Can a Nail Salon Charge a Fee for Fat?

I manage a salon supply company and we sell pedicure chairs. I have to say that Ms. Tran is full of it!! Pedicure chairs weigh 350 lbs each. The chair top itself is set on a steel or metal frame that sits on top of the base. The liklihood of a pedicure chair breaking because of a customers weight is doubtful - I've worked in this industry for YEARS and I have NEVER heard of a customer's weight breaking a chair. I know all of our chairs (which are typical of any other chair) has a 450 lb weight limit. The customer would have to stand up in the chair, and basically jump up and down before the chair would even get loose. Furthermore, I read another article where she stated it cost $2500 to repair a pedicure chair, which is ridiculous when you can buy brand new chairs for under $2k. It seems that Ms. Tran is simply discriminatory.

like the owner/manager said, take your business elsewhere. Quite whining and go to a salon that is fine with you/your body. Mani/pedis are a ripoff most times anyway.

Have a sign outside that states if you're over 200 lbs. we charge an additional $5.00. I bet more than 30% of what could have been potential customers will never walk in the door.
All charges should be posted including being charged for being overweight. An airline lets you know upfront that if you can't fit in a seat they charge extra.
Some people, no matter how hard they exercise can't lose weight, even if they are eating right. It is their genetic make up. Since this country has more the 50% overweight people, the companies making chairs should be making them bigger to start with.

Wow thats unbelievable and super offensive to us women. We go to nail salons to get our nails done not to be criticize about how much me weigh. We have enough crap thrown at us by media about how women should look and be perfected, If i was that women someone would have to deal with a very pissed off customer cause that is just rude and uncalled for. By doing this i think they will loose costumers and their business will flop, they should of thought about getting chairs that can hold more then just 200 pounds. Nobody should have to pay extra just because they carry a little bit more then others.

What the salon should do is post that if you even just look overweight they will charge you more! That is cruel to do to someone. Some people can't control it and shouldn't always be punished for it. They should post the weight limit on ther door for the pedi chairs and then they wouldn't even attempt to at their place of buisness.

Omg, i'm sure thatit was a discrimination situation and the owner of this place have some kind o problems with overweight people. By the way he can claim all the repairs that he could made to his bussiness at the end of the year in his taxes.

As a cosmetologist, i understand that equipment is expensive. I understand that maintaining these machines is a hassle and whether or not the person is overweight is the least of the worries. Pedicure thrones constantly break down due to jet problems, draining problems, leaking problems, and the massage chairs not working. In all honesty though, if a person is going to complain about the weight of the person, that is just an attempt at extra money. In reality, the size of the person is a lot less frustrating than the condition of the feet. How about charging people based on how many corns, the amount of dead skin, the length of the toe nails. Many people come in with the desire for that experience and have never had a pedicure. Why should these people pay the same price as the woman who comes in biweekly for R&R and a massage. This is a service to the people and unless the owner is going to post signs for every added on fee based on everything from feet condition, nail length, weight, toe nail size, and how hard they have to work during the massage, get over it. Treat each client like the gift they are and allow them to enjoy the service. Isn't the desire to be a cosmetologist/nail tech/esthetician about make a person feel good?

That's pretty bad that this salon didn't disclose their "overweight patrons' fee" upfront. That being said, how do they know who actually exceeds that 200lb limit? The average woman, at a height of 5'4"-5'5" would have to be quite large to exceed 200lbs. On the other hand (being that men are getting more mani-pedis these days), some men can easily weigh 200lbs without looking overweight. It's not as simple as "you look fat, that's $5 extra to use this chair". I think a policy like this would need some refining in order to be fair (like letting customers know of it ahead of service time!!)

Where I live there's at least one nail salon per block, so there's a lot of competition out there. If I were a salon owner, would I humiliate a potential repeat customer with this $5.00 surcharge? Someone who would not only never come back to my salon but would also tell all of her friends what happened to her? Was the $5.00 worth that? And if you have a considerable number of overweight clients, why not get sturdier chairs?

I own a salon and since the day my expensive new hydrolic chair was delivered fat women have been forcing it to its limit! However, the owner should just build this into the price and skirt the issue of a fat charge. I have been a stylist for 20 yrs and the seat arms were standardized until a fw years ago. Now they come extra wide for fat people. The people who think that we are including a 6 ft model in our treatment of fat people are nuts. Really fat people know they are fat and they shift their weight and cause things to break. I say stop coddling the fat, because most of them are truly lazy and self indulgent.

i cant get over how fat people like to shift blame or deny everything altogether. sure, your mom or boyfriend may be lazy and eat all day, and that's fine, they lucked out. does that take any responsibility off of you to do what it takes to be healthy? presentable? attractive?

that's like an alcoholic or druggie saying "my boyfriend has never been an addict and doesn't feel the need or pressure to use, so i don't think it's fair that i struggle with addiction or have a criminal record and i'm just not going to try to quit."

food is an addiction, and obesity is a disease... a preventable disease.

put down the twinkies, ladies.

Haha uhhh if you're over 200 lbs... yeah you should be charged more for certain things... accommodating fat people is not always easy... and elitzab, lots of pregnant weigh wayyyyyy less than 200 lbs... you're only supposed to gain about 20-30 lbs while prego, all other fat gained is because you didn't eat right, so all those women who say Ohhhh it's because of my pregnancy (when they gained 60 lbs) it's a bunch of bull...

I think the way you service your business is shameful and prejuidace to overweight people. YOUR THE TYPE OF PERSON THAT ARE CLASSIFIED AS HATER. BUSINESS OWNERS LIKE YOU SHOULD GET SUED CLOSED DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT ONE DAY YOU'LL BE TREATED THE SAME AND LOOK BACK AND REMEBER WHAT YOU DID.

Doesn't anyone else think that a chair that can only support 200 pounds is a shoddy chair design? A healthy 6 ft man weighs about 200 pounds. Also, where did she con up with 200 as the magic number? Folding chairs hold over 200 pounds easily.
The salon owner should invest in better quality chairs if she want's to keep her clientele. Fat girls also have skinny friends and those skinny gals will spend their money in places where their friend is being insulted.

There's absolutely no reason only the fat people should be charged for repairs. Repairs are inevitable on any mechanical equipment, especially the equipment dealing with water, drainage, jets, massage and heat implements. It's not just US FATTIES, it's everyone who gets a pedicure who should be charged. If everyone were charged, the cost per person would be seriously decreased. Even if they raised prices .25 cents per client or at most, a dollar, people aren't going to argue that. And if they do, they shouldn't be getting pedicures anyway because they obviously can't afford it. The tip costs less than that!

How do they know who weighs what...is there a scale? Taller people never look their weight...and cg, that was just mean.

So basicly what you guys are saying is that every fat person in America should be charged extra for everything? Wow!!! How many Americans can afford diet and good nutition? I think you all live in a bubble! My opinion. By the way I am FAT

Utterly ridiculous based on the surprise of it in the first place. If it had been me as a customer I'd take my business elsewhere no matter what after that one! I agree that upkeep of chairs should be considered as a business expense and factored into the cost of running a business. If a $2500 chair breaks, that extra $5 isn't going to do anything to help cover the cost anyway, when you consider the cost-benefit analysis of charging $5 and losing customers v. what it costs to repair the chair. Stupid all the way around.

And can people STOP with the ignorant comments about overweight people? Not everyone who is overweight sits around stuffing their face with fatty foods all day, just like I'm SURE there are plenty of skinny people who eat really crappy diets too.

this was pretty harsh....! advice for the salon owners, get better chairs that have a higher weight limit, its only common sense, more overweight people are going to go get pedicures, since they cant bend over and polish their own toe nails, lol or just keep to yourself, and include the fee for everyone as normal wear and tear on the chair.

In my neighborhood, overweight women make up the customer base of the nail salons... no need to charge extra. They're raking in profits...

But in all seriousness, if the managers are going to do that, at least give a warning. It's not fair to come out of nowhere and say "YOU FAT. YOU GIVE ME FIVE DOLLARS."