Two ladies ran out through the door after getting nail services worth $400 at Valley Nails & Spa in El Sobrante as captured by a CCTV camera. This makes it the second time the beauty salon has had ‘dine and dash’ theft in recent months.
The East Bay nail salon said both girls came in as normal customers and the manicure, pedicure, and lash extension services with the highest price tag, only for them to run away without paying, into a waiting black Mercedes Benz car.
The manager of the salon who witnessed the robbery said the ladies pretended as though they wanted to pay by dropping gift cards on the counter, after getting their nails which took over two and a half hours done.
“It feels very disturbing, feels very disrespectful, and we feel like they shouldn’t have any entitlement to do those things to us. We’re not a big corp,” Huynh said. “My message is it’s okay to tell us you guys can’t afford it, and we can compromise something in between, but it’s not right to just run off and treat us like your slave or servant”.
“Find yourself some income or anything like that and if anything, do your nails at home. I learned it really quick, you could learn it too,” she advised.
Months ago, the same salon was robbed by customers in a similar fashion. Valley Nails & Spa now considers asking customers to pay first as a new policy.
Huynh said he has not reported that theft to the police because he considers the amount involved to be too small. However, he has a piece of advice to other beauty salons; “just to be careful”.