I Was Gobsmacked

Kimmie wasn’t a bad person, she just had no idea how to run a business. I was gobsmacked when Kimmie told me that despite all her financial troubles she took all her money to go shopping .You have to reinvest in your business! I needed to give Kimmie a wakeup call. Kimmie, like many others, thought that if you opened a place, hired a few friends, made it cute (and I use that term lightly) and worked a couple days here and there that all would be fine. She thought everyone else would make money for you and it would be fun, and life would be just dandy. Well, that clearly wasn’t working.

Kimmie had a total lack of control of her staff, her business, herself and her shopping addiction. The fact that Kimmie thought it was OK to spend all the money she made behind the chair on buying things really disturbed me. I also couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Lindsey laying on the sofa at the reception area most of the day. She actually wouldn’t even move for clients. She ignored the phone, and Kimmie didn’t seem perturbed at all.

The entire staff had fallen into lazy, unprofessional behavior where it seemed THEIR comfort was more important than the clients and it showed in a dirty salon and sloppy work. It was like a sorority of girls hanging out and Kimmie was the ringleader. When I met with Ardeen and Kimmie I was totally shocked to hear that their savings had been used to keep the salon afloat and that he let his insurance lapse as well as racking up all that debt on credit cards and his wife had no idea, she wasn’t pulling her financial weight. It was a shock for Ardeen to hear his wife was taking all the money and spending it, but by them both being honest about the situation I think it really helped them. I felt that by Kimmie donating some of her things and the staff working with the women at the shelter it would help them not only bond as a team but show them all how self indulgent and lazy they had become. It was such a wonderful experience to help these women. Not only feel good about themselves but to get them prepared to go on interviews, and it really helped boost their self esteem and the stories they shared were inspiring. The staff did a great job and I think they were all truly humbled by the experience.

I was really pleased with the salon on reopening day the place had been detackyed and actually looked Plush and the staff were working well except for Lindsey and it was clear she needed more training and wasn’t interested in her job at all. When the hot wax spilled all over the client I couldn’t believe Lindsey was more concerned with her shoe, and when the client was burnt I used milk, as it was the only thing available at the time to soothe the area. Again Lindsey wasn’t phazed, but Kimmie really stepped up. I felt that it was a learning experience for all at Plush the week I was there, Kimmie is much more responsible and knows she needs to curb her spending and give her time money and energy to the salon. I am glad she let Lindsey go because she didn’t step up and I think Krissi realized that taking a step back as a stylist was needed to help her work and take some pressure of her and to give the client the work they were paying for. I wish them all well.