Yesterday I was let go from the salon I've worked at for a year. The story goes like this:
For a while now, I had been feeling like the experience of working at this brand new, very nice salon wasn't all it was cracked up to be. In the last 6 months it had changed quite a bit, which I guess is to be expected with a new place. They're figuring out how to run it and what's best for them. But as time went on I kept feeling like it just wasn't the place for me. I kept quiet about it though and just toughed it out thinking maybe it would get better and also out of fear that trying to find a new place to work wouldn't be any better than just sticking it out there. After a year of woking for practically nothing, sitting there waiting for walk-ins that never came for
free, I might add. It was commission only, which means I was only paid when I had a client--not often enough! I was just fed up and needed to move on. Not to mention all the transforming of the salon into a
Bumble and Bumble retailer, a high end and expensive hair care line, made me feel like a used car salesman! And to be honest, I don't care if you use BB., Purology or Paul Mitchell hair products as long as you're taking care of it! I definitely do not care about selling
"Bumble culture" which became an all too familiar saying around the salon lately by the co-owner boy who doesn't even do hair!
Anyways, so all of that had been building up and I casually starting looking for a new place to hopefully rent a station so I could take more of a profit home.
I should also back track a little and throw in this side note: In March a new booth renter, Sonja, started at the salon and we hit it off right off the bat. She was probably one of my favorite people there even though she'd only been there a few weeks, just because I felt like she was one of the more genuine girls. But after her "30 day trial period" was up, which by they way doesn't really make sense because she was paying to be there and also under contract...so why did she have to do a trial? I didn't get it but whatever. Turns out it was just because they didn't like her very much and went looking for reasons to get rid of her, like she wore jeans on a day she wasn't supposed to... remind me who cares about jeans? oh yeah, no one!? But who's going to argue with you when your daddy owns half of Provo? So anyways, she got fired, under very fishy and unprofessional circumstances.
Then, a few days later Sonja called me telling me she had a brilliant idea to open her own small, booth rent only salon! So, great! I wanted in! Because I liked her style and attitude about being a employer. She sees it how I see it: If you're paying to be there, shouldn't you be able to feel like your kind of in charge of yourself? We think so.
So I started helping her out. Getting details set like how much rent would be, how it would be run, what kind of people we would ideally like to work with. It was all sounding so perfect! So next, we just had to find people to hire. I helped her post an ad on craigslist. About a week later, I got a lengthy e-mail from a girl wanting to know more about the salon. I had put in the ad to call Sonja for me details but since I had posted the ad it was linked to my e-mail address, so i figured why not just answer her questions and let her know to call Sonja for more info? So I did, I told her a little bit about the place and us and the kind of work environment we wanted to have. I got an e-mail back with even more lengthy questions and started to kind of wonder, ok who the heck is this girl and why is she so concerned with random things like how big my and Sonja's clienteles are? Who cares?
As it turns out, this mystery girl was by boss at Salon K! She was creeping around getting this info on us all sneaky like! Awesomely professional of them, don't you think? So when I showed up to work on Wednesday they came out and met me at the door and asked me if I was helping Sonja open a new salon. I was so stunned that I didn't know what to say and I settled with denying it. I just figured what business was it of their's who I was working with after I quit there? I had already put in my two weeks notice and was going to be done in 3 days! I hadn't mentioned anything about working at another salon because A. I didn't want them knowing my business and B. I knew they would do something exactly like what they did next being the control-freak, drama queens that they are. And I just wanted to leave in peace!
NOT BLOODY LIKELYSo after I denied it, she just said "Ok, well we're just going to have you be done. We found your replacement." I asked what about my clients that I had booked the rest of the week and her reply was "We have it covered." There's another key thing they don't understand, my clients come to me for ME. So she handed me my last check and I went in to get all my stuff, luckily they had set a pile of boxes on my station for me! Thanks? I guess. Need I say it again? Ok, I will...DRAMA QUEENS.
So that was it. I said farewell to the place I waisted a year of my professional life at. In retrospect, part of me wishes I had just owned it and told them where to stick it...but that probably wouldn't have helped either. (
Sonja gave me some good advise: You just have to laugh and feel sorry for them.
It's true. And I do. Because they will never know how ridiculous they are. I do feel sorry for people who are selfish, ignorant and will never know the difference. Is it really such a mystery why I chose to work with her over them?
All things considered, it was a great learning experience for me as a new stylist. I learned what's important to me about my career:
A. Taking care of my clients
B. Being drama free, I tried so hard to stay away from it all, and it still caught up with me!
C. Working with people I have both professional and personal respect for..."Respect....iiiissss niiice." -Michael Scott
I also learned what is NOT important to me:
A. Being a salesman...I didn't go to hair school so I could be pushy about product sales, I did it to help people be the best them and be happy with their appearance.
And lastly I learned the kind of professional I want to be: Not someone who's selfishly only looking out for number 1. I want to be helpful, respectful, and courteous.
Lucky for me after this bad day I still had a wonderful husband to take me to get a
Tiger's Blood & Cream Snowy to make me feel better... (
