Technically, the staff at Charming Nails are proficient at what they do. My manicure and pedicure look good and in terms of that, I got good value for my money.
However, the way I was treated was inexcusable. I am a single mother who has very little time and until recently very little money to spend on luxuries for myself. I commute over 2 and a half hours to my job every day just to ensure that my daughter can stay in the school that she loves, which means that on weeknights there is little time for anything but dinner, homework, and packing lunch for the next day, and weekends are spent split between doing essential chores and my daughter's weekend activities. Needless to say, even doing my own manicures and pedicures at home is not something I get a chance to do very often. However, I recently realized that it is important for me to do something that makes me feel good about myself and so I decided that I would splurge on a monthly mani/pedi, which might then also inspire me to carve out a little time for myself on a weekly basis to do upkeep at home. Which lead me to make an appointment for my first mani/pedi in years at Charming Nails.
As I stated earlier, the staff is proficient at the technical aspects of the service; however, the two women who did my manicure and pedicure lack any social grace or even simple human kindness. Since it has been a very long time since I have been able to indulge in even at home treatments, my feet were dry and my heels were cracked and my fingernails were ragged. I said as much to the technicians. However, the woman who did my pedicure spent the entire treatment sighing under her breath, rolling her eyes, and muttering "Aye, aye, aye". Whenever she realized that I was aware of what she was doing, she would say, "Your skin is very dry" as if that excused her going out of her way to make me feel even more ashamed of the state of my skin than I already was. I spent most of the pedicure trying to watch the television and pretend I wasn't aware of her theatrical sighing and her attempts to make sure that everyone else in the salon knew that I had sorely inconvenienced her by having less than perfect feet. What's even worse is that after doing her best to make me feel like I had no right to be getting a pedicure is that she then tried to upsell me on an extra foot massage and after I refused the first time, she tried two more times.
She then called another technician over to begin my manicure. When this woman sat down, I immediately said, "My nails are in bad shape. I'm sorry. I haven't had time to do anything with them." She smiled, took my hand, and then pointedly looked at her friend and the two of them shook their heads and laughed. This continued until my pedicure was finished (a procedure that I will point out took NO LONGER than any of the other pedicures that were going on at the same time mine was despite my skin being "very dry"). When I was settled at the dryers, the woman who did my manicure then began to massage my back -- a service that many customers seem to enjoy but that I could have easily done without, especially because she proceeded to make a phone call and chat on her phone the entire time she was doing it.
It took a lot for me to decide I am worth a little "me" time and the money I spent on these treatments could have easily been used for household expenses or incidental expenses for my daughter. It was hard enough for me to convince myself that I am "worth" this little luxury and the staff at Charming Nails did their best to make me feel that I was not worth their time or their respect. I believe I will still try to make a manicure and pedicure a monthly occurence for myself but I will definitely be getting them at another nail salon. read more
