Woman Sues Hair Salon - They charged her $8 "Ethnic" Service Charge

[matcom]

<snip>

For two years, Paulette Harris has had her hair shampooed and dried twice a month at a Hair Cuttery in Glen Burnie. Last month, when Harris, a black woman, went in for her shampoo, she said she was told the charge would be $8 more because she is "ethnic."

"I said, 'This is ridiculous, I've never been charged extra,'" said Harris, 25, who has straight shoulder-length hair. "'You're not going to charge me more because I'm not Caucasian.'"

She filed a $600,000 lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday against Hair Cuttery, alleging negligent hiring and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She also alleges that she was subjected to discrimination and racial slurs.

According to the lawsuit, filed by Harris' lawyer, Barry R. Glazer, "Defendants knew, or reasonably should have known, that their employees were insensitive to persons of color and prone to make racial comments and slurs."

On March 11, the salon tried to charge the Hanover resident $21 for what she believed was a $13 service, according to the lawsuit.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.hair27apr27,0,524224.story?coll=bal-pe-maryland

[Whitacre D_WI]

1. Charging her more because she's Black?

I wish she were seeking more in damages, 'cause this is a slam-dunk discrimination case.

[MissMillie]

2. Is it any different

than the practice of charging women more than men?

[Whitacre D_WI]

4. No -- some places do get around that by charging more for

"long hair."

Which is okay by me, because it's tougher and more time-consuming to cut my hair (kinda longish-haired man) than it would be for a short-haired woman.

[notadmblnd]

3. Why did she continue going to them for 2 years

if they were racist? They suddenly became racist? I've never heard of there being an "ethnic" surcharge either but racial epitats are usually hard to hide long term. It has been my experience that most black women do have their hair washed and done for them and they pay extrodinary high prices at salons that are operated by African Americans, perhaps the white salon operators are just jumping on that bandwagon?

[Loonman]

5. Good point

...

[Alenne]

6. The article doesn't say they were racist against her for 2 years.

When they charged her 8 dollars more because she was ethnic that was racist.

White women pay extraordinarily high prices at salons operated by other white people but at this salon they still charged them $13. If they were just trying to get on the bandwagon they would have charged everybody more.

[notadmblnd]

7. The woman also alledges that...

"she was subjected to discrimination and racial slurs".

It has been my experience that people who engage in this sort of behaviour, do a very poor job of hiding it from anyone long term. The woman was a client for over two years. I would think that she had a clue long before the price went up.

By the article stating that she WAS ALSO subjected to discrimination and racial slurs along with the racist incident, the article inferes to me that discrimination occured on more than one occasion.

If I patronise a business and am treated in what I perceive to be a discriminatory manner, I simply do not return. The almighty dollar spends pretty much anywhere these days and there are always others that have managed to overcome racism and prejudice in thier quest for it. If the woman continued to patronize the establishment after suffering abuse, that either makes her a person looking for a lawsuit or boo boo the fool.

Lastly, my comment about black women paying extrodinairly high prices in black owned salons was said for a reason, most Africian American womens hair is coarse and it take more time to wash and dry. It's the reason why they go to a salon to begin with, their hair is hard to do and it takes a long time to get the hair straight especially if it is long. Therefore they pay a lot more. I have friends that pay over 100.00

[supernova]

8. Braiding can also take hours

to do. And yes, longer hair can be more time-consuming too. Fine.

Having said that, this sounds racist to me. :thumbsdown:

[Alenne]

9. in the entire article

it only talks about that one day and what was said on that one day. The woman does not say for 2 years she was discriminated against. A racial slur is not the same as a racial epithet.

I know about African American hair. It just took me 15 minutes to wash and blow dry mine. Most black women have relaxers just like this woman and it takes less time when a person has a relaxer. This woman does not have very long hair.

There was no excuse for the way she was treated.

[notadmblnd]

12. if the discrimination was not a regular practice...

how can her attorney allege this?

According to the lawsuit, filed by Harris' lawyer, Barry R. Glazer, "Defendants knew, or reasonably should have known, that their employees were insensitive to persons of color and prone to make racial comments and slurs."

[Alenne]

13. because

if that salon made a change like that after 2 years then the hairdressers must have made comments to someone about ethnic hair and customers. Someone in a higher position than a hairdresser approved the policy change.

[IronLionZion]

10. "ethnic people have habit of being serviced and leaving without paying,"

"She then called the Hair Cuttery customer service line and lodged a complaint, according to the lawsuit. A customer service representative spoke with a hairstylist at the salon, who was told to do Harris' hair for the listed price, the lawsuit says.

Harris' hair was then shampooed and blown dry. She said she paid $13, plus a $5 tip."

-------------------end snip------------------------------------
Did any of you posters read the article? This is 100% racism! The home office told the stylist to charge regular price.

Ethnic people eh? Who is an "ethnic" person?

on edit: deleted expletives

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. I have to say that, when I was a stylist at a certain department store

which shall remain nameless (but the name makes you think of those Lincoln coins) they did charge extra for "ethnic" services. Which was a load in my book because three quarters of the stylists had no freaking idea how to use a press and comb. It's dead wrong and I used to lowball the price on my clients.

:hi: