Not every day in the salon is sunshine and rainbows, like everyone assumes the beauty industry is. We are dealing with real people and real-life situations, and it can get… interesting. To celebrate this spooky season, we asked around and collected ‘scary’ stories from salons all across the country, and honestly, most of these are more funny than scary.

Let's get the obvious out of the way.
Practically everyone we talked to has had some kind of catastrophe regarding trash cans in the tanning rooms. For those of you who are new here, it is a shockingly regular occurrence for customers to decide that a trash can is a suitable replacement for a toilet while in the salon. This prompts an age-old industry question: to trashcan or not to trashcan? The most tragic trashcan story we heard was from an owner who was at their wit's end and replaced all trash cans with wire bins that would work great for collecting empty bottles, packets, towels, and the like. However, somehow an open-air wire trash can was not enough to deter the potty practice in the salon. I do believe all trash collection in the rooms ceased afterward.

Everybody Stay Calm!
At its core, working in a salon means having great customer service skills. You never know who will walk in the door and what that interaction will bring. One story read: “A customer was getting a spray tan and had a panic attack and ran out in the lobby naked, crying, and hyperventilating.” Well, that’s something you don’t see every day, but as professionals, we have to be prepared for anything. The writer goes on to say, “She grabbed me in a bear hold and wouldn't let go.” That’s what we call quality service!

Nap Time
Another very common occurrence is having a customer take a lil’ nap in the tanning beds. Let’s be real for a minute, you're lying if you say you haven’t at least been close to taking a snooze in a warm bed. While it can be stressful getting them to wake up, I feel like it is a testament to how relaxed your customers are in your salon. Now, it’s a bit of a different story when you have to call in the first responders, but there’s never a dull moment in salon life.

You're not selling to your full potential
Just when you think you've heard it all, you get crazy stories like this one: “I had a lady come in with her cactus. Full-on cactus. I spoke to her about our memberships, EFTs, etc. I ended up selling not only the lady a full board EFT membership,” and this is where it gets better, “but also her cactus a full membership. Yep, I walked her to room #10 and had to place her cactus sitting on the bed of room #11.” We’ve all heard of crazy cat ladies, and I now introduce you to crazy plant ladies. I guess if your houseplants don’t get enough sun, you can just bring them down to the tanning salon. Now, that’s salesmanship!

Boo-ronze & Boo-tiful
Maybe it’s just the season, but I feel like there were way more ‘haunted salon’ stories than I was expecting. All kinds of crazy things moving or turning on. One writer said they had all their room doors close at the same time one morning. Spooky. There were many accounts of equipment randomly turning on unprompted, but why is it more often than not a Versa Booth? With so many doors and electrical things happening in salons, it is no wonder they seem to be ghost story magnets.

The moral of the story here is no salon is going to be perfect all the time. You are going to have weird things happen every now and then. How to roll with these situations is what matters, and once you have it resolved, you can laugh about it later.

Do you have any stories you want to share? Email us at marketing@heartlandtan.com for a chance to have your story published next!