Annick Robinson, a mother of two from Montreal, Quebec, was recently on her way back home from Calgary and found herself killing time in the airport. While waiting for her flight, she walked around the terminal until she was addressed by a beauty salesmen. As many employees are asked to do in his situation, he began to try to sell her products that could improve her skin.
Robinson could’ve nodded along and tried to let this salesmen convince her that she is anything less than phenomenal and bought the products. She could’ve walked away with her head held down, feeling insecure and unhappy with what she has to offer. But that’s not what an empowered, proud mother of two would do.
Instead, when the salesmen asked her if she would be interested in buying a revitalizing face serum so that she could look younger and more robust, she replied, “What’s wrong with looking 40?”
The salesmen knew he had to change his strategy if he wanted to make a sale. He moved on to another popular product: eye cream. He figured if she wouldn’t buy the serum, he could at least try to convince her that she needed to do something about the bags under her eyes, or her crow’s feet.
Robinson was unwavering. In a post on her Facebook account, she claims to have responded: “What’s wrong with my eyes? I have a miracle baby at home and haven’t slept in two years, so if I have bags I am grateful to have them. And my husband and I laugh a lot. Those are his fault. He loves how I look… I don’t think I need your cream.”
Source: Facebook/ Annick Robinson
The post gained a strong following on social media from other empowered women and mothers worldwide. Her encouraging post also landed her an exclusive interview with TODAY. Wherein, she told TODAY that it wasn’t her goal to shame or embarrass the salesman. She knows that it’s a routine and a script that he more than likely had to work to memorize so that he could implement the sales tactics and move the product. To Robinson, though, that’s the intrinsic problem.”I’m angry at the message,” she said in her interview.
“What I didn’t mention in my post was that the whole time he was talking to me, he was holding a mirror up to my face, and saying, ‘See this? See this?’ as though there was something wrong with me, as though my face is something I need to worry about. I’m a mum. I worry professionally! I worry about my kids, I worry about them being happy, I worry about them being safe. I worry about my moles being melanoma. I worry about people who text and drive. I worry about people who drink and drive. I worry about strangers. When you’re a mum, you worry! So for him asking me to worry about my face, it was just so ridiculous,” Robinson told TODAY.
In the end, Robinson wouldn’t allow herself to feel anything less than amazing. She knows that as a mother she’s one of the most confident and strongest people on the planet. When she looked the salesman in the eye and told him, “This is the face my children and my husband love. I think I’ll keep it,” she wasn’t just making a statement for herself, or trying to prove a point to one salesperson. She was empowering women everywhere and encouraging them to be confident in their own skin.
Annick said it best, mums: “I look my age and that’s OK actually.”
Never let anyone tell you differently!
