too fat to be a customer?

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- Michelle Fonville said her experience at Natural Nails on Covington Highway in DeKalb County turned from pleasant to painful in a matter of moments.

“I was humiliated. I almost cried. Tears were forming in my eyes,” said Fonville.

She said things went downhill on Monday after the salon manager gave her the bill for her manicure, pedicure and eyebrow arch.

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Fonville realized that she had been overcharged by $5.

“I said, ‘I’ve been overcharged. She may have made an error,’” said Fonville. “She broke it down, then told me she charged me $5 more because I was overweight.”

Fonville said she couldn’t believe what was happening and recounted the experience with Channel 2 Action News reporter Eric Philips.

“I said, Ma’am, you can’t charge me $5 more. That’s discrimination because of my weight,” said Fonville.

Salon manager Kim Tran told Philips that the surcharge was due to costly repairs of broken chairs by overweight customers. She said the chairs have a weight capacity of 200 pounds and cost $2,500 to fix.

“Do you think that’s fair when we take $24 [for manicure and pedicure] and we have to pay $2,500? Is that fair? No,” Tran told Philips.

Tran said she refunded the $5 surcharge, and told Fonville to take her business elsewhere.

“I didn’t want to argue with her about $5. I wanted to make her pleased with her service,” Tran said. “I whispered … I said, ‘I’m sorry, next time I cannot take you.'”

“The word has to get out there that these people are discriminating against us because of our weight. I mean come on, we’re in America. You can’t do that,” said Fonville.


There is a video too! Just insane:smt011

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24708583/detail.html

 

What kind of chair costs $2,500 to get fixed? One of those massage pedicure chairs? I seriously doubt their weight limit would be 200 pounds. The weight limit on my fold up camping chair from K-Mart is like 300 pounds.

 

Its possible. I heard barber chairs are 3500 dollars

 

I post the link. It has the chair they speak of.

 

A quick google search tells me the average weight capacity for those salon massage chairs is 500-600lbs. So either that salon is buying cheap, nasty chairs, or the manager lady is lying to cover up her prejudice.

 

Probably both lol

 

Good for the shop owner. I agree with bigger people paying more on planes, too. Folks' obesity is now beginning to have attendant costs, maybe it'll be a deterrent to getting so huge in the first place, like cigarettes being too expensive for people to keep smoking.

And note I said "obesity" not merely plus-size so save the PC outrage.

 

Agreed!

 

You know what, I gotta agree. It really isn't pleasant to be the poor fool stuck beside an obese person on an aeroplane. Especially in long haul. I'm all for people living their lives in whichever way they choose to live it, but when it affects other people adversely that's where you gotta draw the line.

 

So you were against it until I was for it. LOL.

 

They chairs have a 200 pound capacity, do they realise how many people weight 200 pounds or more.

 

Hold on a second now, Karmapoo, I'm not as far up your ass as you might think I am :smt016

I was calling bullshit on the prejudiced little salon manager, that's a whole different kettle of fish to having half your seat taken up by your neighbour on an aeroplane!

 

if you literally take up 2 seats, you should be charged accordingly. If you 'spill over' into the other seats people are sitting in, I think they should be discounted. It's like riding a bus next to a big person. The ride is usually uncomfortable because the seats aren't meant for people that big.

Discrimination? Possibly. But remember, you're being selfish for not realizing what your size is doing to people in your vicinity. Not once have I seen a big person apologize for that.

 

Reminds me of when my friends and were in Wal Mart a few years ago and my friend, who was 250 pounds, sat in this Dora the Explorer chair and all four legs just snapped and he landed on his ass. Of course, it was a tiny chair, though.


But yeah, if you are damaging the chair, you should be charged. And I agree about bigger people paying more on airlines. Yeah, SOMETIMES people might not be able to help their weight, but most people can. It's bad enough flying on planes. When you can't relax comfortably because dude won't give you any elbow room or even any body room, that sucks. Only thing to make it shittier is if you get stuck in the bitch seat(middle seat).

 

Their legs also may "spill over" since I notice some bigger people like to spread their legs out so you get less leg room. My friend does that, but we're never stuck in that situation where we are in close seating.

 

im getting flashbacks of a big person, sitting next to me on the bus...

im not a small guy myself, so i need the whole seat right...

then here they come, and just take up their seat and impose their will onto your seat, which forces you to sit halfway in the aisle....

FFS people

 

When things like this happen, you become aware of when being big isn't an advantage.

 

and you aren't ever going to hear it. They aren't charging people because they take up the seats. They are charging them because it costs the plane industry more money to get you somewhere else if you weigh more than the standard weight expressed by the government. I believe it is 170. It is costing the airplane industry a lot to carry people and luggage that don't weigh the standard. You don't want to run out of gas while flying or pay more for gas because your customers and luggage weigh too much.

 

most people arent thinking about payloads when it comes to flying...

simple aerodynamics

the more weight a plane is carrying, the more energy is used/burned to keep it afloat at a suitable speed for travel. But hey, who needs that scientific stuff when you can scream discrimination.

 

This makes news