Nail spa bans staff from speaking Vietnamese in front of customers, docks up to $100 from pay
By Carl Samson
May 24, 2023
An unidentified nail spa has sparked outrage on Instagram for banning its technicians from speaking Vietnamese in front of customers.
A copy of the agreement posted by user @supdawk claims that the language policy resulted from “recent complaints” by guests. Per the new rules, speaking Vietnamese is “disrespectful” and “impolite” as it makes customers think that staff are talking about them.
The agreement suggests that the business’ name is “Spa Concepts,” but this information has not been verified.
“Speaking Vietnamese is not allowed with each other when guests are around,” the policy states. “Speak English only.”
The agreement goes on to indicate corresponding penalties for various infractions.
For starters, speaking Vietnamese in front of a customer will automatically trigger a $25 salary deduction. A violation that leads to a customer complaining to management will further result in a $50 pay dock.
The largest deduction of $100 will incur if a guest leaves a bad review. Additionally, the technician will not be paid for the work they performed on that guest.
As of this writing, the agreement has drawn hundreds of angry comments from users, with many declaring that such a policy must be illegal.
“Completely illegal. No excuses,” wrote Ryan Stygar, a lawyer and influencer with over a million followers on TikTok. “Breaks about a dozen federal laws right off the top of my head. Please report this employer immediately.”
“Hate crime and violations to First Amendment,” another Instagram user commented. “This place needs to go out of business!”
“The business owners who implemented this policy need to get a backbone and tell customers who complain to take their business somewhere else,” one wrote. “Losing a customer who pays you $80 for nails is better than losing a tech who generates much more than that each day.”
“Damn that’s f*cked up. They also signed where I [sic] says name so you know they don’t know how to speak English,” another user pointed out. “It’s just gonna be quiet AF at work.”
“I don’t speak Vietnamese that well but I’ll be damned if I can’t speak it anytime I want,” another noted. “I will Duolingo Viet so fast just so I can talk trash about this policy.”
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