*sigh* I went back to work last week, though not the whole week. It's been boring, really, nothing much important happening.
On Wednesday morning I believe I was rudely awakened by my phone as my boss called me, and as soon as I answered it was like, "COURTNAY, YOU WORK NAO?". Sheesh. But at least I didn't have to go bearing gifts and beg for my job back for the summer. And I only have to work weekends which is where the real money is at. Did I mention I work as a nail technician? Well, I do, part-time and on call. We don't get hourly pay, just commission, so there have been lots of days I sat there for an 8-10 hour day and made like $20. It's kind of ridiculous, so it's a good thing I don't have to pay like a million bills every month. Then there are days like last Sunday, which was Mother's Day. We were booked solid from 9:30AM til the end of the day. I just laughed when people walked in thinking there'd be space for them. I heard from a lot of clients that their regular salons were closed on Sunday, and I guess it was because, from what I've heard, they don't celebrate Mother's Day in Vietnam, so salon owners were unaware of the business opportunity. Not my boss though. Nope. He would never in ever pass up a chance like this, to stand over us and crack the whip as his cash rolled in.
Honestly, when I work, he is a major source of stress. He's ALWAYS on my back about being too slow. The problem is not me being too slow, it's his overbooking appointments and never refusing anyone's business. Yes, the clients get lined up quickly sometimes, but it is my responsibility to do a good job and spend an adequate amount of times on my clients. A nail salon is not an assembly line where people should be shoved in and shoved out. He's said that new clients cannot wait even one minute over time, because then they'd leave and he'd lose business, and that if it's busy, current clients will understand if you're fast. That is simply not true, and contradicts everything he wants.
I DID manage to get my speed up eventually and then guess what? He shat on me because he thought I was going too fast. Any attempts to explain to him what I was/am doing go nowhere, because he cuts me off and overrides me. No respect at all. He's also said some very unprofessional things to me in the process, most specifically about the long work hours he's had to endure since becoming a new immigrant and that I could never work that much because I'm Canadian-born and that I "would just die".
I have, however, heard from his wife that I'm not the only one he does this to, and that he just does it to everyone else in Vietnamese, in front of the customers and all the employees. I think he has little-man-syndrome and just likes to have control over all the women that work in the salon.
That being said, working at the salon is the only job I have, and a flexible one at that, with the potential to make lots of tips from all the lovely regular clients that we get; all the ones that make this job worth while. Also, sometimes I get to do leopard print nails on people's toes, and that's legit.
