This place is run by a mother/daughter duo. The mother cuts hair and the daughter, Danielle, does the waxing. I have gone several times for waxing only.
Upon arriving for my appointment yesterday, I neglected to completely latch the baby gate (which serves as the door to the establishment). I thought I closed it all the way, but it turns out, the latch did not actually click into place. The mother reprimanded me for this in front of another customer. She told me that I need to make sure the gate is closed completely because they have two dogs in there and I can't let them out. Pretty much verbatim and in an annoyed tone. She actually went out of her way to correct me on this matter-- after arriving I went immediately to the bathroom and she waited for me to finish, then stopped cutting her client's hair and followed me to the waiting area to deliver the reprimand.
I have never left the door open before; therefore I was not known as some kind of repeat offender, habitually conspiring to release the hounds. I did in fact close the gate behind me, it just didn't latch, which should have lead mother to assume my intentions were based in good faith. I have been coming to this establishment multiple times over the last year (every 3-6 weeks) and spending $60-75 each time. From a purely customer service standpoint, she should have remembered that I'm a steady, well-paying customer, quietly latched the gate behind me, and gone about her day.
I didn't realize that I would be visiting a petting zoo while getting my hoo-ha waxed. I don't mind there being dogs there, but I certainly don't want to be held accountable for their safekeeping. The mother has chosen to bring dogs to her place of business (I'm not sure but this could be a health violation based on the nature of the business?) and therefore it is HER responsibility, not mine, to ensure her dogs don't get out. She will note I left my dog at home, and did not go about my day expecting others to be responsible for his safe-keeping.
I was made to feel uncomfortable, as though I'd done wrong, and when someone spends a lot of money at an establishment, they don't want to leave with a negative feeling. So even when the service itself is acceptable, the overall experience can still be overwhelmingly bad.
I wanted to speak with Danielle about it but did not feel comfortable because there is no privacy in the salon-- it's one big room with a divider partitioning the two areas off and everyone in the hair section can hear what everyone in the wax section is saying and vice versa.
I would strongly recommend the mother invest in a baby gate that has a spring action to allow the gate to automatically shut after being opened. We have one at home for our toddler and it works great-- then we don't ever have to sharply rebuke our guests who come over for dinner when they accidentally leave it open. Or even still, post a sign asking customers to make sure the gate is closed and latched- explain that you're burdening them with the safekeeping of your animals and apologize for the inconvenience. Or perhaps she should just be responsible herself for ensuring the tricky latch gets engaged since the pets are her responsibility. All of those options would have been infinitely better than a stern reprimand to a paying customer for failing to do something for which she should not have been responsible. read more
