Yesterday, on June 19, I came to Nail Sabella with my girlfriends to have a nice day out. The person who greeted us to sign in was extremely nice and helpful, however thereafter my experience went downhill.
I am absolutely not the type to give bad reviews, especially to family-owned businesses. However I am compelled to write this review because I was greatly mistreated at Nail Sabella by my technician and a few of her coworkers.
From the get-go, my technician was extremely pushy with me picking my colors, pulling me by my arm to the polishes then to her chair. I was put in her chair a little before 4PM, and she was saying (in Vietnamese) to her coworkers that she needs to leave at 5PM. I did not disclose to her that I understood her because I didn't think she would decide to speak inappropriately about me to her coworkers during my appointment.
The picture shows what I had asked for, and I was already prepared to pay the price for the design. In Vietnamese she kept exasperating that it was too many colors, it would take too much time, and that she needs to leave at 5PM.
Eventually I said, "Okay I just want four colors to alternate on every other nail, no design." She was going to charge me $5 extra which I then said "It's extra? I don't know if other salons do that."
To which she responded back in Vietnamese to then again speak inappropriately about me to her coworkers that I was being "difficult." I decided on just choosing the one color to make it easy for her.
On top of that, when she asked me if I wanted gel or dip, I asked for the price difference, even though I always prefer gel, out of curiosity. The price of dip was slightly higher, so I explained that I would still like gel. In Vietnamese she said to her coworkers, "Yes, she's choosing gel because she doesn't have money."
Throughout this entire experience, I tried to keep my cool because I knew she would ask me about my ethnicity. She later on asked me if I was Chinese, to which I explained I was Vietnamese. She immediately starts nervously laughing, and asked if I understood the language. I responded "Yes, I do."
She then decides to compliment me, trying to mitigate the situation. The rest of the appointment was her trying to make amends with me, trying to make cordial conversation when that's what she could have done with me from the start instead of talking inappropriately about me to her coworkers. She rushed through her paint job and ended up giving me uneven coats of gel.
As I headed up to the counter to pay, the other technician, who was well aware of what happened, asked to look at my nails and asked, "Oh, why only one color?" I don't really understand why she needed to rub more salt in the wound that was already created.
At the end of the appointment, I made sure to tip my tech 20% for her services, and say "cam on co" (thank you auntie) in Vietnamese.
I hope this is the first and last time this happens to anyone. I wish that they would have assessed the situation that maybe.. just MAYBE I could understand them before they decided to ruin someone else's day, completely unprovoked. My tech thought I was 18, however I am 25 and thankful I was able to handle the situation in a mature manner. However I would hope that this toxic environment as co-workers does not persist and that everyone continues to choose kindness over hate. read more