Here we go again!!! Has the world gone completely mad??? No, I still don't have a refrigerator (it's now over 2 months!) but that's not what I'm venting about today...
My daughter is in her 3rd year as a Hairdressing Apprentice. Her first 18months in Hairdressing was not great, but we both thought a new start, in a new Salon and new State would get her inspired again.
WRONG!!!
Broken promises, broken contracts, no training, no work ethic, no clue.......That is what her new Employer gave her.
I'll start at the beginning of her apprenticeship with Element Hair Studio, Cannon Hill, Qld.
My daughter spoke to the owner of this business, Nerida, before we relocated from Melbourne to Brisbane in November 2007. She offered my daughter a full-time apprenticeship and promised to send her to do courses in Hair Extensions, Eyelash Extensions, etc., etc., and to teach her all the skills required to become the best Hairdresser she could possibly be.
Yeah, right! When my daughter (Brienna) researched courses for Hair Extension, etc. and passed all the information on to her employer (Nerida), nothing was done to follow up. Hence, the broken promises.
After a lot of mucking about, Brienna finally started trade-school in April.......who would have thought that was the ONLY training she was to receive. Clearly Nerida thought she didn't have to do any on-the-job training, as Brienna never received any.
Now let's talk about the difference between a professional salon and back-yard salon. In a professional Salon, the client is put first and offered the best, most professional service at all times. The client should not be kept waiting over an hour because her Hairdresser is running behind time, due to too much talking and not enough working. Even when it was evident that the hairdresser was running late; not so much as a phone call to the next client to inform them. Yep...that's professional. Oh, and stopping in the middle of a haircut to chat to "Mum" on the phone about some trivial crap that could wait till later....Yep, really professional. Then how about telling the Apprentice to tell the other Senior Hairdresser that she has to start charging her clients the Salon price, and stop undercharging.....Hmm; Isn't that up to the Manager/Owner to do??
But wait.....There's more! If you sign a legal contract taking on an Apprentice, would you not think to read it BEFORE you sign it? As the employer, would you not want to know what your obligations to that Apprentice entailed? Apparently Nerida didn't feel that was important, as was proven when she informed Brienna on the anniversary of her 3rd year as an Apprentice that she wasn't going to pay her as a third year because the college had informed her she was not as competent as she should be at that time. (Mind you, the college then called back to say they made a mistake and given her the wrong information!) Did Nerida think to call the Apprenticeship Board or Wageline to confirm what she had been told? Nah-ah.....That would have required a certain degree of intelligence, which she clearly does not possess.
So, yet again, my daughter makes the calls to the relevant organisations, and the apprentice provides the employer with the information she should have known before opening her mouth.
Six months into the Apprenticeship.......Nope, still no training. (Although, I have to say at this stage my daughter could already do a better job of coloring and styling hair than her employer, and she was beginning to take on board how NOT to cut hair.....but I digress..) Brienna, in the mean time, is doing everything in her power to keep the salon as professional as possible, but to no avail. Clients have to contend with dancing exhibitions in the middle of the salon, Nerida's son eating noodles at reception, and the constant chatter on the phone to her mother.....Yep, this is a Professional Salon alright!
I guess I should add that even though Brienna was completely disillusioned and hated going to work (this occured in January, after only being there for one month) she felt obligated to stay as she didn't want to let her employer down. Although loyal, it proved to be a huge mistake. Perhaps if she had left and gone to work at another Salon she would still want to be a Hairdresser. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
When Brienna decided she wanted to return to Melbourne at the end of this year, she advised Nerida of her intentions (against my advice) some 3 months in advance. She did this as she believed she was doing the right thing by her employer, even though she was legally only required to give one weeks' notice. Once again, doing the "right thing" backfired and with only 6 weeks before Brienna was due to finish at the Salon (working up until 3 days before she was due to fly out), Nerida decides she can't afford to keep her apprentice on full-time as she has now employed a Senior. The fact that the Senior was bringing her own clients with her, and therefore bringing more money into the Salon, seemed to escape her. (Did I happen to mention she's not the brightest crayon in the pack??) So, she tells Brienna she is dropping her hours back to Part-time, but won't be giving her set days or hours; she'll just call her when she needs her. Hmm, now that sounds more like casual than part-time, yet she was only prepared to pay her the Part-time Apprenticeship rate. Wrong again Nerida! Gosh, you really should learn to get all your facts BEFORE you go flapping your gums!
Yet again, Brienna contacts the necessary departments to find out her rights as an Apprentice and once we have this information, we ask Nerida to meet us for a discussion. As Brienna was only 17 years old when the Apprenticeship Contract was signed, I went along with her as her legal guardian. Low and behold, Nerida tells me on arriving that I am not required to be there and that I should leave. This is not a good start. I don't appreciate being dismissed and told my daughters welfare has nothing to do with me. When I refused to leave, she walked away and told me she had "better things to do". No matter. I stood my ground and told her what our enquiries had uncovered, and that she had signed a legally binding document that she could not just terminate on a whim.
Well, what do you know! Now she wants to know "who" we contacted, so she could follow up and confirm what we had told her. Er, you mean you didn't do that already? You said you did....but no.....the Apprentice informs the trainer of her obligations.....yet again.
Now, a week later and not only is she refusing to pay what Brienna is entitled to, but she is also refusing to give her a reference. So, not only has she completely destroyed my daughters dream of becoming a hairdresser, she is stopping her from getting a job and supporting herself. I get it that the meeting didn't go as well as we all would have liked, but my daughter gave 100% during the last 11 months of her employment, and is more professional as an 18 year old apprentice than her Employer; a 38 year old Senior Hairdresser that should still be working out of her backyard.
This so-called adult refused to talk to me again today about my daughter's entitlements, and even called the Police to have me removed. Funny that at 38 it's okay to involve her mother, but at 18, my daughter is expected to go it alone.
I only hope that Nerida is never allowed to employ another apprentice, and shatter their dreams as she did Brienna's. If she thinks this is over, she is in for a rude awakening, as I'm not done with her yet. Her stupidity, incompetence and unethical work standards will surely be her down fall and I truly believe the only reason she has any clients at all is because they don't know the difference between a good and bad haircut. If they did, they would never go back to her poor excuse of a Salon.
Do the world a favor, Nerida, and quit hairdressing. You are a disgrace to the profession!
My daughter is in her 3rd year as a Hairdressing Apprentice. Her first 18months in Hairdressing was not great, but we both thought a new start, in a new Salon and new State would get her inspired again.
WRONG!!!
Broken promises, broken contracts, no training, no work ethic, no clue.......That is what her new Employer gave her.
I'll start at the beginning of her apprenticeship with Element Hair Studio, Cannon Hill, Qld.
My daughter spoke to the owner of this business, Nerida, before we relocated from Melbourne to Brisbane in November 2007. She offered my daughter a full-time apprenticeship and promised to send her to do courses in Hair Extensions, Eyelash Extensions, etc., etc., and to teach her all the skills required to become the best Hairdresser she could possibly be.
Yeah, right! When my daughter (Brienna) researched courses for Hair Extension, etc. and passed all the information on to her employer (Nerida), nothing was done to follow up. Hence, the broken promises.
After a lot of mucking about, Brienna finally started trade-school in April.......who would have thought that was the ONLY training she was to receive. Clearly Nerida thought she didn't have to do any on-the-job training, as Brienna never received any.
Now let's talk about the difference between a professional salon and back-yard salon. In a professional Salon, the client is put first and offered the best, most professional service at all times. The client should not be kept waiting over an hour because her Hairdresser is running behind time, due to too much talking and not enough working. Even when it was evident that the hairdresser was running late; not so much as a phone call to the next client to inform them. Yep...that's professional. Oh, and stopping in the middle of a haircut to chat to "Mum" on the phone about some trivial crap that could wait till later....Yep, really professional. Then how about telling the Apprentice to tell the other Senior Hairdresser that she has to start charging her clients the Salon price, and stop undercharging.....Hmm; Isn't that up to the Manager/Owner to do??
But wait.....There's more! If you sign a legal contract taking on an Apprentice, would you not think to read it BEFORE you sign it? As the employer, would you not want to know what your obligations to that Apprentice entailed? Apparently Nerida didn't feel that was important, as was proven when she informed Brienna on the anniversary of her 3rd year as an Apprentice that she wasn't going to pay her as a third year because the college had informed her she was not as competent as she should be at that time. (Mind you, the college then called back to say they made a mistake and given her the wrong information!) Did Nerida think to call the Apprenticeship Board or Wageline to confirm what she had been told? Nah-ah.....That would have required a certain degree of intelligence, which she clearly does not possess.
So, yet again, my daughter makes the calls to the relevant organisations, and the apprentice provides the employer with the information she should have known before opening her mouth.
Six months into the Apprenticeship.......Nope, still no training. (Although, I have to say at this stage my daughter could already do a better job of coloring and styling hair than her employer, and she was beginning to take on board how NOT to cut hair.....but I digress..) Brienna, in the mean time, is doing everything in her power to keep the salon as professional as possible, but to no avail. Clients have to contend with dancing exhibitions in the middle of the salon, Nerida's son eating noodles at reception, and the constant chatter on the phone to her mother.....Yep, this is a Professional Salon alright!
I guess I should add that even though Brienna was completely disillusioned and hated going to work (this occured in January, after only being there for one month) she felt obligated to stay as she didn't want to let her employer down. Although loyal, it proved to be a huge mistake. Perhaps if she had left and gone to work at another Salon she would still want to be a Hairdresser. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
When Brienna decided she wanted to return to Melbourne at the end of this year, she advised Nerida of her intentions (against my advice) some 3 months in advance. She did this as she believed she was doing the right thing by her employer, even though she was legally only required to give one weeks' notice. Once again, doing the "right thing" backfired and with only 6 weeks before Brienna was due to finish at the Salon (working up until 3 days before she was due to fly out), Nerida decides she can't afford to keep her apprentice on full-time as she has now employed a Senior. The fact that the Senior was bringing her own clients with her, and therefore bringing more money into the Salon, seemed to escape her. (Did I happen to mention she's not the brightest crayon in the pack??) So, she tells Brienna she is dropping her hours back to Part-time, but won't be giving her set days or hours; she'll just call her when she needs her. Hmm, now that sounds more like casual than part-time, yet she was only prepared to pay her the Part-time Apprenticeship rate. Wrong again Nerida! Gosh, you really should learn to get all your facts BEFORE you go flapping your gums!
Yet again, Brienna contacts the necessary departments to find out her rights as an Apprentice and once we have this information, we ask Nerida to meet us for a discussion. As Brienna was only 17 years old when the Apprenticeship Contract was signed, I went along with her as her legal guardian. Low and behold, Nerida tells me on arriving that I am not required to be there and that I should leave. This is not a good start. I don't appreciate being dismissed and told my daughters welfare has nothing to do with me. When I refused to leave, she walked away and told me she had "better things to do". No matter. I stood my ground and told her what our enquiries had uncovered, and that she had signed a legally binding document that she could not just terminate on a whim.
Well, what do you know! Now she wants to know "who" we contacted, so she could follow up and confirm what we had told her. Er, you mean you didn't do that already? You said you did....but no.....the Apprentice informs the trainer of her obligations.....yet again.
Now, a week later and not only is she refusing to pay what Brienna is entitled to, but she is also refusing to give her a reference. So, not only has she completely destroyed my daughters dream of becoming a hairdresser, she is stopping her from getting a job and supporting herself. I get it that the meeting didn't go as well as we all would have liked, but my daughter gave 100% during the last 11 months of her employment, and is more professional as an 18 year old apprentice than her Employer; a 38 year old Senior Hairdresser that should still be working out of her backyard.
This so-called adult refused to talk to me again today about my daughter's entitlements, and even called the Police to have me removed. Funny that at 38 it's okay to involve her mother, but at 18, my daughter is expected to go it alone.
I only hope that Nerida is never allowed to employ another apprentice, and shatter their dreams as she did Brienna's. If she thinks this is over, she is in for a rude awakening, as I'm not done with her yet. Her stupidity, incompetence and unethical work standards will surely be her down fall and I truly believe the only reason she has any clients at all is because they don't know the difference between a good and bad haircut. If they did, they would never go back to her poor excuse of a Salon.
Do the world a favor, Nerida, and quit hairdressing. You are a disgrace to the profession!
5 comments:
This is so disturbing that Nerida could be so vindictive as to not even give Brienna a reference.
Our FaceBook readers will be interested I'm sure!
http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blogpage.php?blogid=76268
Oh my!!
I am not sure how I would react if someone treated either of my boys in such a despicable way!!
All I do know is that getting argumentative with someone like her does not help..She obviously feels quite pleased with herself and no matter what you say she will not respond favorably.. The only thing people like her respond to though is the law.. Do you not have ManPower or some sort of workers union you can report her to?
All the best..
i little bit confuse..but it's ok..nice post..
http://blog.konsletz.info
My sister is a hairdresser. Do they gossip as much in Australia as they do in the US?
I have my hairdresser shave me.
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