Relationship strains in the spa

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KeiKei

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
5
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Location
Salisbury
This is going to be a long one - Sorry!
Hello, I'm a first time poster here because I wasn't so sure whether I should discuss this or not but I have to get it off my chest.
I work for a small spa that is part of a hotel. It's only been open for a year and a half so it is still fairly new.
It's my first ever job in the industry as I came straight from college so I've only been here for around 7months and already I feel like the environment at the spa is just the same as college was. It's so catty between certain therapists and our manager and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Our manager has been at the spa as long as I have (she can also do a few treatments) - the spa has seen five managers in the last year and most of the staff started leaving due to the pay and how the place was run.
Our manager is quite intimidating to me. For example, when I got a few complaints over a bad waxing experience i had; I was really upset and felt my confidence plummet so I turn to her for advice.- She basically told me my waxing skill ' is clearly cr*p' and that was that. Nothing to comfort me or any advice given.

She hates to be in the wrong and will easily get defensive and angry if a problem arises. Eventually me and my peers started holding back on problems to try and deal with them ourselves because we felt we couldn't talk to her :(

Until recently, everything went downhill - My peers wrote a long list of problems between them and signed it personally. They left me out of it because they didn't want me to be in anymore flak with my manager so I had no idea about it.

They passed the list onto the hotel management and then finally, my manager. They had a meeting when I had my day off and my manager exploded and felt backstabbed.
Eversince I went back to work - My manager was suddenly being so nice to me! and horrible as can be to my peer- oh gosh, you could cut the tension with a knife!
It was awful silences and snarky comments and eventually one of my peers and her started having a shouting match with me right behind them! We had clients in the thermal room (lucky out of earshot but still!)
My peer stormed out immediately and left me and my manager with both hers and our own fully booked columns. That day was awful, we had to make clients wait half an hour here and there to be able to finish that day!

My peer handed in her notice along with my other peer - they leave at the end of this month. So it was just me and my manager running the spa.

But now, my manager handed her notice in and leaves in early April. It'll just be me- a 40hr full time therapist with a fully booked April and May.

The hotel were fed up with my managers attitude and avoided seeing her - so now, I have no idea whether the hotel will get new staff asap or I lose my job! I'm really stressed out at the moment. I've been covering as much as I should to help out - I have twelve days of holiday that I physically can't take because the spa is booked and only found out today that I will get paid for it - even if I don't have it.

I just feel like everything been dumped in my lap and it's awful and makes me want to quit- I've not even been working in industry long! :( I love my job at the spa but I wish everyone could just get along!

Crumbs!, I'm so sorry this was so long! I really needed to vent or know if anyone else has had these types of conflicts in industry? How do you cope? x
 
Well your better off without their attitudes. They all sound very childish & it does womankind as a whole a disservice if we're so catty to each other.

You need to have a meeting with the hotel managers to find out what they intend to do, if they've invested all that money it would be a shame for them to shut it and lose money.

I'd offer to run it until they find a manager. Do you know anyone from college looking for work? Someone might be in the position to come on board and turn it around so the spas a profitable part of the hotel and not the total pain in the bum it's been for them so far.
 
It sounds like you need to look for a new job! No one needs that stress. This is why I don't work in a salon or spa. Take a deep breath and say it's not your fault and that you should be able to take your holiday. You need to stand up for yourself. How would they feel if they couldn't take their holiday??! Good luck Hun xxx
 
That's dreadful. The Hotel management need to take responsibility for this awful situation.
They should have managed the manager properly rather than ignored the situation. Sounds like a mix of incompetence and laziness in their part.

If they're lucky and happen to appoint a good Spa Manager, it could be worthwhile staying. However, I suspect the salary is on the low side and there are few good candidates willing to work for peanuts.

Can you clarify something? Are they suggesting that instead of taking the leave you are due, that they will pay you extra salary? You're already entitled to receive holiday pay whilst on holiday.
It's illegal to deny your holiday allowance indefinitely just because they're short staffed and they cannot force you to accept cash in lieu of taking the days off that you are owed. That's illegal too.
 
What you are describing strikes a massive chord with me. It's not uncommon for management in this industry to have a lack of professional and emotional maturity. Sure, there are good managers too but bad management isn't uncommon in this industry is what I'm saying.

My first spa job post college had problems very similar to that which you describe. I forced myself to stay there longer than I really wanted to because I was anxious of the impact that this would have on my cv. In hindsight, most spas have a high staff turnover because it is hard work so in this regard I would urge urge you to apply to other spas because they're always looking for people. Get the best out of the spa industry and don't pressure yourself to stay in a toxic environment that is uncomfortable, especially when it sounds like there is easily better out there.
 
On second thoughts, it might be worth sticking around to meet the new team if all of the bad eggs are leaving anyway. You could get an amazing management in replacement.

I agree that the low pay, long hours and hard work makes it difficult for hotels to recruit management staff with good management skills.
 
This is going to be a long one - Sorry!
Hello, I'm a first time poster here because I wasn't so sure whether I should discuss this or not but I have to get it off my chest.
I work for a small spa that is part of a hotel. It's only been open for a year and a half so it is still fairly new.
It's my first ever job in the industry as I came straight from college so I've only been here for around 7months and already I feel like the environment at the spa is just the same as college was. It's so catty between certain therapists and our manager and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Our manager has been at the spa as long as I have (she can also do a few treatments) - the spa has seen five managers in the last year and most of the staff started leaving due to the pay and how the place was run.
Our manager is quite intimidating to me. For example, when I got a few complaints over a bad waxing experience i had; I was really upset and felt my confidence plummet so I turn to her for advice.- She basically told me my waxing skill ' is clearly cr*p' and that was that. Nothing to comfort me or any advice given.

She hates to be in the wrong and will easily get defensive and angry if a problem arises. Eventually me and my peers started holding back on problems to try and deal with them ourselves because we felt we couldn't talk to her :(

Until recently, everything went downhill - My peers wrote a long list of problems between them and signed it personally. They left me out of it because they didn't want me to be in anymore flak with my manager so I had no idea about it.

They passed the list onto the hotel management and then finally, my manager. They had a meeting when I had my day off and my manager exploded and felt backstabbed.
Eversince I went back to work - My manager was suddenly being so nice to me! and horrible as can be to my peer- oh gosh, you could cut the tension with a knife!
It was awful silences and snarky comments and eventually one of my peers and her started having a shouting match with me right behind them! We had clients in the thermal room (lucky out of earshot but still!)
My peer stormed out immediately and left me and my manager with both hers and our own fully booked columns. That day was awful, we had to make clients wait half an hour here and there to be able to finish that day!

My peer handed in her notice along with my other peer - they leave at the end of this month. So it was just me and my manager running the spa.

But now, my manager handed her notice in and leaves in early April. It'll just be me- a 40hr full time therapist with a fully booked April and May.

The hotel were fed up with my managers attitude and avoided seeing her - so now, I have no idea whether the hotel will get new staff asap or I lose my job! I'm really stressed out at the moment. I've been covering as much as I should to help out - I have twelve days of holiday that I physically can't take because the spa is booked and only found out today that I will get paid for it - even if I don't have it.

I just feel like everything been dumped in my lap and it's awful and makes me want to quit- I've not even been working in industry long! :( I love my job at the spa but I wish everyone could just get along!

Crumbs!, I'm so sorry this was so long! I really needed to vent or know if anyone else has had these types of conflicts in industry? How do you cope? x
 
This is going to be a long one - Sorry!
Hello, I'm a first time poster here because I wasn't so sure whether I should discuss this or not but I have to get it off my chest.
I work for a small spa that is part of a hotel. It's only been open for a year and a half so it is still fairly new.
It's my first ever job in the industry as I came straight from college so I've only been here for around 7months and already I feel like the environment at the spa is just the same as college was. It's so catty between certain therapists and our manager and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Our manager has been at the spa as long as I have (she can also do a few treatments) - the spa has seen five managers in the last year and most of the staff started leaving due to the pay and how the place was run.
Our manager is quite intimidating to me. For example, when I got a few complaints over a bad waxing experience i had; I was really upset and felt my confidence plummet so I turn to her for advice.- She basically told me my waxing skill ' is clearly cr*p' and that was that. Nothing to comfort me or any advice given.

She hates to be in the wrong and will easily get defensive and angry if a problem arises. Eventually me and my peers started holding back on problems to try and deal with them ourselves because we felt we couldn't talk to her :(

Until recently, everything went downhill - My peers wrote a long list of problems between them and signed it personally. They left me out of it because they didn't want me to be in anymore flak with my manager so I had no idea about it.

They passed the list onto the hotel management and then finally, my manager. They had a meeting when I had my day off and my manager exploded and felt backstabbed.
Eversince I went back to work - My manager was suddenly being so nice to me! and horrible as can be to my peer- oh gosh, you could cut the tension with a knife!
It was awful silences and snarky comments and eventually one of my peers and her started having a shouting match with me right behind them! We had clients in the thermal room (lucky out of earshot but still!)
My peer stormed out immediately and left me and my manager with both hers and our own fully booked columns. That day was awful, we had to make clients wait half an hour here and there to be able to finish that day!

My peer handed in her notice along with my other peer - they leave at the end of this month. So it was just me and my manager running the spa.

But now, my manager handed her notice in and leaves in early April. It'll just be me- a 40hr full time therapist with a fully booked April and May.

The hotel were fed up with my managers attitude and avoided seeing her - so now, I have no idea whether the hotel will get new staff asap or I lose my job! I'm really stressed out at the moment. I've been covering as much as I should to help out - I have twelve days of holiday that I physically can't take because the spa is booked and only found out today that I will get paid for it - even if I don't have it.

I just feel like everything been dumped in my lap and it's awful and makes me want to quit- I've not even been working in industry long! :( I love my job at the spa but I wish everyone could just get along!

Crumbs!, I'm so sorry this was so long! I really needed to vent or know if anyone else has had these types of conflicts in industry? How do you cope? x

Oh dear, sounds like you’ve had a nightmare few months. You did the right thing, you didn’t get too involved and you stuck it out. Your manager is clearly not manager material. I’ve ran a small spa for 5 years and waxing problems are all too common. When you’re not doing it very much (ie when you work in a spa) things go wrong a bit more often. She should have been supportive of you and did some extra training with you and got you to bring freinds and family in FOC until you felt more confident again. Also we make it a rule now that no waxing can be done on any Spa day clients as it’s too risky with the heat treatments.

But onto the positives- you stuck it out so why not apply for the managers job yourself? You’ve learned from your old boss exactly how not to do it. My first spa manager had only got about 1 years experience and she was brilliant and now is manager of another of our salons. Go to see the hotel manager with all your ideas mapped out so that they can see that you’ll follow through with things. Be positive and show them you can handle it. Draft an add for a new therapist to put on Indeed ( it’s free and you can find lots of other people’s advert that you can use for ideas.) Message me if you need any help.
 

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