tales from the pedicure chair

when i was getting my toesies pampered and polished the other day, i had the pleasure of hearing someone complain about their service. they had gotten the bella pedicure which costs 12 dollars more than the standard, no-frills pedicure, and didn't like the job their nail tech did. (let me say, pedicures are my ultimate self-indulgence, and i've had my share of lousy pedicures, so i understand that) she said the tech didn't properly slough her feet, use the mango exfoliator, massage her feet or legs, and just left her there for 5 minutes while her callus remover softened her feet (in the tech's defense, you have to leave it on for 5 minutes to give it time to work).

first she was complaining to the tech (after the pedicure), and said she wouldn't give her a tip. the tech apologized and offered to talk to the manager to see if she could waive the cost of the pedicure. the girl said that she wanted to talk to the manager herself. so the tech got the manager - whose first language was not english - and the girl who was complaining suddenly started talking much louder and more slowly. i was sort of amused by this process at first because the girl's mother had talked to the manager during the fabled lousy pedicure, and the manager had already agreed to waive the cost. so the manager came up, apologized and offered to waive the cost of the pedicure. the girl said, "i want to speak to the owner." the manager said that the owner does not live in the country, and couldn't be reached by telephone at this time, but that she was happy to accomodate her in order to keep her business.

the girl looked at her and said, "i don't know if you've ever heard of something called a marketing degree, but it's where you do a good job the first time so that your customers don't ever have to be unhappy because then your customers will go out and do what's called bad marketing and tell everyone they've ever met not to come and get pedicures here."

hmmm... i had thought a marketing degree is where you receive formal education from an institution to learn how to reach a potential client base and convince them to be consumers of your product.

and then i thought, well, i don't have a marketing degree and i think you're not the highest wattage bulb i ever done met.

the moral of this story is: if you're going to be all condescending and rude, be sure you know what you're talking about.