Hello Quinn... This seems like a situation where owner attitude is causing the problem, not the specific situations themselves. For example... I work in a salon of renters. There are 3 nail techs (the other 2 are the salon owners), a stylist, and an esthetician. We all clean, pay for our own advertising (or an agreed share of when we do it as a salon), split shop supplies like paper towels and TP 5 ways, and generally do our best to keep the salon like it belongs to all of us. My rent includes the shop phone line and all utilities, what we split is what we would need to pay for anyway if it was us alone in our own little salon. When the salon gets a little messy, we kind of all get on each other while also picking up the slack. We try to help each other out when we can in an effort to keep things cool... if it was our own little salon we would have to do some cleaning, right? We make it clear to our clients that we are all independant. We try not to move people between techs, explaining to them that we budget our hours and expenses to be there. That being said, we cover each other when we need to, and if someone wants to change over to another tech or has any other customer service issue, we try our best to communicate with each other to keep the client in the salon. This is tough to do sometimes, but we all feel that what we have at the salon is worth being uncomfortable every once in awhile. It works out good for everyone. It wasn't always like this. I had been gone for 2 years, and when I came back, the salon was in turmoil. Infighting and miscommunication were common, the salon was a disaster, and it was beginning to show in our work and in the perception of some of our clients. I decided to start leading by example. I didn't HAVE to, but if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. Instead of yelling at the busy stylist for leaving color bowls in the dispensary sink, I washed them at the end of the day and put them in her room. I emptied all the garbages, straightened the waiting area, and swept. The next day, as I was cleaning out the fridge (yuck), I stopped by to ask the stylist if I had washed the color bowls alright. She said absolutely, smiled and said thank you. An hour later, she restocked the client soda fridge while her client was processing. With the salon looking pretty dapper, one of the owners went and cleaned the bathroom... and it has all just rolled from there. We work at it every day (we discussed getting a cleaning service, but we are all too cheap! LOL). As far as legality goes... you pay your rent and collect your own money. It operates as though all renters have their own mini salon. Everyone has their own book... if you want to copy things to a salon book you can, but your book is your sales record so everyone should have their own. If you pay rent, purchase your own supplies, and handle your own money you are a booth renter by IRS standards. As a booth renter, you are not subject to any "rules" unless they are in writing via a contract. Think of it like an apartment rental agreement at your home... they can ask you anything, and if you agree to it and sign it is legal. Without that, they wouldn't be able to enforce things like "quiet hours"! But your apartment is yours... they can't just come in whenever they want. (We don't have contracts in my salon, and it all works. Not all places are that lucky.) Anyone who has ever given you a dime is your client, and the owner has no legal claim to them... they have paid you, you paid her. Your clients are free to contact you however you see fit. End of discussion. There are people on the list here who have good rental contracts... maybe we can get a couple of those emailed to you for you to take to her. It will be tough to talk to her, but in the interest of customer service so EVERYONE is successful, it has to be addressed or nobody will end up rich and happy... (like we're all rolling in dough... ) She can book new clients with whomever she wants, but once they come in they cease to be "hers" and become "yours"... you paid for your advertising. As a former salon owner, I can tell you that it is tough to give up some control by having renters, but having "employees" comes with it's own host of issues!!! Best wishes, and GOOD LUCK!!!
Michelle Cordes, LNT The Nail Spa @ Steel Magnolias Salon "The spa for your hands and feet since 1997" Bremerton, Washington www.myspace.com/thenailspa --- On Wed, 5/6/09, Couture Nail Boutique <[email protected]> wrote: From: Couture Nail Boutique <[email protected]> Subject: NailTech:: Questions for everyone AND Diana B & Karen H To: "NailTech" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 9:24 PM This is posted for another tech that goes by the name of Quinn on the msg brds. ***I did not write this info but am posting it for the author*** So I will not include my signiture at the bottom. I have a question and I am interested in answers from everyone but am particularly interested in receiving a response from Diana Bonn and Karen Hodges. (a friend suggested them as a good source) Let me give you a little bit of background: ~I am a booth renter. I also contribute extra when the shop advertises. (advertises only occasionally) ~there was no contract signed nor any verbal agreement in regards to these issues listed below, when I began booth renting. ~The owner does take bookings through a shop phone number and delegates any new clients how she feels. In a recent meeting the owner stated that "all" of the clients serviced at this shop are "shop clients" and not our own individual clients. I have had referrals "stolen" by other nail techs because the referral called the shop number vs. my cell phone number. I have had messages left by my clients that have never made it to me for whatever reason. I try and get my clients to use my cell vs. the shop phone number but this is making the shop owner angry. She has stated that all clients must use the shop line. She has told us she is overwhelmed by all that it takes to run the shop and keep up with her clients so she has asked us to take on a job like dusting, cleaning the bathroom etc. so things will be a little easier for her to manage. I do not mind doing this, because i consider her a friend, but i feel like she is not recognizing that we are not salaried employees. Again, i do not mind helping her because the tasks that she is asking for help with really are minimal time wise. But if I didnt feel this way and decided to take a stand that I am not "an employee", i would be the bad guy. We just had a recent situation where I went out of town and tried to book a client that I service with a specific nail tech in the shop (not the owner). This client does not like the way the owner does her nails and was very clear that she wanted a specific nail tech to do her nails. Because she is a regular client of mine, i offered to call the shop and reschedule her with this other nail tech while I was out of town. The owner booked the appointment and let me hang up the phone thinking i booked with someone else but she put it in her spot. To make a long story short, it ended up causing some drama the actual day of the appointment and when i discussed this with the shop owner as to what happened with the appointment and how did she end up in her book, she got angry (probably because she was caught in a lie) and hung up on me. When we did talk again about it (a week later) she said it is her salon and her appointment book and that is the way it is gonna be. She could rebook my client with whom ever she wanted. I again pointed out to her that i kind of felt she was being deceptive because she let me hang up the orignal call thinking i had booked my client with this other nail tech. She basically said that was too bad and kept asking what the problem was and i finally had to tell her that my client didnt want her to do her nails and my client had a right to request any other nail tech that she wanted. *there obviously is more to these stories, I just gave you a quick synopsis. It is so frustrating at times to deal with this stuff. I just want to go to work, have fun, do my job and go home with no stresses. It seems like the drama and immaturity is making this place unenjoyable. Is there a place or website that specifically outlines the rules for booth rent vs. employment. If i do decide to bring these issues up with her the only way i will have any foot to stand on, is by giving her these rules from an independent source other than myself. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and respond. from "Quinn" --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/NailTech?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
