Nail Spa Makes Amends After Refusing To Serve Overweight Customer
Curvy women across the Carolinas are up in arms this week after a local nail salon turned away a customer and refused her service because of her weight.
The Nail Spa, a small, locally owned salon in Conway, South Carolina, recently received a lot of bad publicity after refusing to provide services to Amanda Wolfenbarger, placing blame on her weight.
According to Wolfenbarger and a variety of local patrons on the salon’s Facebook page, the store has a sign up in their facility that reads, “We are not accepting any person over 250 lb for pedicure service, sorry!”
Wolfenbarger admitted she was not aware of the sign when she entered the establishment or before she was seated in the pedicure area by an employee.
After she started to soak her feet, Amanda was approached by an employee who asked her very directly about her weight. Following her answer, the employee directed her to the sign hanging in the establishment refusing service to larger clients. Wolfenbarger left the establishment shortly after.
Wolfenberger opened up to WMBF News about how embarrassing the incident was for her.
“It was embarrassing, you get that little knot in your stomach and your heart drops a little bit.”
The salon owner, Tina Bui, did reach out to her and attempt to make amends. Bui apologized for the way the information was presented and explained the pedicure chairs will only hold up to a certain amount of weight safely. She proceeded to explain that the purpose of the policy was to keep their customers safe, not to discriminate against them.
While the apology and the explanation may have taken a bit of the sting out the situation for Amanda, a visit to the business’ Facebook page suggests this was not an isolated incident.
A quick scroll through the reviews left by local customers reveals numerous accounts of rude employees, body shaming, and customers being denied service for any number of reasons.
Nail Salon Apologizes for Refusing Woman Weighing Over 250 Lbs https://t.co/YbAviuD4Tn
— This Is The Conversation Project (@th_conversation) September 9, 2018
Amanda Chevalier writes, “Turned away a customer because they were bigger, have a sign stating they will not service individuals 250lbs or more, turned away a customer with psoriasis, very unprofessional.”
Another former customer, Rachel Lopez, also chimed in.
“Discriminatory, rude & unprofessional. Apparently several ‘nail technicians’ body shame & are very uneducated & insensitive about skin conditions such as psoriasis & eczema. They will also refuse you service based on your body weight and if you bring your children.”
There are several other reviews on the business’ Facebook page of similar nature suggesting the establishment’s “business policy” of not providing pedicure services to heavier customers is less of a “safety practice” and more of a “discrimination issue.”
https://twitter.com/CaseyWatsonNews/status/1037118297198735367
Some customers who took the time to review the salon even clarified other salons with similar equipment and setups that did not have this type of weight limit policy in place.
While Wolfenbarger and Tina did make amends for the incident in the parking lot, Amanda told WMBF News she wasn’t ready to go back into the salon just yet.
