How to Annoy a Nail Technician

I just started working in a nail salon and have to put up with a lot of annoying customers. This hub is not intended to encourage you to make it worse than it really is!? So in order for you to get great looking nails at the right price.

If you are attempting one of the following bad behavior, you will more than likely get charged more for the service, or have a big piece of flesh cut out!

Believe it or not, but some of our clients would spend more than 15 to 30 minutes deciding on what color to polish on their nails?! I mean,c'mon! We are busy as hell, just sit your ass down and you can decide from there. Some clients would even pick out 10 different colors and sit it next to them throughout the nail service to decide on.

My polish is chipping! You need to fix it for free!

If you are having your natural nails polish, you can kiss those pretty dark colors good-bye. Since the natural nail produces its own oil like the skin, the nail polish on the hands are more likely to chip off faster than toenails. Why? Because you wash your hands more than your feet right? (Duh!)

I would suggest you wear a clear coat or a light color. It still chips but won't be as noticeable.

Why is my white french tip turning yellow?!

That occurs when you use the tanning bed or the nail technician was too lazy to put a special kind of clear coat of sunscreen polish to prevent it.

My natural nail turned yellow! You did my nails last time!

That occurs if we put on a dark color such as red or black on your nails even though we used a base coat to try to prevent most of the yellowing. The best thing we can do is to put cuticle oil on the surface of the nail and buff it off. Also if you smoke a lot, that does turn your natural or artificial nails yellow too.

There are some picky clients who only wants a certain nail technician to work on their nails. Which makes it tough on newer nail technicians such as myself to make any kind of money since we are paid by commission. Meaning, if no one wants me to do their nails, well I'm screwed.

My boss, let's say, his name is Dick, cuz he sure acts like it. He is a professional nail tech for over 20 some years. Me? Not even a year yet -_- Anyway, when my boss Dick goes on vacation, I have to put up with his clients. Here's how it goes...

The phone rings....

May: (Putting on a sweet act) Thank you for calling the Nail Salon, this is May, how may I help you?

Other line: Who the hell is this?! Where is Dick today?! I want to speak to Dick!

May: (Grrr..) Dicks gone out of town this week, can I help you with anything?

Other line: When is Dick coming back?! Cuz I only like Dicks job! I want to make an appointment with Dick!

May: (Saying this a million times to all of Dicks lovers) I'm sorry ma'ma due to the shortages of workers (which most of the coworkers don't bother showing up) I cannot schedule any appointments.

Other Line: I don't believe this @#$%!? I'm going to call Dicks cell phone!

....And this is one of the reason why I refused to be manager ever again when his sorry ass goes off somewhere else!

Your attitude matters when it comes to paying for the service. For example, if you come in with a really bitchy attitude about everything we do and charge, more than likely, you are going to pay us more. Depends on how much you pissed us off. I never do that, but my boss sure did along with the a few other guys. But I do appreciate those customers who knows how to read our price list and not bug us with a lot of stupid questions.

We would have some young people coming in wanting to get long nails with those crazy designs. And yes, it cost extra, depending on the type of design and your attitude about it.

Honestly, there should be a no cell phone policy in the nail salon. Clients are more than likely to mess up their nails by answering their cell phone after it has been polished!? WHY!? Is it so important to answer it and tell the whole world where you are? Worst case scenario, woman would dig in to their pocketbooks while having wet acrylic or gel on their nails. That's a strange way to ruin your whole nails and pocketbook at the same time. Some times I would answer others cell phone since they don't know how to put it on vibrate. Trust me, you do not want me, of all people, to be answering your cell phone. Mwahahaha!

If you planned to have your kids to do their nails done, don't bother dragging them in at the age of 5 or under!? I am not going to repeat myself 20 times to tell them to be still so I can polish their frigging nails! Most kids love to grab a hold of everything close by or turns their whole body around wanna make sure their mommy hasn't left them yet.

Some children would love to wonder around the nail salon and play with our equipment and polish because they're bored. I let some kids color with a coloring book to keep them occupied. But not for toddlers since they love to eat crayons and break them in half. And since we are located inside the Wal-mart shopping center, kids love to run out while their mother hollars at them to get their butts back inside. They should be thankful that I am still young and fast to catch them little stinkers back. If that don't stop them, I get a shopping cart and make them sit in it!

What I don't understand is, people would bring small children or infants in to the salon where nail dust are scattered everywhere, and had them sit right next to them. The smell of acrylic liquid can cause a lot of headaches. Well, to me anyway. Took me a few months to adjust to it.

Sure thing, let's take a look at them toes....Oh @#$! When was the last time you had your feet done? Say What?! Is this your first time?! Oh, its been years since you had it done. Great...Why do people wait so long to get their feet done at such a horrible shape?!

You didn't scrub my feet hard enough!

Scrubbing those hard callus off won't make it all go away for good.There is a special product called the callus remover.

In some nail salons it may cost $5 or more to help soften and remove dead skin off the heels. Customer would be like, "What do you mean it's $5 dollars more?! I thought that was included?! No, I don't want it! Just scrub my feet real hard. No wait, shave my skin off with that callus razor blade of yours. And I want you to take this hang nail off me without causing any pain."

First of all, paying that little extra $5 dollars would really save you another trip to the nail salon. Secondly, razor blades are banned from the nail salon. It's illegal now in N.C to use it due to the fact that it makes the skin worse. It will cause you to have an even thicker callus growing back on the bottom of your foot. Say what? Podiatrist can do that? Sorry, we are no foot doctors. Doesn't matter what type of hang nail you got, its going to either hurt or you're going to have to go see the podiatrist.

Don't you know what causes my feet to get tough?

Notice how your feet get more callus and harder in the summer? Yeah, its because you are wearing sandles or shoes with no socks. It is basically the same as walking barefooted. The calluses are formed on the bottom of your heel to either protect your feet or get on your nerves.

I would suggest you put on a nice amount of lotion or vaseline at night with socks on the heels. Then you can feel a difference in the morning. You can also buy products to scrub callus off anywhere. Just don't buy the "As Seen on TV Pedi-Egg, or razor blade. Because that will only make your feet worse and raw plus the callus will grow back thicker and harder to protect your skin.

People are more aware now of salon sanitation nowadays. There has been numerous bad reports of people getting infected from the nail salon. So people would bring their own tools for us to pamper themselves.

First of all, their tools are not salon brand and won't work as well as ours. And secondly, if you see us take the tools out of the barbicide and disinfect it in front of you, its good enough to use for your nails.

Then we have those clients who wants to bring in their own nail products, like the cheap brand. I had a client who would bring an anti-chip polish, strenthener, lame cheap polish, quickdry drops, and her own top coat. After having to apply all that mess on her damn nails, it still chips. What do you expect? Its your own natural nails fault and your habit of washing your hands too often.

Anyway, using our special kind of salon brand products are waaaay better for you. These products cannot be purchased for the public. Only license beautician are allowed to purchase these salon brand products. If you are lucky, you might be able to purchase these products in the salon itself at a low price. Yeah, good luck with that.

Oh shoot, a broken nail. For those who have artifical nails and broke it, we don't need to hear your whole story of how it happened. Do you want it fix or not?! Then the clients would go on and on of how clumsy they are and kept on breaking each finger. Yeah, like I enjoy hearing how you broke each and every single one of your daggone nails. Say what? It cost $3 to get each one fix. Meaning, you broke 9 and that'll be $27. Might as well get a new set.

Getting acrylic nails can be good for starters who wants to have that beautiful long length of nails without having to pay as much as getting the gel nails. After we put on the fake tips that are glue to your fingernails, you see us dip our brush in a acrylic liquid and powder and dab it on your finger to help hold the tip and natural nail together.

You have to come every 2 weeks to have a fill-in to your nails. Why? Because your're natural nail grows leaving a gap between the acrylic and cuticle of your hands. And yes, you need to take the old set of acrylic nails off with 100% acetone, or better let us do that for you because we can drill it off faster.

You made me have a nail fungus!

Acrylic nails turns yellow fast depending how much sun exposure it has such as the tanning bed and the fact that clients refuse to pay that extra small fee to have it remove. Its best to remove it before you grow your own fungus underneath all that old moisture trapped between your nails. In my opinion, I think its a good idea to get a new set of nails every month. Or it depends on how fast your nails grow. But either pay that small fee, or that thousand dollar trip to the doctor just to treat for nail fungus for years. Its your choice.

I don't want my nails cut down!

A lot of clients hate to have their natural nails cut down once it is removed from having an overlay. I don't want to hear, it took me a long time to grow them this long, cuz if you had an overlay, its going to have to be taken off to prevent fungus infection. Hate to say it, but the natural nails will become very thin and brittle like paper once its taken off. So you'll have to wait for months to have your natural nails to grow back.

Why can't I take these gel off?!

Gel nails are much more natural looking. They are lighter in weight on the nails and are a lot more stronger than acrylic nails. They will not turn yellow on your hands and can last as long as 3 to 4 weeks without a fill-in. Yes, they are the special kind of gel we put on and having to stick your hand in this u.v light to bake it. Sadly, they do need to be taken off completely at some point, but not by soaking off with acetone, since its so strong, it can only be taken off by filing and drilling of our equipment.

Are you going to trimmed my cuticles first?

No! That's the worse case that can happen. Why? I'll tell you why, before we can apply acrylic or gel on to your nails, we gotta use this chemical called a primer or bondex. Thats basically acid and stinks like hell. Its the only way for the acrylic or gel to stick on the nails better. That probably explains why some clients end up in the emergency room for demanding to have their cuticles trimmed first before the service. And yes trimming the cuticle may cost extra depending on your attitude and how much cuticles needs to be done.

Can I get a discount?

Sorry, but you have to take it up with the boss. But if you are a regular client with a really positive attitude, you might just earn it. There are a few places that are willing to give you discounts.Just ask away.

Conclusion

In the end, I hope that you will enjoy your nail service. If not, speak up! I know that some clients don't want to be rude or say anything, if they had received a horrible job done.

Before you leave a nail salon, remember to tip your nail technicians. Most of us are paid by only a small amount of commission or have to pay booth rent every week. So anything would be nice!