Nail salon customer goes on racist rant after not receiving a top coat on her manicure

The owner remained calm and tried to remedy the situation throughout the entire video 

Chelsea Ritschel
in New York
Wednesday 13 June 2018 16:28 BST
Comments
Nail salon customer goes on shocking racist rant during a manicure

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A woman who was upset with the way her manicure looked took it out on the owner of a Florida salon in a racist rant caught on camera.

In the video, captured by another customer and posted on Facebook, the angry woman can be heard complaining to the owner that her nails did not receive a top coat and that the male nail technician who did them did not speak or understand English.

Throughout the six-minute video, the owner of Bali Nail Spa, Karen Vu, tried multiple times to appease the irate customer who became more and more aggressive.

“If they don’t understand the language, they should go back to their own country,” the customer could be heard saying.

After verbally attacking the man who did her manicure, the customer, who claimed to be a regular client at the salon in Lutz, then turned on Vu.

As Vu continued to apologise, the customer threatened her - stating that she happened to be “dating the channel 13 news advisor.”

“But there will be no tip anymore. And I will not frequent this place again. And I want my godd**m top coat on,” the woman continued before she began to criticise the owner’s language as well.

“You sound nasty. Your language sounds nasty. It actually sounds like you were born out of a f**ing hermit crab,” the woman said before Vu finally informed her: “We’re done now” and thanked her for her “advice.”

Having finally had enough of the racist attack, the client who was recording the video, Robin L Roether, came to the owner’s defence.

“I have to say, you are being pretty nasty,” she informed the customer, who tried to defend her actions. “You don’t call them hermit crabs. You’re being f***ing nasty. Get your a** out.”

The owner, Karen Vu, was attacked by the customer (ABC)
The owner, Karen Vu, was attacked by the customer (ABC)

But despite the accusations and insults aimed at her, Vu told ABC Action News that she did not take offence, but she felt bad for the other customers.

“I don’t mind what she said because she doesn’t have control over her mind,” the nail salon owner said, before confirming that the rude customer was a regular at the salon.

In response to the viral video of the disturbing incident, which received more than one million views, multiple people have gone to the nail salon to show their support.

And one customer, Jennifer Verge, drove 30 minutes to stop by the salon and give a tip to the nail technician who never received his.

"I just wanted to come over here and tell them they don't deserve to be treated the way that they were from that lady or anyone else for that matter," Verge told ABC.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in