May be a bit long. Seemed like a good fit for this sub.
This happened a few years ago, backstory first.
My girlfriend at the time, who I ended up marrying, worked for a fairly well-known salon chain, let’s call them NiftyClips.
After a month or so of dating, I was fairly disturbed at some of the stories I heard about some of the issues she had to deal with, and how the employees were treated by the management in general. She is a very talented stylist and has a true passion for what she does. Most of my working career has had some level of design involved, so I feel fairly confident that I can recognize good work when I see it. She’s good.
Unfortunately, she would occasionally leave work in tears due to either horrible treatment from her customers, her managers, or both. I eventually started floating the idea of her exploring opportunities at a locally-owned, full-service salon. She initially was not thrilled about the idea, insisting that she liked it where she was, so I didn’t push the issue too much (although subtle hints would occasionally be dropped because I KNEW this place was holding her back, and no one should be crying after their shift on a regular basis).
Fast forward a year or so, and the opportunity presented itself. We ended up attending a festival out of town with some mutual friends, one of which owned a local salon. They got to talking and she ended up getting offered a chair, she seemed a little nervous but now there was some new enthusiasm.
This is where the actual story begins.
After one of her mangers found out that she was going to be leaving, she was offered an 11 cent raise, and then told that she will never make more money at another salon, and that she will have no steady clients since NiftyClips provides them all for her.
Part of her leaving included not informing any of her regulars that she was leaving and/or where she was going, or document any of the color mix instructions that she used for said clients. Also, if any of her clients asked where she is working after leaving NiftyClips, all employees were instructed to claim ignorance. The first two items are understandable, third seems a tad petty, but what came next was completely unacceptable and NOT going to fly.
A month or so goes by, she’s loving it. Learning new skills, earning WAY better income from the start, loves going into work every day and it’s glorious to see. One day, she receives a letter from a lawyer, a lawyer representing the franchise owner. He is claiming that she stole color-cards on her way out. These are basically color-mixing information guides that are specific for each client. Specifically, 10 cards. The letter also stated that if these cards were not returned, legal action would follow.
After receiving said letter, she called the franchise owner for some clarification and he basically let loose with a temper-tantrum-level, barely comprehendible, abusive rant which just caused her to spiral even further and was shockingly unprofessional. Even playing the devils advocate, regardless of what your employees tell you, as the owner of a franchise, you don’t call a former employee who is now faced with litigation and scream at them over the phone.
Link to said letters below, sensitive content redacted.
Letter from shady lawyer 1 of 2
Letter from shady lawyer 2 of 2
I’ve never met the guy, but everything I’ve heard about him seems to suggest that he’s just a disconnected, generally uncaring franchise owner that is enjoying his personal salon piggy bank, and he was pissed that one of his best stylists finally realized her worth. Literally just straight-forward, vindictive harassment.
I would be remiss if I did not, here and now, state how much I KNOW that this was complete bullshit. Granted, I was definitely completely smitten with this goddess vixen, but that’s so ridiculously not her modus operandi. She is honest to a fault, works her ass off, and that type of thing just isn’t her gig.
To say she was freaked out would be a huge understatement. I had never seen her that upset. It was a solid two days of freakout-mode. We aren’t rich by any means, but we do okay. I knew immediately that there was going to be lawyer involved, on our side for sure. I’ve never had to hire a lawyer for anything and I know they aren’t cheap, but fuck that.
Temper seems to run in my family, which my amazing wife had taken in stride and has been a HUGE part of helping me move past, but my blood was boiling. Fully prepared to plop down a good chunk of change to say “fuck no” in the most legal way possible, I happened to remember that a former coworker of mine was studying for the bar when we worked together a few years prior.
I don’t remember what branch of law he was focused in, but I was just looking for some advice at this point, and this is one of the nicest, straightshooting, will water your plants for you when you’re out of town guy I’ve ever met, and I trusted him. Shot him a quick email just explaining the situation, asked if it was even in his wheelhouse, and seeing if he would be interested in taking the case if so.
He had me send him the letter that she received so he could have a look. His response was above and beyond. Link below.
Link to response below, sensitive content redacted.
We have yet to receive an additional response.
One of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, and my wife. I don’t even know what could have gone down if that ended up going to court, maybe nothing, it was pretty frivolous, but that response put her mind at ease and I will be forever grateful. She is currently working and thriving at one of the top salons in the area, her clients love her to death, and I’m extremely proud of her.
Oh, and if that franchise owner ever reads this, I would love to hear details of that last conversation between you and your lawyer regarding this. I mean really, who does that to someone?
And to the lawyer, sending out a letter threatening legal action for which your client has no evidence for? What was the end goal there guy? You are several levels lower on the detrimental-to-humanity-in-general scale than the pond scum you represent.
I hope the both of you are slightly inconvenienced several times per day until it is your time to return to Hades.