I have gone a few times since May and the service has been worth my drive to Cordova. The wait time has never been long. Today, my experience was unpleasantly different than other times. There were several things that occurred before the ultimate moment. I went for a pedicure only; I chose my color and selected the new collagen pedicure (#2). One young lady was about to start on me, but when another customer came in so a sweet lady named Tee came over instead. She provided service during my first visit and I had no complaints. During my first visit, I got regular polish on my toes so I left with the toe separators on. Today, she took the separators off of my toes and put them back with the rest of the unused ones. Today, she didn't ask me if I wanted gel, she just put the gel on. I got gel the last time, and didn't like it because it can't just be wiped off once it is old so I would have preferred regular polish on my toes. At this nail salon, the regular and the gel polish are in the same box for all of their bottle polish so as a customer, you would not just know what is being used until they take out the device to cure the polish which means a gel polish was used. My natural nail on my great toe was not straight so I asked if she could straighten it, but then she looked at some other employees and I explained the issue and it was fixed.
Ms. Tee urged me to get a manicure so I obliged thinking maybe my hands looked rough. I told her regular polish because when I get gel polish at this location it doesn't last. She made a face for me to understand what she was conveying with a few words "Regular polish (insert frown); you get color like this (shows me her nails). I oblige to do that color. After she did two coats on the left hand, I could tell that it wasn't going to look any better even with a third coat. The color was cute with her complexion, but on me, my nail bed looked red similar to if you applied pressure to your nail bed for a few seconds. My exact response was "Ms. Tee, are we able to apply a light pink to this because it does not compliment my skin tone?" She held up her hands and showed me her nails. I said "Yes, it looks nice with your complexion, but it does not go well with my skin tone." She kept going, which was not alarming because she did the same thing with a question that I asked about my toes earlier and what she was doing was part of "her" process. There was a customer beside me as I had this conversation with her, but there was not a technician near her. I asked her again about the pink color when I noticed that she was approaching me with the towels to wrap the hands, which is normally done at the end. By this time, there was another technician sitting beside her and Ms. Tee looked over at her. The young lady asked me what I said. After I explained, the young lady replied "She's finished." I said, but I told her before she finished. At this time, about four of the employees come over and hover around. One of them said "I'm sorry" to Ms. Tee and they all proceed to carry on an extensive conversation in their language and laugh and stare at me. One thing that was said sounded like "Stop doing young people", but since I could not get Google translate to work after several attempts, I assume that I didn't need to know what was being said.
Ms. Tee was never rude and her actions never indicated that she had an attitude, but the other employees made me feel uncomfortable with how the situation was handled. As my nails were corrected, I looked straight ahead and watched tv. The group hovered around multiple times as she corrected the nails. I wasn't going to make a scene nor did I want to upset myself more so I allowed the error to be corrected. Ms. Tee complimented the new color once she finished and apologized. I am not sure if she can speak fluent English, but she knew that I conveyed something to her. I checked out and the same younger female that was beside her cashed my bill out and once I made it to the register, she asked "You happy now?" I replied "Yes", but I felt some type of way about everything that had transpired. I still tipped Ms. Tee and she apologized again. My time is precious just as their time is. How they handled it was rude. What's done is done, and although, I will not be returning, they should try to learn better business etiquette and proper hygiene for equipment for future patrons. As long as money is coming in, it won't bother them. read more