Beaks at the bank

The ladies' section of the bank was hoppin' this morning. I went today because the ATM at the mall ate my card last weekend. Long story, short: It said I entered the wrong PIN three times. I didn't. What I did do was dash to the bank during my prep period last Sunday, applied for a new card, then went back today to pick it up. It wasn't there, and I was tempted to feel as though I'd wasted a chunk of Saturday morning trying to understand 1) why the bank can't issue me a new ATM card without a lengthy application process, 2) why my card now needs 10 days to arrive and 3) why no one can explain how the ATM ate my card in the first place.

Except. The women with the beaks were at the bank.

A very few Emerati and Omani women-of-a-certain-age wear shiny, golden face masks that look for all the world like beaks. Or fake moustaches. (I found the woman pictured here on Google images. Her mask is a bit askew, but you get the idea...) Usually, I can go weeks and weeks without seeing even one. Today at the bank there were three! What a treat! I discovered that the masks hook around the ears, somewhat like glasses, that they clink when the women lean in to give each other Euro-style kiss-kisses on the cheek, and that the beaks are probably much more comfortable than wearing a full veil (as some women do) because they don't have to breath into fabric, but still have almost the same modesty coverage.

So why doesn't everyone wear a beak? Another Google search didn't reveal much. A colleague told me face masks (gold or plain black cloth) are worn only by certain tribes. Another person assured me young women these days wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole. Anecdotally speaking, I haven't seen a woman under 55 wearing one. But what I don't know is if women "graduate"to the beak or if the older women have always worn them, but now the younger generation is failing to follow suit.

The women at the bank withdrew huge stacks of small bills and clinked out of the branch while I waited behind them to get a week's worth of cash by interacting with an actual teller, as though it were 1970 or something. Just a bunch of old-fashion girls at the bank on a Saturday.