I had to run some errands today in Peyton, and noticed that a new nail salon called "Chic Nails" had opened. I have been going to a place that is very good but is a bit far, so since this new one was close, I decided to peek inside. To check the service, I decided to get the cheapest thing done, a paraffin dip for the hands. The guy who was doing it poured paraffin in 2 plastic bags (mind you, I have never seen it done that way, you usually dip in the paraffin and then they put plastic gloves on your hands) and asked me to put my hand in one of the bags. As I am sitting on a chair and putting my hand in the bag, he is maneuvering the paraffin around my fingers and hands from across a table. At that point he twitched or something, I don't know, but he poured the entire paraffin content of the bag over my thigh and the part of my dress that was covering it. I was so distraught, I got up and said I was leaving. Noone from the 3 people servicing the location said anything, with the exception of a meek, "I am sorry" by the guy. Mind you, at this point I am clearly super very visibly 9-months pregnant, was obviously balistically upset, and the only reason I did not lose it right there was because my 4 y.o. was right next to me.
I left, went home, searched online for how to get rid of the wax, tried to clean up the dress, but the stains would not go away no matter what I did. I called a dry cleaner and she said that with colored paraffin (which cosmetic paraffin wax is) it is likely the stains will stay in one form or another. So, I called the salon, and told the guy they should pay for the damaged dress (I actually had just bought it and had the receipt saved, the tags still in my unempried trash can). He told me he would not do that because it was an accident and that he did not have time to deal with me. Then, he hung up. BTW, he refused to put me in touch with the owner.
Next, my husband got really pissed off by the hanging up of the phone, and drove off to the place to make his point. I was not there (probably should have gone as well) but the guy insisted that not only it was an accident but it was entirely my fault because I had moved my hand. I had not, not to mention that the projectile of the paraffin flow would have been very different if I had, however, this is beside the point. The other two workers agreed with him, although they were doing pedicures about 5 yards away from me and had no way of knowing what happened, other than it happened.
Mind you, the dress was not expensive but 1) was really pretty, 2) fit me very well (which when you are 38 weeks pregnant and still relatively small in the rest of your body is very very hard to come by), and 3) would have been great for the last 2-3 weeks of the pregnancy, for breastfeeding, and for the first 2 postpartum months. The dry cleaner I left it with was very ambivalent about the result; she said she would try her best. I mean, realistically, what else can she say or do anyway.
Now, I complained to the Better Business Bureau, wrote a negative review for the business on yelp.com, but I feel so utterly unsatisfied and screwed over! I even cried after my husband came home and told me what their version of the events was. If I was not as pregnant as I am right now, I would have totally taken this issue with the small claims court (although it is not worth my time and effort, I would have done it on the principle). But right now I simply can't! I just have this overwhelming desire for revenge that I cannot quite get control of...
