Pedicure

Today after work, I booked an appointment at a nails & spa place on Robson Street. I had been given a gift certificate to this place for a pedicure and the certificate was going to expire next week. I figured today was a good day because tomorrow I was heading out to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family. After work, I am tired and I like to go straight home but tonight I had an appointment. I figured it would be a nice place and it would be quite relaxing getting my feet done. As I arrived at the spa, I heard a bunch of girls giggling and chatting away. O.M.G. this place was an open spa with tables and their foot spa (pedicure equipment) was against a wall in the open. No separate rooms with doors, no walls and def. no relaxation. The girls that worked in the spa were very chatty and spoke in their languages to each other while working on their customers. The girls had very poor english, they spoke english with a thick accent, and the girl that was working on my feet kept trying to convince me to get a manicure done. After 10 minutes of pushing me and bargaining the price down, we agreed on a manicure for $20.00 (I still found that a little expensive since I could do it at home for a fraction of this) but I thought well I hardly ever go to these spas and it would be nice to have it done for dinner. She asked me what colour I wanted my nails to be painted (it's included with the manicure) and I told her a light pink or nude would do. I had choose a bright red for my toenails because of Chinese New Year (Red is a lucky colour). While she was trimming and filing my nails, another girl with a thick ascent tried to get me to wax or thread my eyebrows. She told me it was $15.00 for the eyes and upper lip and I told her I could get it at another place for $7.00, she enticed me again with a lower price, saying she will do it for $10.00 and I thought about it and agreed because my eyebrows were due for a trim. The same girl (threading my eyebrows) tried to get me to book a facial for tonight! Tonight!!! I was like NO, I have no time and I would not give you $120.00 for a facial. For that price, I could get a really nice and relaxing spa experience at The Spa at The Century!! In the end, I did end up breaking down and letting the girls do my nails and my eyebrows. While the one girl was threading my eyebrows / upper lip, the girl giving me a manicure asked me if I wanted to do the white on my nails. I was like a french manicure? And she said yes. But she did not tell me it was going to cost me an extra $7.00!! Nail colour is suppose to be included but a french manicure is extra. SHE DID NOT TELL ME THAT. I WOULD HAVE SAID NO. As the girl was finishing off my manicure / pedicure, the girl threading my eyebrows kept telling me to do a facial because I really really needed it. I said no, I have no time, I said no tomorrow is NOT A GOOD DAY. I guess she couldn't convince me or she figured I didn't understand her so she asked another girl (who spoke better english) to speak to me about my skin. I was like W.T.F? I understood the other girl, I am SAYING NOOOOO!! Ugh.... not a good visit. When they finally finished with me, the pedicure/manicure was like an hour and forty minutes long! I did not think it would take that long or else I would have booked it for the weekend. Really, I didn't expect it to be longer than 40 minutes. As I went up to the counter to pay, the invoice came up like this: $20.00 for the manicure, $7.00 for the french manicure, $20.00 threading (apparently, I misunderstood, $10.00 per area) and my pedicure on the house due to my gift certificate. I only had $50.00 in cash on me because I didn't think this was going to cost me anything! The total came to just under $50.00 which meant I couldn't leave them a tip. The two girls were hounding around me and watched as I took the cash out of my wallet. One of the girls realized I could not leave them a tip so she suggested Debiting the invoice. I was like nooo, this is all the cash I have and that's it. I'm paying off my bill with the cash I have in my wallet. I wasn't even thinking about leaving them a tip because I figured I was overcharged for the services I came in for. I also realized they could take a tip out of the cash I paid my bill with. Throughout my visit, every service was bargained to a suitable price. The set price is not necessarily the correct price. I noticed they also did not use a computer or a book to log in my services and prices. I figured they will probably take the tip out of the cash I paid. I am NEVER GOING BACK THERE AGAIN.... just writing about it stresses me out!
PS. I realized when I left the girl cut my skin!! And I bleed! OMG, that was not a good manicure! And she wanted a tip? I think NOT.