Woman Says Salon Charged Her For Being Overweight

[Giggle Goose]

Linky

I heard about this on the radio this morning and was fuming. Apparently they charge more for people who are heavier since the chairs at the nail salon can't support more than 200 pounds, and that the chairs cost thousands of dollars to fix. Even if that's true, 200 pounds really isn't a lot. I'm a 5'6" woman and I was over 200 pounds for a time. I was overweight but certainly not breaking any chairs.

I don't care if the owner apologized, I still thought it was a bitchy move. I guess it kinda circles back to the Southwest Airlines debate. If a person physically cannot fit into a space, then that's understandable that they would have to pay for another seat. I was just angry that there were ignorant people calling into the radio show this morning talking about how fat people should always be charged more for pretty much everything because they were such a dredge on society. Yeah, way to solve that obesity problem with respect and compassion, dickwads. People get a ton of sympathy for being anorexic, bulimic, being an alcoholic or drug addict, but if you're overweight? "Just stop eating so much, fatty!" I know this is a touchy subject around here that's been brought up countless times before, but I've never weighed in myself (no pun intended ). I'm just sick of all the ignorance.

[Red Panda]

According to the article the woman was charged the extra money because extra work was required for her hair and there was a misunderstanding due to a language barrier.

Even if what the woman is claiming is true, if she doesn't like it she should go to another salon. A small business owner needs to protect their investments. A moving company will charge extra if you need them to move a piece that is above their normal limitations, or if you need an extra heavy vehicle towed you should expect a tow truck to do the same. If a human is causing strain on equiptment due to size then they should have to cover that strain.

[radiocerk]

I believe that any additional charge should have been mentioned up front, and not after the fact, first of all. If there is an additional charge, or a weight limit, it should be clearly posted up front.

And really, can we be surprised that part of the "beauty industry" has committed a prejudical act against someone that doesn't meet up to their standards. In my mind, it's kind of like being surprised that Cosmo's full of people airbrushed to look like aliens and people bordering on skeletal.

[Rapscallion]

Being a fat bastard of long standing, I tend to look at the potential support of things I want to sit on. The standard for seats seems to be a maximum rated weight of 250 pounds, or it is over here.

Rapscallion

[BlaqueKatt]

People get a ton of sympathy for being anorexic, bulimic

not really-the grass is not greener on the other side of the eating disorder fence.

unless you somehow think telling someone with anorexia they need to eat more, is more sympathetic than telling a compulsive over-eater to eat less.


I was anorexic, nothing was done until I collapsed at a track meet. my weight at age 14 was 80 pounds-I was complimented on my weight loss and my discipline for sticking to my diet-yeah that was helpful.


My doctors watched me go from a healthy 140 at age 13 to a very unhealthy 80 pounds at age 14(did not get back to above 100 pounds until age 23-I'm 5'5"), and said nothing-that's a 60 pound drop.

[radiocerk]

Well, as long as people believe that you can't be too rich or too thin... Pro-anorexia websites, that still gets me. Weight watchers frquently teach overweight people (women especially) several of the tricks anorexics use to not eat as diet aids. Drastic weight loss should always be seen as something potentially dangerous, not something to be complemented.

Anorexia as a disease may get sympathy, but it takes such a long time for people to notice that one has a problem. And if the anorexic started out heavier, no one will notice until severe internal damage has been done.

I work on healthy, not thin. I'll never be thin, and I'm not sure at this stage in my life I'd want to be. But I like being healthy, and strong enough to out wrestle guys half again my weight.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Ok, I am calling shenanigans on this one. A 200 pound maximum load on salon chairs? I can think of several of my friends who are over 200 pounds. As Raps put it, the chairs are designed for more weight that 200 pounds. 250 is more usual.

And as for the $2500 price tag to fix the chairs? At $5 per "fat person", they'd need to seat 500 "fat people" to make up for one repair.

Using the unisex salon that my wife and I use. They have 8 chairs, but only 4 stylists at a time working. They're open from 9am until 9pm and are closed an hour for lunch so that's an 11 hour day. They can do on average one customer every half hour so that's 22 customers per chair. So...let's do the math.

22 customers per chair per day for 88 customers total per day assuming they have a full appointment book or get enough walk-ins to fill the day.

At that rate, they would need to work for 5.68 days to make up the 500 customers needed to fix one chair.

Oh but wait! Not everyone is getting the "Fat Bastard" tax are they?

5% over 200lbs is 4.4 people per day, which is 113.636 days to fix a chair
10% = 8.8 = 56.818 days
15% = 13.2 = 37.878 days
20% = 17.6 = 28.409 days

I could go on.

But in the end I think this is the only equation I can think of that explains the situation best.

Money grubbing bastards + "Fat" tax on haircuts = a chance to make more money.