My nail salon isn’t top of the line, but not like those in the articles. They are very clean. I have watched them spray bleach cleaner in the tubs after each pedicure and put instruments in the autoclave. Of course, one never knows…
Everyone in the salon originally came from Vietnam. The woman who does my nails (and has the last chair, #9) is the single mother of a five year old. She looks like a model and has an older boyfriend who seems, quite smitten. He brings her lunch almost daily and takes her with him on business travel abroad whenever she is able to take the time off. He gives her fancy handbags for gifts. She has a gucci, a vuitton, a chanel, etc. She is my favorite because I don’t have to talk with her and she lets me just doze off while she paints my toes.
In chair #8 there is a very popular, older woman. That is, probably my age. She is a chatter box but very fun and has a whole lot of regular male clients. She has two sons. One just finished at an in-state college this year. The older one graduated some time ago and works in CA. She has a home some distance away in the country and a considerable commute but likes living on some land, owning some acreage. I don’t know how much. Her husband seems to spend a whole lot of time back in their home country. She isn’t interested in going back very often.
In the next two chairs (#7 & 6) are two women, with elementary school aged children who live in the same neighborhood and one of their husbands usually picks the kids up from school and sometimes brings them to the salon, where they do homework or play games on their laptops in the back room. They are very sweet children and everyone oohs and aahs over them. These husbands sometimes get sidetracked and there are a flurry of phone calls until everyone is sure the children have been picked up. The whole salon breathes a sigh of relief some days.
There is a very young woman whose husband is a graduate student at the local university. She is trying to go to community college while she works. No children yet. Chair #5.
The woman who owns the shop has chair #1. She isn’t too talkative, but always smiling
That leaves three chairs. I think maybe people are filling in there. Sometimes young men come and go. A manicure is $13 and a mani/pedi $48. I tip $10 for a manicure and $20 for a mani/pedi and give those tips in cash.