In the latest episode of LCOTD, Shanalie, Daniel, Skya, and Jozlyn share their funniest and most memorable moments from working in the beauty industry. From unexpected client requests to behind-the-scenes mishaps, this episode is packed with laughs and personal stories that highlight the ups and downs of their journey in beauty. Tune in for an entertaining conversation!
Jozlyn Miller: And I just remember seeing the police officer body slam this guy up against our manicure tables, The stuff is flipping around. They were flipping tables up and down. And I just remember I had clients getting pedicures, just watching the whole thing go down. And I'm thinking in the back of my head, this is the worst day possible for me to be a manager.
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Shanalie Wijesinghe: Welcome to Last Client of The Day. My name's Shanali.
Jozlyn Miller: My name is Jocelyn.
Skya Jones: I'm Skya.
Daniel Landroche: And I'm Daniel.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: We're back with another fun, Am I the a–hole? All right, let's get into it. So this one is a fun one cause I think I would get a little upset at this. So I can't wait to hear what you guys think. A few days ago, I, female, age 24, hosted a sleepover with two of my friends, both also 24. At the end of the night while we were taking off our makeup, I told them they could use any of the skincare products in my bathroom. I'm really into skincare and have a variety of products ranging from drugstore to high end. (She's a skincare girly.) Few moments later, one of my friends, Jane, told me she accidentally dropped and broke one of my skincare products. It was the SK II Pitera Essence, which retails at about $134. The bottle is made of glass, so it's quite fragile. It was about 80 percent full and I had just bought it a couple of weeks earlier.
She apologized and said she was feeling really bad about it. I told her it was fine, but when I mentioned the cost, she was shocked. I then asked if it would be possible for her to pay me back—not the full price, but at least part of it. She seemed uncomfortable and said she didn't think she should have to pay since it was an accident and I had offered for her to use the products in the first place. Since then, it's been awkward between us and we haven't spoken. Our other friend who was there isn't taking sides and is staying neutral about the whole situation. Am I the a–hole for asking her to cover the cost of the broken product?
Skya Jones: No. I feel like most normal people would just be like, ‘let me Venmo you, I feel so bad.’ And you might be like, ‘Oh no, it's fine. I got it. Like, don't worry about it.’ But you at least offer. I would.
Jozlyn Miller: I would too.
Daniel Landroche: I don't know. I feel like she's being the a–hole. She did offer and it was an accident.
Skya Jones: Yeah, you can't be mad if she is like, ‘hey, I can't pay it.’
Jozlyn Miller: Yeah. I don't know. I think you definitely should do halfsies on it. That makes sense. I was an accident. Nobody's at fault. Just go and be a nice friend so I can get my $100-what? $150?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: $134.
Jozlyn Miller: Same with taxes, right? $150 product. Yeah. This reminds me so much of that episode of Sex with the City where somebody stole Carrie's shoes, her Manolos from a party and she's like, ‘you gotta pay me half.’ It's literally the same thing.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Hilarious. Yeah. No, it's rough. So, I can understand you broke something, replace it. So I think she's probably more shocked at the gut reaction to not pay versus like, ‘oh let me offer to give you something for it,’ right? I think it is like a very normal reaction as Skya said. But to Daniel's point, the way I look at it is if I lend someone something and it gets ruined, I made the decision to let them borrow it. Just like if I let someone borrow money, let's say someone asked me for $1,000, I'm only going to give them $1,000 that I know that I can if they never paid me back, I'm gonna be okay. I'm not gonna give them money that's gonna break the bank for me. So I feel like they’re both being a—holes to be honest.
Skya Jones: But it's also like, what if she was just in the bathroom and she knocked it off on accident? It's kind of the same thing. I feel like most people would be like, ‘let me at least pay you back in pieces’ even if you can't afford it all at once.
Jozlyn Miller: I'm okay with payments, like if you do $100 a month, right?
Skya Jones: A zero percent payment plan.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, so, if somebody offered. So,if it was me, that was my product, I would expect my friend to be like, ‘let me pay to replace it,’ and then I would be like, ‘no, don't worry about it’.
Skya Jones: Exactly.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: I think that's the exchange that I would want [in order] to at least feel better emotionally about losing my stuff.
Skya Jones: In the end, it's replaceable. No one got hurt.
Daniel Landroche: Maybe she should have just cleaned it up and threw it away and pretend that it didn't happen.
Skya Jones: Hid it?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Maybe she should have tried to get the liquid back in the bottle.
Skya Jones: Glue back together. Or, faked a crime scene like, ‘It was here when I got here.’
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, she's like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa!’
Daniel Landroche: The window's broken.
Skya Jones: A bird flew in and actually…
Shanalie Wijesinghe: You're never gonna believe what happened, but...
Skya Jones: So, let's keep it fun and tell horror stories.
Jozlyn Miller: This is my favorite part of the day.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, mine too. I feel like this is like therapy for us.
Skya Jones: Yeah, it's us unpacking our traumas. This is one of my favorite stories.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Please. I love it too.
Skya Jones: When I was managing a medspa, we had a client come in who paid with financing. When you pay with financing, you usually have to give a copy of your ID with it. You take a picture and the front desk uploads it. So he comes in and he has no budget, which does happen occasionally. People come in, they have money, and they want to spend it. So it's not anything shocking.
He gets a service and he looks really good. He gets the full workup done; he looks amazing. He leaves, and we get a call from the financing company saying, ‘hey, this ID that you uploaded was a fake ID and this is someone's identity that got stolen. And this person's been using the victim's social security, running up credit lines, we're gonna take that money away.’ So we're going back and forth, like, well, we're out of the product. We just gave like thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of treatment to this person so we can't afford to give a refund. But we don't want the client or the victim to have to pay for it or have it on their credit. So we work out a deal with the financing company. Everything's taken care of. But they're like, do you have any other photos of the guy? All we have is the ID that you uploaded. The person that came in using the fake social security number didn't think through that when you get medspa treatments, you take before and after pictures from every single angle. And so we literally had 15 pictures of this guy
Jozlyn Miller: Like mug shots.
Skya Jones: Yeah. So we had basically a three dimensional mugshot of this man and they were like, if he comes back in for another appointment, let us know we'll have the police come and arrest him for identity fraud.
So he had a follow up scheduled. He no-call, no-showed, which was expected from that type of character. That's the type of behavior we would expect, but the police actually were in the treatment room waiting for him on the day of his scheduled follow up. He didn't show up. We're like, whatever, and didn't really think anything of it. We just thought it was kind of behind us. So then they're like, well, if you print out a picture and anyone happens to know anything or recognize him, know his real name, anything like that. So they posted a picture. I can't remember if it was on our local news and then we had a photo in our office and was like, ‘Hey, if you recognize this guy, let us know.’
Jozlyn Miller: It's got a BOLO.
Skya Jones: Yeah. Kind of like a BOLO.
Jozlyn Miller: Be on the lookout.
Skya Jones: One of our clients comes in like, I literally just went on a date [with him]. I met that guy on Grinder. And so we're like, wait, you have to tell us. So she pulls up his Grinder profile showing us. It's a different name. So we're like, maybe that's his real name. We get all this information. We get the Grinder screenshots. They're sent to the police department and it literally comes back to a guy that's stolen eight identities. He's wanted in Oregon, wanted in Washington, and all of these different states And so they put some cross the nation. ‘Hey, watch out for this guy.’ He tried to buy an RV to live in and that's how he got caught. But we always were like, dang. Grindr and before and after pictures really got this man caught. He f*ed up.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Not him trying to steal a new face.
Skya Jones: He stole a new face. He was trying to steal an RV to live in.
Jozlyn Miller: He's like, maybe this will help me get away with it.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: New face, new place.
Skya Jones: And if you steal an identity don't let them take before and after pictures of you from every angle and be like, oh, yeah you can use them on your website. I look great. I love it.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: It's crazy how delusional folks can be, right? Oh my gosh.
Skya Jones: I mean, he went to jail looking good though.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Fresh face.
Skya Jones: He was fresh.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Hilarious.
Jozlyn Miller: So mine, I'm gonna set the scene first because I feel like you need visuals. So, this when I was managing a spa…and setting the scene: the lobby, front desk, I'm looking at the lobby and then across from that is the salon where you do the hair, manicure, pedicure, right?
So, we had somewhat of a similar situation where there was credit card fraud. It was at a resort, and I just remember our loss prevention's calling down saying, ‘Hey, there's someone that's at your spa, can you move them to the salon area or secluded area because we need to come down, they have to be arrested.’
And I'm like, this is a Saturday, we have over 350 appointments, what do you mean you're about to come down here and arrest people?
Skya Jones: This is going to ruin my entire day.
Jozlyn Miller: This is going to mess up everything. So, they get down there. There was a male and a female and I think it was his wife in there getting a manicure. Police come in there, they handcuffed them and asked both of them if they have anything in their pockets because they were going to start searching them. Of course, everyone said no, but when the police stuck his hand in the guy's pocket, he got stuck by something that was sticking him. Um, I don't want to, I don't know if we can say it. Can we say needle? Something sharp?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: I think it might have been a needle that stuck the police officer.
Jozlyn Miller: Can I say needle? So yes, he got stuck by a needle.
Skya Jones: That's terrifying.
Jozlyn Miller: Right, I mean, I would be upset also. This made the police officer extremely upset. And I just remember seeing the police officer body slam this guy up against our manicure tables. The stuff is flipping around or flipping tables up and down. And I just remember I had clients getting pedicures, just watching the whole thing go down. And I'm thinking in the back of my head, this is the worst day possible for me to be a manager.
And I can't believe I have to like comp probably like 10 different services because of this. They fought the entire way out of the resort. Trying to get away from the cops and it didn't happen. And I don't know what happened to them after that. I had to stay extra that day.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Insane craziness. Did you ever get a follow up from the cops on what happened or anything?
Jozlyn Miller: No, I didn't even want one. I just wanted to be done.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: You're like, get out.
Jozlyn Miller: Just like, I'm over this. You disgust me.
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Shanalie Wijesinghe: What are our client horror stories?
Daniel Landroche: I don't know, I'm sure you dealt with I mean, their staff horror stories. What was that one, that one receptionist? That stole….
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Oh my god, can we even talk about that? We once had a receptionist and, you know, it was funny because Daniel and I were like, ‘this guy is so good at his job’.
This guy is doing such an excellent job. He's so lovely with the clients and very stylish, and so lovely to us. And at that time, we were always super stressed out, you know, retaining folks at the front desk is really rough.
Not a lot of folks want to be up there forever. I understand it's a stepping-stone position for some folks. Yeah, there is high turnover, but you also can't be mad at people for wanting bigger and better. That's one of the starting positions in a salon. So I get it. It makes sense.
So when this person was super committed to the desk and their role with the register, we were like, okay, you got this. We'll handle everything else. I mean, you know, a couple other people [are] at the desk and they're all right. And, the register role and checking people out where sometimes really high volume gets crazy. People get mad standing in a line, they don't want to be there for too long. So some of the other receptionists would have gladly manned the phones and done the check-in process versus doing check-out because it's just more high energy. So when he was owning this or great, this is like,’ look at us Daniel, we're like we're doing it.’ Turns out, homeboy stole $30, 000 from us.
Jozlyn Miller: The register?
Shanalie Wijesinghe:..from tips, whatever
Skya Jones: He was just sliding…
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yes, and here's the worst and honestly stupidest part: there were cameras everywhere, picking up on this. So, we were in some transitions between different protocols and processes. So he caught us in this funny moment where we were feeling some growing pains. So we weren't tracking things as closely. We were making some changes to technology and different things, where we were just cleaning up some processes. So yeah, he caught us when we were down, we were in a weak moment.
Skya Jones: So how did you guys catch it finally?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Literally on camera.
Skya Jones: Randomly you guys saw it?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Well, I think we had been suspicious and if anyone's dealt with any kind of theft, any of our listeners, you know, it's not as simple as, ‘you did it,’ right? You have to really pay attention. You have to try and catch this person. You need hard evidence. You cannot just make those assumptions. It could be very detrimental to your company. You can open yourself up to litigation There's a lot of things that can happen. And so we had to be very precise in doing this and luckily we did catch him on camera. We were able to keep it very open. We saw everything in that space because we needed that hard evidence essentially to really prove that he was doing this.
And so we got him. We were very worried about our busy day. We used to do like 100 to 150 clients in a day. And, we weren't as big as some of the places you were at, Joss, but you know, we would get 150 people in there and be packed in tight.
So to see even one, anything about a police officer, it would be like, everyone's looking. So we ended up getting him into the back like, ‘Oh, we got to talk to you in the back.’ And literally they took him away in handcuffs. So, yeah, unfortunately I know it went to court and there was like a whole to-do.
And the funny thing is, that was not the only person who was stealing from us.
Skya Jones: I've had it with renters, too. If you have renters in your space, and then you have your products or your other things laying out, you know, you just get comfortable.
Jozlyn Miller: Because they're using it for, like, their own business probably. Like, they're taking it for themselves.
Skya Jones: I've had renters, full on, [when] we're all gone for the day, they just open up and fill their bag up, and you don't know because you don't usually look at security footage unless you have a very strong suspicion. And so if one or two things go missing, when I was doing inventory, if there was a margin I was comfortable with, I'm not gonna look into it until it gets out of hand and then I'm gonna be like, ‘okay, let's, like, figure out where this is going.’
Jozlyn Miller: Like, more than five or something like that.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, it has to be aggressive. Like, one or two off can be human error, so that's where people really come for you.
Skya Jones: Forgot to ring one up or the front desk didn't put it on the ticket…
Shanalie Wijesinghe:…or you simply miscounted.
Skya Jones: Right. But when you're like, okay, I have 20 missing that's when you're like, this is concerning.
Jozlyn Miller: Yeah, so wait, how did you find out there was $30K missing? Did you guys literally go back and look at all the tapes?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: It was rough calculations based on what we thought were in tip envelopes, what we had in like money bags and things like that. So we were, it was safe to say just based on the money we witnessed in the video and then you just multiply that over the days that he worked for us. I think minimum is what we were looking at then. And not to mention, you'll know what I mean when I say this, it was during the holidays, so you know what those tips were like. So it was really disheartening.
Skya Jones: That's taking away from his team.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: I know. He doesn't care about a team, girl. Come on.
Jozlyn Miller: He doesn't care about you.
Skya Jones: It's like you're taking that directly from someone who provided a service. That's really f*ed up. It really is.
Daniel Landroche: And assistants, too. It wasn't just people who are making a ton of money and you're, like, skimming off the top of theirs. And I think that's how some of the questions came about, right? Because people were like, ‘Hey, I'm pretty sure this person would have left me a tip.’ And he's like, ‘no, they didn't. They just left.’
Skya Jones: They actually tipped me.
Daniel Landroche: And we should have known because he was coming in every week with a new designer bag and Ferragamo shoes and, you're making $18 an hour. You cannot afford this.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, it was, it was very messy. And I just remember some people being like, Hey, stuff must be fake because there's no way. And I was like, no girl, it's legit.
They're legit bought with your money. You bought it.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah. We actually bought it. Yeah, I bought it, right? We split the bill on that one.
Skya Jones: Have you guys ever had someone try to pay you with fake money? I had somebody tip me $500 in counterfeit and it was the biggest tip I ever got and I was 21 and I was like, this is life changing. I'm going to be able to invest this! And then I show my coworkers. I did so good. She must've been so happy with her treatment. They're like, have you looked at it? Have you used a counterfeit pen on it?
Jozlyn Miller: Could you tell by just looking at it?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: It was Monopoly money.
Jozlyn Miller: What was the picture? Who was on the front?
Daniel Landroche: It's a different color.
Skya Jones: I don't know, she said it was a new kind of money.
Jozlyn Miller: No! Stop!
Skya Jones: So, did you ever have the pens? Yeah. So I did that. Of course. I might have spent some of it.
Jozlyn Miller: You spent some?
Skya Jones: Well, I didn't know.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: She didn't know. She didn't know, everyone. She's not a scammer.
Skya Jones: I'm not a scammer.
Jozlyn Miller: Where'd you use it? Where'd you use it? No, I'm just kidding.
Skya Jones: I actually went and got us all coffee with it. And I was like I'm gonna get everybody coffee.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Oh hilarious.
Skya Jones: I was so excited I literally thought that my life was changed. I'm gonna be able to save money now
Jozlyn Miller: Did they ever come back?
Skya Jones: No.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: You found fake money? Do you remember that? We've had so many crazy stuff happen you're like, ‘oh, that's all.’ So I remember one time you came in…So Daniel, you know, ran the finances and so he would come and make sure the ATMs were full and then we had money for all the cash. Do do the cash sweep essentially. I remember one day. He came in all hot like, you're not gonna believe this but we had some big bills that were fake!
Skya Jones: Could you tell from the marker?
Daniel Landroche: No, I took it to the bank to deposit.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: And they were like, sir, absolutely not.
Skya Jones: Well, especially if it's in with real money, you're not gonna go through and look at every bill.
Daniel Landroche: Oh, yeah. When you're dealing with hundreds and hundreds of bills.
Skya Jones: Yeah. You're gonna be like, here's my bank deposit.
Daniel Landroche: Here's it all. Yeah.
Skya Jones: You're like, check it again. That can't be right.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Hilarious.
Skya Jones: Or pay with people paying with bad checks.
Daniel Landroche: Or not paying at all.
Jozlyn Miller: Or just walking out.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Oh my god, that just reminded me, I have a walking out story. Do you remember this one? We had somebody get, they did the works.They got, cut, color, treatment, they're going crazy.
And, she was just like a regular woman. She was so sweet. She was engaging with everyone. How can you really point out someone who's going to steal? Let's be real. You can't. And so she had like her purse and all her belongings with her and stuff like that.
And she comes to pay and like, I think I was at the register and I was with somebody else up there and I was helping out. We were busy and things like that. And so she was like, ‘Oh my goodness, like I forgot the card I want to use like in my car. I'm going to go get it.’ So it was her bag and her wallet and everything. And she goes to the car and now we're just busy. Things are going on. And, people did that all the time. We had people that were like, ‘Oh my God, I forgot all my wallet. I'm going to call you from home.’ If they were like loyal clients, we're like, yeah, you know, call us. We're good. It's fine. You're good. Right? She never came back. And then we're like, wait, like what's going on? She left her stuff. We look at the stuff, it's like the jankiest stuff, first of all, and it's completely empty. And I was like, oh my gosh.
Skya Jones: There's like a note in there bag. She's like, ha, ha, got you!
Shanalie Wijesinghe: No, the bag is empty, The wallet's empty, and we're like.
Jozlyn Miller: It's like toilet tissue just stuffed in there.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Nothing, no. We're, we're so dumb because there wasn't even toilet tissue. It was just like this flat bag. And we're like, we should have known. We should have known.
Skya Jones: She's like, I'm going to leave this here so you know I'll come back.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, she never came back. So, we were obviously calling the phone numbers that we had listed. And this was another place with cameras. I just thought, we have to go on.
Skya Jones: You expect the best of people. You don't think that they're gonna just blatantly steal, especially from a small business.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: You would think, okay, if somebody goes and steals from, sorry, Target or Walmart, but, if they go and steal a bottle of shampoo…
Skya Jones:…they have a margins built in for that.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: But imagine sitting through an appointment where people are touching you. You're learning about someone's life, you're doing the whole thing, and then you're like, ‘I’m not paying.’ It’s the equivalent of dine and ditch.
Jozlyn Miller: This is why I can't be a scammer cuz I'm scared I'm gonna run into somebody. I don't want to go to jail. I can't run into anybody. Yeah, like what if you run into the person that did your hair?
Shanalie Wijesinghe: I know we're not cut out for that scamming world, Joss.
Jozlyn Miller: Just no, no, no, not for me.
Shanalie Wijesinghe: Thank you for listening to Last Client of the Day. When the workday ends real talk begins.
