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AIBU?

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Original poster

The Asian ladies that work in nail salons

212 replies

Charlieandthechocolatecake · 25/05/2017 01:42

Please forgive my ignorance. Please!

I had a pedicure today (for the first time in 5 years!)

I was thinking whilst i was there that the majority of that staff in salons I have been to are Asian women. Some of them young.

I've also noticed that in my experience, their English is limited.

I'd like to know if anybody knows if these women are here specifically to do that job?

Or are they here for education? A better future?

I ask because I have never had my nails done by an Asian woman that can speak fluent English.

I had my nails done by a lovely young woman today...i know this is a career choice for many that have a passion for it. But is it for these women in particular or do they hope to gain an education here and an alternative career? If like to think so.

OP posts:
Gileswithachainsaw · 25/05/2017 07:30

Does any body do anything about this.i mean obviously now there are so many of these places pllling up I mean we have multiple all within short distances of eachother.

Is there no one who thinks to collate missing person pictures from other countries and check out the nail bars etc

I mean if these women have been trafficked would there be reports? Schools reporting kids not showing up? Parents?

SayNoToCarrots · 25/05/2017 07:33

I always think about this.

About ten years ago, I was getting my nails done and the technician was a mandarin speaker. I speak mandarin, so I was just chatting with her about where she was from, whether she was studying. The boss noticed and swapped her out for someone who did not speak mandarin.

I didn't understand at the time, assuming the boss just needed her for something else, but the next day it occurred to me that the boss did not want me talking to the staff. I did not know the name of the salon, but even today I wish I had reported it.

ScanniX · 25/05/2017 07:37

I don't know about the Chinese but I know about the Indians.
Many of the Indian women got married to men born in the U.K. so they can't speak English properly. As far as I know they haven't been trafficked. They got married and came to the U.K. and many leave the job after children.

LaLegue · 25/05/2017 07:39

Having said that, I think most nail bar owners and workers are here perfectly legitimately - many Vietnamese refugees settled here in the 70s and 80s. If they were too old for school, or only caught a year or so, They may have been too busy survicing in Vietnamese speaking workplaces - restaurants, nail bars etc - to have the chance to learn much English.

There hasn't been a Vietnamese staffed nail bar on every high street since the 70's though, has there? These girls are new to the country even if the salon owners aren't. They are exploiting women from back home because it's a good money spinner for them. The women are probably happy enough because they are earning relatively good money to send back to poverty stricken family. To live and work with the pay and conditions they are legally entitled to here would probably never enter their heads. But then they probably also know that in order to have a chance of that they'd need to make a fuss and expose themselves to the authorities and the likelihood is not that they'd have a magic wand waved over them and suddenly be on proper salary with tax credits and a cosy HA flat, but in all likelihood (and rightly so) on a plane back home.

It's exactly the same with British Bangladeshis running Indian restaurants and 'going home' to recruit restaurant staff. It's not like there aren't enough trained chefs in the UK already, of Bangladeshi heritage or otherwise. They do it because they can pay them much much less, put them in substandard accommodation that comes with the job (thereby tying them in, as the staff will have no independence and no roof over their heads outside of their employment, and no right to it either) and avoid many of the responsibilities and higher salaries that would go with employing someone already in the UK.

Same with Nigerian or Arab or Pakistani professionals bringing in housekeeping staff from 'home'. Like hell are they paid minimum wage with a proper employment contract and everything done by the book. Like hell.

It's rife. It needs stamping out. But for some reason it's largely ignored and tolerated until someone manages to escape and it gets to the media with a sob story of trafficking, slavery, being starved or abused and then everyone's up in arms about an individual case, but it's going on right under our noses in towns all across across the UK.

I used to rent a house out to a Saudi family and when I visited they had a maid living there. She had one black bag for her possessions and a cheap flimsy blow up lilo on the floor. I don't know where she was from as I didn't meet here, she'd travelled back to Saudi with her 'madam' to visit family, but my guess is she would have been Indonesian, Sri Lankan or Ethiopian. Again you can bet your life that whatever hoops they had to jump through at immigration to bring her into the UK as an employee, her employment status and conditions would absolutely not have stood up to scrutiny under UK law.

IfYouGoDownToTheWoodsToday · 25/05/2017 07:40

People need to educate themselves about this- it is well known that many of these women are trafficked. I don't understand why the police aren't dong more about it. Sad

BillSykesDog · 25/05/2017 07:43

I don't know if those agency ads are genuine for the US, I have serious doubts. But for the UK someone Vietnamese simply couldn't get a work visa just to work in a nail bar because it isn't a profession that attracts visas as it's not a shortage skill. I'm extremely dubious that somebody Vietnamese would be able to enter the US just on that basis either. It's not a shortage profession and their employment rate isn't great.

That advert is most likely a scam.

Birdsgottaf1y · 25/05/2017 07:44

Tbf, I worked in a Punjabi restaurant and the attitude towards Staff exchanging more than pleasantries was frowned upon. We were all working legally. I got warned when I spoke to a neighbour as I served them.

I was chatting to a taxi driver in Morocco about this and when you're in a position of servitude, it's all about making the experience a good one for the customer, everyday worries are supposed to be forgotten.

There's been a few of the Salons raided, here in Liverpool, one was found to be using banned (in the U.K.) chemicals, but there was no illegal workers.

Young Woman does not necessarily equal trafficked Worker.

RebelRogue · 25/05/2017 07:44

Are there no males at the salons you go to?
At ours there's about the same number of males as females. The owner is male,but he does nail work as well,just like everyone else.

LaLegue · 25/05/2017 07:44

But for the UK someone Vietnamese simply couldn't get a work visa just to work in a nail bar because it isn't a profession that attracts visas as it's not a shortage skill.

Exactly. There is something really dodgy going on and the authorities are clearly not bothering to do much to expose it.

hellokittymania · 25/05/2017 07:44

Chainsaw, school attendance isn't really enforced in Vietnam and many children don't even go to school. Sometimes families pull them out in year six to help with farming four example. The little girl who I mentioned above, was sent to work because she had a huge bunch of younger siblings and only one parent was working. She was working in a restaurant, the little girl not the mother, and rarely attended school.

Children with special needs mostly stay at home. Visually impaired have it lucky, as there is a big School in Ho Chi Minh City with over 300 students that goes up until grade 12. The areas that I work in though currently have 14 children out of 300 in school and it's more than likely that many won't study past grade 5. These are blind children I mean. If you are deaf, there are classes until grade 5 as well. We worked with an orphanage at one point, and by orphanage I mean children with parents but they are too poor to take care of them, and sometimes relatives would take the child somewhere and the child wouldn't be in class for months.

Oblomov17 · 25/05/2017 07:45

Reporting to the police would be pointless I fear. It's rife. Across loads of industry's.

Kokusai · 25/05/2017 07:48

There is a lot of people trafficking from Vietnam - do not assume the ladies working in your nail bar have a choice.

StillDrivingMeBonkers · 25/05/2017 07:50

How Bizarre that the O pdidnt strike upa conversation with the omen making her feet all pretty and actually talk to them and 6ask^ them what their aspirations are.

BTW - my pedicurist is a second generation Hong Kong national, with a degree in accountancy from a Russell Uni - who knows the beauty industry pays far better than slogging in an office.

hellokittymania · 25/05/2017 07:52

Dog, many adverts are scams. But many people want a better life. People want to be able to send their children to school, to pay for healthcare, for many reasons, so they do it.

In southeast Asia,Filipino Indonesian and Burmese go to work in Singapore as maids for example. Some employers take the girls passports and in some cases have abused them.

KindnessAtlas · 25/05/2017 07:52

Is it, "aibu to sound a bit racist"? Is this sort of attitude not why we have Brexit?

Come on it surely is allowed to discuss other people's language skills? I mean we are triggertype happy when British people say 'of' instead of 'have' and have dodgy grammar.

In fact when women are not able to speak any English we should be concerned for them. Communication skills are crucial to be and feel empowered in society.

fakenamefornow · 25/05/2017 07:59

Just read that BBC link. We could really do with something like that for the African/Asian migrants in Europe.

hellokittymania · 25/05/2017 07:59

Dog, between the Philippines and Vietnam, I have seen so many impossible things become possible , I don't know if the article is in English but I remember a few years ago a Vietnamese tour group was going to Israel and they all went missing at the airport. I can never say I have seen it all, because there's always something new to see.

It was likely by the way that they were going to try and reach Australia or another third country via Israel. I think measures were put in place to stop or restrict certain people from going to Israel.

LuluLovesFruitcakes · 25/05/2017 07:59

Kent police force have things on how to apot signs of trafficking; www.kent.police.uk/advice/human-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery/

There's a nail bar near me that I worry a bit about, there's only two people working in there now, the woman (who does everything, is very skilled, handles all money and does all the talking) and the young man who doesn't speak any English, is always unkept, is not all that good at doing nails, and never speaks to customers, only speaks to the lady. I don't go in there any more.

The Asian ladies that work in nail salons
stevie69 · 25/05/2017 08:00

What is your AIBU?

Is it, "aibu to sound a bit racist"?

For the love of God ............ the OP was merely asking a genuine question. Do let us know what prompted you to post this drivel ....

echinaceadootmanut · 25/05/2017 08:00

I remember reading an article in The Sunday Times about this. Young Vietnamese being trafficked to UK to work in nail bars. I avoid them as a result

MistySparrow · 25/05/2017 08:00

hellokitty that's really interesting Smile

Eggsbutnobacon · 25/05/2017 08:01

I have long wondered this. I appreciate that English would be difficult to learn for these workers, but they couldn't speak any English at all, unless it was to say " square or oval?".

Also cash only and only the male in the salon was allowed to handle payments.

My suspicions were confirmed when my local salon was shut down by police and immigration.

echinaceadootmanut · 25/05/2017 08:01

Avoid the nail bars I mean

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 25/05/2017 08:01

OP, I've found this thread really interesting, with some great posts.
Nothing racist about it.

Swipe left for the next trending thread