the plebeian.
The ladies who greeted me were polite and very friendly. . Indeed, my visual, auditory and olfactory senses were already mastered; I felt disarmed.
I was taken to a room and asked to partially undress. It has been explained to me that the machine used to analyze my body composition required contact with the skin. The machine had bits and glittering bobs, and turned quietly. It was in minutes.
A man receiving a massage. (Photo: Unsplash / Toa Heftiba)
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BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS
Clinician of the spa m & # 39; s sitting on a mug Some tea. She said by throwing a stern look at the machine's printing, there was nothing alarming about the numbers. But things were not ideal either.
I had higher than normal body fat deposits in some key areas, and these may have health implications. The visible consequence was that my body was disproportionate.
The insinuation was that my body was both unhealthy and ugly. I was obviously a pear that was walking, which was expiring, a conference.
She then took me to a neighboring room, elegant in appearance. In my semi-undressing state, she mentioned that the trial session to which I was entitled would not yield immediate results. Instead, I should consider switching to a different and technologically more advanced treatment.
A scary machine would target and shoot invisible beams and freeze my stubborn fat cells and spray them, she said. Well, I started thinking, Darth Vader was trying to sell me the Death Star.
She passed me a booklet with a lot of words. It included a picture of a local celebrity with a supple body and a charming smile. Wow, if a celebrity endorses the Death Star, it must be true, I interpret the subliminal message.
"I" was not a "really bad case," she said. It was enough for me then to have ten sessions at $ 5,888. Darth Vader added that it was the usual price, but since I knew them through their Groupon offer, I could get a promotional price of $ 3,888. Nobel laureates Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky call this technique "anchoring and adjustment".
NUMEROUS OPTIONS – PAY
She added that they accepted a dazzling array of credit cards and installments. I looked away at the dark wood laminate floor, avoiding his watchful gaze.
I glanced at her and noticed that she no longer looked so confident. His voice, hesitating almost imperceptibly, suggested that I try a session for an extra US $ 88
Sheepishly I acquiesced. I was embarrassed and wanted to avoid further embarrassment. She gave me a crooked smile
A rod protruded from the machine, with a sucker on her head. She placed it on my belly where my 19 inch rims were starting to form. It was cold to the touch and the session was shorter than a mini Thai massage. He finished, I dressed, I paid, I left.
A burning candle in a center of thinning. (Photo: Unsplash / Hans Vivek)
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A DREAM OF PIPE
The conclusion was clinical and commercial. Maybe they do not have a lot of optimism, I could be a regular customer. The red silhouette left by the cup remained for a few days
For each of these days, I was religiously standing in front of my big mirror, wanting my eyes to even detect a tiny hole in my Great Wall of Fat. Some days, I seemed more fit, the other days, bigger. I told myself the same thing after the disappearance of the redness.
For a while, I wondered if I should have taken the package back.
I do not doubt any more. I was not so sold a few dates with a machine, but a chimera. A dream of Aristotelian physical perfection, which superficially opted to alleviate our bodily and emotional insecurities.
If anyone told me about this in an enlightened falconry center, these concerns would probably not be triggered. But attract someone in a carefully organized context and that might just happen.
Did I, at one point, feel pressure? Absolutely. But was it applied externally or self-induced? Probably both.
What seems obvious to me is that the typical client who even thinks of having a beauty treatment already feels a certain vulnerability. And, once he or she breaks through these doors, these vulnerabilities are accentuated and made visible.
WAS THERE PRESSURE? YES AND NO
We suspect that the clinician also wears the vendor's hat, which invariably forces us to advise on the best treatment plans, taking into account our interests, with those of uncooked and unhealthy foods adulterated commission or profit.
The law says that every contract must be freely concluded. Obviously, if I were detained for hours until I signed a ten-session package, or if my credit card was withheld and slipped for a four-digit sum instead of two If I came for a $ 38 S Groupon session, and that embarrassing and alarmist language convinced me to pay $ 88 for a different treatment or $ 3,888 for a package, is there any had undue pressure? 19659046] Banknotes of Singapore “/>
Singapore Banknotes. (File photo: AFP / Roslan Rahman)
Pressure comes in many forms, and when it is applied, can be soft in shape though hard in its reception. The pressure I felt varied both in intensity and in emotional response
It was not so much that I had lost my decision faculty, but there was a background noise which interfered with my own ability to evaluate what was in my best interest. At a certain level of generality, what happened at the spa is no different than being able to retire in Profitable Plots, a plan that promised many Singapore investors high returns buying British land. to arouse our basic desires: greed and vanity. What could differentiate one from the other, then?
There is something to be said about inducing a person to debase his own bodily imperfections in a manner so bare as a sinner before God. If absolution could so easily be bought, who would not be tempted?
Looking back, the experience has made me feel like a groping insect towards a Venus fly trap. I could self-flog and say that I should have known better. It would indeed be true if I was perfectly rational and emotionless. But I would not be quite human either.
I could blame the law for failing to protect me from such practices. Yet, I know that the limits of the law mean that it frequently runs responsively, mopping up the widespread tears lamenting an error already made
READ: How to Better Protect Consumers When Companies Close Unexpectedly, a Commentary [19659050] The fact is that we all make mistakes; it's the human condition. For some of us, it is also human to try to take advantage of this condition.
My point of view? If something is too good to be true, it is often the case. Do not take the bait.
If you do, then beware of Homer's advice to resist the seductive calls of these spa sirens: Fill your ears to the brim with wax.
Dr. Gary Low is currently at the Faculty of Law of the Singapore Management University School of Law. He is also a consumer advocate. All the opinions expressed are his. Her biggest challenge is to rest the occasional pint on her belly.
