Jancy

A week ago a client stole a full bottle of Total Immersion from our desk. Nobody noticed it initially. The customer was the first one in that morning, got his tan, left the tag from the bottle in the trash can, and some matching lotions splots on the rug (how rude!) We knew who stole the lotion right away.
That afternoon we made a switch in the operations of the reception desk and my son chose to be at this salon every day for awhile. We spent a lot of money reorganizing our display and protecting the merchandize. I also sent the customer a letter of demand, but it was returned because of a incorrect address.
Yesterday this idiot came back. My eldest son is now running this salon 100% for me while making all of the improvements and changes when he saw the guy coming across the packing lot.
My son was dressed in a tool belt from working on the shelving system and had let his hair down. He went into his "steel toed boot stomping gonna kick your ***" mode..... my eldest son is a really big, big guy and he doesn't get angry quick but seeing the guy come back really got his testesterone up.
My son said he was really fired up at the sight of this creep. While holding his hand on his hammer he confronted the idiot at the door, told him to pay for the lotion (which this guy did) and then told him he had a thirty second head start back to his truck. We got our money back and the guy didn't even stay for his change....
My son walked up behind the guy as he was pulling his truck out of the parking space and was standing within a hare's breath next to the driver's window pointing the way to the parking lot exit as the guy left... and told him again in explicit terms not to ever come back or he'd do major bodily harm to the guy's reproduction system.
I am sure he totally upset this guys whole day.
This is a family business, so we spent over dinner discussing safety, our policies, and issues about the video camera when my son pulls out stuff from his pockets that would have gotten us into a lot of trouble..... oh my gawd! He feels that as long as he is at work NOBODY is going to take advantage of him. I feel that our safety and keeping our license is more important so we went round and round about this issue over dinner.
Now, while all of these events were going on that that salon, I was working at one of our other sites, and I had a different kind of day. I had my first naked customer ever (I'm no longer a virgin!)
I was so surprised. This lady comes to tan because she likes the heat and her arthritis. She had checked in at the desk as usual, said nothing much was going on and just wanted a regular tan. After she gets done tanning she walk up to the front counter to ask me how her tan looked on her back and stood there completely naked expecting me to check her out..... All I could do was tell her to get dressed and not go naked in a public place. After she got dressed I asked her if she was under a doctor's care and she said she was on new medication and forgot to tell me about it. I called her family to find out what the medication was. After a quick explaination of what happened, the daughter tells me that the Mom was on new anti-anxiety medication and that she was on her way up to get her. I entertained this harmless lady for a half hour. Her daughter showed me the prescription bottle, and promised to give me a call if there were any problems (this medication is not listed as a photosensitizing medication) and I described to her what to expect from sun poisening and medication interaction and to call the doctor's office about these events.
And no, there was no full moon last night.
I've decided that after what my son was going thru while I was with the naked lady, I'm going to get ahold of the naked lady's physician and get me some of whatever she was taking.
Oh boy!

Sherin

When you find out...Let the rest of us know! LOL!

LonelyStar

You're so lucky that you get your money back on the lotion that guy stole from you. I have a teenage girl who had stolen from my family salon for at least 2 times. One time she and her friends came to tan. Our tanning lotion samples are on the counter and the counter is kinda high. While I was busy with their friends, she was checking out those samples lotion. My mom saw her was about to put 1 lotion sample in her pocket, so my mom told my sister about it, and I guess she saw my mom said something (not Enlgish) to my sister, she put it back on the counter.
Another time when I got back from school and I went to the salon, I knew right away that on the shelf, the aloha pukana la lotion was missing. I ased my mom and sister about it and they said they didn't sell it and on that day, that girl was in the salon. Well, a week later or something, she came in to get her nails done. She put her bag on the floor opened...and GUESS WHAT?....we saw the aloha lotion in there. The retail of that lotion is $50, so of coure not a lot of teenage girl can afford to buy it. Also, I know for sure that the other tanning salon don't sell that brand. Well, there are about 2 tanning salons in that small city, so I'm very sure that she stole it.
My salon don't have camera and we didn't catch her picked up the bottle, so I guess we can't do anything about it.

TotalEclipse

Lonely, that's unfortunate that you know she took it, but can't do anything about it. Sadly without camera proof, you can't do anything. We had a guy walk by our display table and take 3 packs of fresh-ease (after tan towels), go to his room, tan and then have the audacity to leave the wrappers and towels thrown on the floor. There is a big sign stating their price right next to the display, so there's no way he could have mistaken them for samples, yet since we did not have him on camera taking them, we can't make him pay. He could say he didn't take them, and that those on the floor were ones he brought in with him.
Anyway...it's too bad people can't be honest and pay for things, but sadly there will always be people with "sticky fingers" out there.

BooBop

Quote:my son pulls out stuff from his pockets that would have gotten us into a lot of trouble..... oh my gawd!

Jancy, what did he have in his pockets? Was it something he took into the salon or something someone left?

Jancy

He wears clothing with deep pockets to carry personal protection knives and a few other things like pepper spray. We'd had a old alcoholic bum hanging around the mall since Christmas who was giving my daughter-in-law the eye every day she worked there, so my son was freaking out about man and was ready to protect her.
(Sad thing about the bum, he lived in the large metal trash bin behind our mall, and I learned that he died of natural causes - probably due to hypothermia - inside the trash bin yesterday. What a terribly sad comment on our society that a human life was wasted in such a manner!)

Sherin

We have a guy who plays his guitar and sings outside of our place and gets enough donations to make his rent on a small apartment. Many customers have asked me why I allow him to be there & I always say that I would rather see him there working than standing on a freeway ramp with a cardboard sign. He does not drink that I am aware of, just down on his luck.

JohnnyComeLately

Jancy,
I'd say you need to be very careful. "Carries personal protection knives" Knives of a certain length in shank, regardless of reason for carrying, are often illegal. The exact length will vary upon your municipality. At a local hardware store, we had a full time security guard who would tackle people who were caught on film. At Home Depot, they just ask them to come to the office and if the person tries to leave, they let them. Differing perspectives, but neither are armed. Having a weapon places you on a whole new playing field. If it were me, I'd ask him to not be at the store anymore because of liability. You love your son and his intentions are great...but the probabilities of something going wrong are too great.

For example, customer buys lotion. Employee goes to clean a room, and customer re-approaches the counter to "compare with other bottles while waiting." Your son enters salon. Customer finishes comparison and re-takes seat. You can see how a common situation becomes bad quickly. Add a weapon and its a multiplier.

The fact you know about this and, sad to say, posted it publicly on-line makes the job easy for a litigation lawyer. Just my .02. I am not intending to flame, but this situation just screams that it's setting you up for a bad outcome down the road.

_________________
John, MBA, BS Org. Managment, MS Software Engineering (in progress)[ This Message was edited by: JohnnyComeLately on 2005-01-17 10:54 ]

Jancy

Fully in agreement with you over the knife thing. He's fully legal on the length of the blades and after the owner's meeting is no longer carry stuff. However, I can't refuse him to be in the salon as he is also an owner.
As far as setting up for a bad situation down the road, we have security camera's, usually two persons on site at any given time (even in slow period) and the advice of family members who are cops in the LA area on how to deal with personal safety, armed robbery, and personal attacks. My son is not usually quick to temper, and having all owners discuss what happened for a few days after the event helped to remind him about his attitude. We've owned other businesses, including a convenience store where he faced the barrel end of a shotgun and deranged mental people at age 17. I'd say we've all had our education at the hands of the public in ways that most salon owners can't imagine. His father-in-law currently owns a small convenience store on the Texas-Mexico border down near the gulf, and my son works there one week a year to give the family some time off, and the crap he has to put up daily makes one understand why that family keeps a loaded shotgun under the desk, deposits cash into the safe over $50 bucks, and refuses to serve customers at times.
I agree that keeping a weapon in a tanning salon is not the answer for theft of lotion, and is just plain overkill. But, when working with the public you can't guarantee that running a salon is a "safe" business - anytime money is involved there is always going to be somebody out there who wants to take it away from you and is usually bigger, meaner and more determined. That's why we counseled him to refrain from carrying anything beyond what the law allows in the State of California. I fully understand that you have a God given right to protect yourself. I agree that provoking a situation, and then being discovered to be carrying weapons (even a pencil is a weapon... and so is a twinkie) can be considered to be premeditation. The fact that I am aware that there are people who are willing to take my hard earned money away from me, and then I set up security camera's is evidence that I established a premeditated response to potential theft, violent behaviors, and possible loss of life.
For this reason, and your concern about use by a litigation attorney... I appreciate the direction of your comment and appreciate the fact that you are not attempting to start a flame war. It's a justified concern and I thank you for that advice. However, one needs to remember that posting on the internet by a second party is just "hearsay" in legal terms. As far as carrying a concealed weapon, we've put a stop to it, he has the right to carry a covered blade of course, and he's verbally agreed to keep the testosterone in check (which is far more lethal than anything else known to womankind.) LOL and Grins!!!

JohnnyComeLately

Nice reply Jancy. Glad you took it as constructive ideas (not flames). I didn't realize the son was an owner. I pictured him "just stopping by" and observing what you mentioned. I'm from the Mid-West (Tulsa) with the "Make My Day" Law and love Colorado's laws (concealed carry permits are easy and anyone with $300 and a clean record can buy a fully automatic weapon (Class III license)). However, in our salon, about 80% of a day's earnings are VISA, so deadly force never seems appropriate for the tiny amount of cash in store. Closing policy is that less than $20 is left, and we take deposits nightly. So an armed felon will never get much from us at any particular point in the day.

Regardless, everyone makes their own decisions. Sounds like you're in LA, so I can see that possibly self-protection is much greater in importance. 1 in 3 San Diegans are involved with the military, so we (my wife and I) trust the average joe (probably more than we should).