Nailed

[lillibet]

I am just shaking with rage...

This morning Jason decided to take Alice to the Discovery Museum, so finding myself at loose ends I thought "I'll get a pedicure!" This is something I haven't gotten to do in quite a while, so I was all excited. Both my usual place and my former usual place were booked up, so I decided to try MY Salon, which has been highly recommended on the Arlington List.

I called and made an appointment for a pedicure and showed up five minutes early for my appointment. The owner, Maria, was very friendly as she put me in the chair, in a
separate room from the rest of the spa.

And then left me there for forty-five minutes.

No one came to help me, no one even checked in on me. After half an
hour, I called out to one of the other employees and she went and came
back and said that Maria would be right with me. Fifteen minutes
later, I dried off my feet, put on my shoes, found my coat and went to
find Maria, in the middle of doing another client's hair. I explained
that I was leaving and she said "I'll be right with you, I'll take
care of you" and I said it had been forty-five minutes and she sort of
shrugged and let me leave.

There was no apology, no sign that she considered this a problem. No
offer of a free pedicure or any other remedy was suggested.

I walked out of there completely enraged and deeply disappointed--I
was really looking forward to this and was thinking that if I liked
them, I would bring my daughter in for her first haircut and perhaps
send my mother there, as well.

Not a chance.

I managed to get to my car before actually bursting into tears--my go-to response to any strong emotion--and called my mother to get some sympathy and she laughed at me. Thanks, Mom. Fortunately bex77 was more sympathetic.

Oooooooh! I could just spit!

EDIT: Amusingly, the owner called me about fifteen minutes after I posted most of the above to the Arlington List. She claims she tried to catch me--must have been moving pretty slowly, since I had to wait for the very slow elevator to arrive before leaving the floor--and said she's so sorry and offered me a free pedicure any time I want, just call and let her know when. While I appreciate the offer, there's still not a chance. I'll try to get to my regular place sometime soon.

Comments

[preraphaelite.livejournal.com]

You should post on their Yelp -- let the community know about their stellar customer service.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

I agree. People need to know about this.

[kalibex.livejournal.com]

3rding. Let everybody know.

Natural Consequences.

[smacaski.livejournal.com]

Ditto. That's totally unacceptable.

P.S. What's your usual place?

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I usually go to Happy Nails in Lexington. Before that I used May's in East Arlington, but they messed up our appointments (muffyjo usually goes with me and they would make it so that we weren't actually together) a few times, so we decided to switch.

[sapphira-altair.livejournal.com]

How infuriating! I hate when people act like my time isn't worth anything, or as much as theirs; I agree that you should post on their yelp, but also call once you have a chance to breathe and talk with a manager.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

The person I was dealing with was the owner. See edit :)

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is absolutely infuriating.

As a small business owner, I have some built-in sympathy for her. But given your experience, even that is out the window. She shouldn't merely be embarrassed; her business should be diminished.

Well done.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Oh, certainly--if she had attempted to apologize or make good in that moment, I really would have been satisfied. I didn't yell at her or say anything rude. I just left. I wasn't trying to make anyone's life difficult--I just wanted a pedicure!

Thanks for the sympathy--it's much appreciated!

[muffyjo]

That's all kinds of wrong. I love that the A list is so quick in its revelations that you got good feedback but it's sad that the feedback you were forced to share was so negative. I hope that the owner figures out that everyone who walks in is important and has valuable time. Maybe she'll come out of this with a better understanding of the situation.

Here's to that being the frog you've had to eat for breakfast and may the rest of the day be completely up.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

that would have made me totally angry, also. something similar happened to jon and i once when we went to a friendly's in waltham...they left us sitting there for 50 minutes without so much as a menu...with about 10 people total in the restaurant. we refuse to ever go back. i'm sorry you had to put up with such poor service. you should also post this to yelp.

[bookly.livejournal.com]

Ugh -- that sounds really awful. I hope you at least had a good book, and that you can get a pedicure soon!