I received my first formal complaint from a client this week. "Formal" is not the best-suited word, but there was nothing "official" or "proper" about this complaint. I'm honestly surprised it took more than two years of this career for me to finally snap. I didn't yell or use profanity, all I did was coldly quietly tell my client that I was done listening to her non-stop trauma dump about elementary school and how utterly impossible it has been for her to cope with having minor autism. I hate that this was about neurodivergence, because in reality it was about my client having intolerably bad breath. I can handle trauma dumping and difficult subject matter, but surely I have to have a line somewhere. In the moment I told my client to adjust what was immediately adjustable, her speech. I have ZERO DOUBT that if I had told her to take a mint and put on a face mask she would have found a way to use her autism diagnosis to excuse this disgusting lack of hygiene. Frankly, I don't regret telling her off and I reserve the right to inform clients when their body odors are unacceptable. I do regret slipping a inch over my personal line of professionalism. Yes I silenced this extremely upsetting client for a few minutes, but then she continued her obnoxious stream of consciousness to my coworker at scheduling as well as my boss two days later, wasting their time unnecessarily. My boss called me in for a formal talking-to yesterday. I wasn't surprised to hear that she talked non-stop for some 26 minutes, but I feel responsible for causing her time to be wasted. I saw this client's mother yesterday and immediately apologized for upsetting her daughter. Her mother completely shrugged the incident off and agreed that her child is an "energy vampire". This whole ordeal was a sharp lesson in learning not to care too much.

I had to deal with a very difficult client yesterday, possibly my hardest conversation yet. I could intellectualize this woman’s personality to the moon and back, but there are a few key things that made her unacceptable as a client

She clearly suffers from disordered eating that has severely damaged her nails. Hers are the weakest nails I’ve ever seen, they are maybe 20% the strength of a normal nail. They are nubs of mostly overgrown cuticle that she picks at. By her own accounts she does not tolerate any solid foods anymore and lives off a liquid diet and some 28 daily supplements. I’m really glad my mentor was around when I spoke to her so that she could back me up in telling her that we are not able to change the nature of her nails that are already grown, and that she must change her consumption to build better nail material. I can remove dead cuticle but I can’t put the nail plate she peels off back on for her. It’s very discomforting to see such naked disregard for one’s own diet especially in one so old. It brings up memories of my inherited eating disorders that I sent a lot of time defending against. I feel for her but I also rebuke her harmful beliefs. I just can’t imagine inhabiting a body so starved, so out of control. I finally have to admit that I’m not a miracle worker and I can’t actually heal nails. These are beyond salvaging and they fully reject any polish. She has come back consistently because every manicure we applied did not stick. We put a mark in her client profile to cut off her free repairs because clearly this is systemic not accidental

The frequency of her visits and the nature of her tipping is grossly parasocial and made me feel uncomfortable. She set up standing appointments for every two weeks on the dot for several months, which is normally a boon, but she has this aggressive gift-giving streak wherein she decorates a full envelope to hand me my tip, and she also pawns me random small gifts she found. I know I sound ungrateful but my tipped income is not up for negotiation. I’m not some private tech taking trades under the table, and frankly I am not thankful for these bits of random Temu trash. For a woman as sensitive to foreign substances touching her skin, she was way too proud to offer me a pack of under-eye moisture patches with zero manufacturing information or ingredients list. Her aggressive booking speaks to a clear denial of the state of her fingernails. The aggression feels extra pointed as her last gift was a coloring book she wanted me to bring on my vacation, after I had told her that I already had a coloring book that I was planning on bringing. She gave me this book after childishly coloring in the first page. This is a clear move to insert herself in my private life, which none of my clients are allowed in. She is enchanted by “creativity” which she defines as writing 200-word flashes and using AI to create fictional art of herself. Usually I encourage creativity, I think it is essential to a healthy mind, so I don’t have the heart to tell her to stop the thing that brings her joy, but I can’t keep tolerating her pathetic performance.

I just refilled my nails. I was aiming for a “Mother of Pearl” look and I used my normal builder gel, a layer of opaque white, then I streaked some light translucent pink over the white, then used my Unicorn Powder over top to create a majorly multi-colored glitter effect. It’s definitely striking, definitely pearlescent or even opal-esque, and I’ve already received a couple positive remarks. But my aspiration was to mimic the Mother of Pearl texture to the point that it looked as though real pieces of the semi-precious stone had been carved into the shape of nails. Texture is really important to me, and these came out super smooth like regular overlays.

I’m improving my overlay technique as well. I have been learning more and more that the goal of an overlay is not to flush every corner of the nail with thick product. The boarder of the overlay should be painted with intention and the volume of the product should be flowed down the center and allowed to self-level. Timing is everything, the overlay won’t stop moving until it is cured. I manually flashed my LED lamp over the nails for 10 seconds before curing like the professional CND lamps I use at work, and it really helped cut down on the heat spikes.

I have used this unicorn chrome for over a year now and I have long since come to the conclusion that it is noting special. I think the problem is that the color-shifting powders are not fine enough and it creates a very rough glittery texture rather than a shiny metallic effect. I think it can be pressed a bit smoother, but there’s not an efficient tool for this besides wasting makeup sponges. There is a new nail supply store that just opened on the other side of town, maybe I’ll check it out and try a new unicorn chrome. I’m always struck by the appearance of the powder in its pot, it is so reflective it’s almost luminescent.

The pedicure thrones in my spa are still cracked and malfunctioning. The cracked bowls are not covered by the warranty of course, and there are several other issues with the thrones that have rendered them just as unhelpful as the ones they replaced. There is one striking issued I’ve identified: a plumbing problem.

The bowl is drained through an outlet hose behind the throne, pushed by a small fan pump. The problem is the drain in the bowl actually sits lower than the outlet, and the fan is not very strong meaning the water in the basin has to flow uphill to drain, which it doesn’t naturally do. When the basin is completely full the added weight helps the fan start pushing the water up and out, but if we want to use the “wash” function as intended, maybe 1/10 of the water, the drain function routinely fails and will not succeed until the bowl is completely filled again. This is incredibly wasteful of both time and resources and it makes me furious.

My annual review is coming up. I haven’t worked at a single establishment for more that a year in my entire adult life. This is the first establishment I have ever earnestly wanted to work at for more than a year, but this pedicure throne fiasco is testing my faith and my patience. I had a good tip about discount pedicure thrones months ago that I shared with the owners TWICE and was dismissed out of hand. I sat down on my own honeymoon to review the sales pitch of the pedicure throne options and went on the record saying I didn’t like the glass bowls. Now we’re $13k in the hole and we still don’t have functional pedicure thrones. According to a Guest Services teammate the business owner demanded that the manufacturers pay for the labor costs of replacing the glass pedicure bowls, but I’m afraid she may not be fully aware of the other problems. I think they should eat their losses and look for better models without glass bowls as soon as possible. But I don’t know how to make myself heard. I know that the business owner and my team manager both have “stuff” going on with their children and they are clearly not present, which makes me feel even less heard. This is a pivotal moment in the business and they have already fallen on their asses. I just feel like the business owner wasn’t present for the initial purchase, and I was right, the glass bowls are tacky as hell.

I don’t know what I’m going to say in my annual review. I don’t just want more money, I want job security. I think we should start doing gel pedicures. i want to start sewing more of the warming boots to sell as retail, but I’m not going to do that in a business that has constant problems. It’s such a nightmare, having the shiny new toy that breaks before Christmas dinner is served. It’s really hard to foresee the future beyond this point. I don’t want to insult my boss’s intelligence, but I’m starved for any kind of planning. Like today, we started prepping to have our walls painted overnight, and it was tragically amateur, not a single pre-decided strategy was employed. Like I’m not reaching for the stars here, I just want some evidence that the ownership of my place of work can operate a god damn pencil.

I have had a trying two weeks at my spa. Two of the three new pedicure bowls we just received have cracked and are not useable without an ugly glue plastic liner that completely diminishes their shine and the LED lights that costed extra.

There is a deep sense of distrust in the space lately, as we are all waiting for the third and final chair to betray us as well. The experience with these chairs has been a bit of a "grass isn't always greener" scenario. Aside from the bowls cracking, the chairs themselves are subpar. The digital readouts that are supposed to display the temperature of the water being filled are already glitching and inaccurate. The drain pumps are significantly worse than before, these new ones are not strong enough to pull water just on their own: you need a full basin to create enough downward pressure to get the water through whatever u-bend it drains through. This is hugely wasteful of both water and time. I have no idea how we'll make it though the busy season. Also the programming of the digital controls of the water and drain are already de-synchronized, the auto-fill feature only fills the basin about 10% up before shutting off and dry-running the magnetic jet fan as though it was full.

the manufacturers have already sent replacements for the cracked bowls as well as backups, but the damage is already done. The trust in their product is completely destroyed and it would take a small miracle for it to return.

I am on the record saying I didn't think the glass bowls were the right fit for our spa space, and I hate to be proven so painfully right. I think we should just cut our losses and try to get new chairs that are the same make and model as the old ones before another thing goes wrong, but that is not financially viable. Honestly I think the best way out of this mess is to finally incorporate gel pedicures into our service menu. We need to recoup losses and increase our return clientele. My one year anniversary and review is coming up this week, I'm planning on bringing up this idea them.

Today I’m going in to a little hole-in-the-wall nail salon for a gel pedicure. It is called TC Nails & Spa. It’s a classic Shop, you are greeted by a laughing Buddha statue at the check in desk, as well as a pre-frosted Christmas tree. There are tools and kits strewn everywhere, children’s toys piled in a corner, supervised by a young girl reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

There is a cozy kind of dinginess one finds in this sort of establishment. It is comfortably forgettable. The white pleather chairs are smudged from heavy use, the drywall is chipping in a few places. The entire staff wears black paper masks and we do not exchange names. They sit in quiet tranquility, only moving to gather supplies.

I select my color from a basket of swatch wheels. Their color products are not displayed so much as stored in plain sight on metal shelves drilled directly into the wall. This is my first time using OPI’s gel polish system. I’m very pleased with the color and shine.

The service itself is pretty very efficient. No soaking salts in the foot bath, no cuticle softener gel. I do receive a quick purple paraffin soak and hot towels which is very relaxing on a cold day like this. The e-file looks like it has seen better years, but the massage chairs work just fine.

A gel pedicure + removal is $50. I tip $17.50

At this point I shouldn’t be surprised but it genuinely disappoints me to see the lack of professionalism. In her defense she is going through a really difficult time right now with the tragic death of a parent, but this isn’t the first time she has showed up with an alcoholic beverage in hand.

I am currently sitting in my old salon. It is under new ownership but with the same name. The technician just tried to pull out the cheese grater from a sealed but not processed autoclave package. I asked him not to, which he obliged. He’s definitely meticulous, right on the boarder of painful that I honestly appreciate. My place of work prioritizes the comfort and relaxation, we don’t use power tools on the toes and the service is quick and minimal. This guy is getting my toes ready for a photo shoot. I think the file being used is a bit too coarse to be honest. The massage oil is kept in an open-spouted container. Kind of a no-no, open containers only ever catch flyaway debris

Honestly the place looks great, better and more decorated than it ever was when I worked here. The previous team crumbled and the old ownership had to sell at a great loss and clearly they were able to invest extra money into lots of fake plants and new pedicure thrones. There’s also many more colors and brand options. I’m realizing how bare and sterile the place was before. Just looming unadorned white walls with blaring pop music. Now there’s green plastic and pleasant Latin guitar

They serve bottomless mimosas with a deluxe pedicure, I’m gonna get my money’s worth today. I had expected my drink to be some pre-canned fizz mix, but this is a legit orange juice in a champagne glass.