Dude…my folding camping chairs can support 200 lbs. The regular ones. The heftier ones support 250. (Yes, it’s there on the label.)
I have to agree that “200” is a bullshit number. Either the chairs can hold more or they should hold more…either way, I agree that it’s a cost of business, and charging a surcharge is probably a bad business move.
I disagree. If the owner or worker says nothing and *allows *the customer to sit in the chair, and it breaks as a result, why should it be the customer’s fault?
A business owner with much more knowledge of her client base and how her business operates chose a certain legal business practice. I don’t see how anyone on this message board has the ability to make a meaningful comment about it.
Because duh, she’s so FAT. Right? :rolleyes:
How did they know said chair would break? If you look at that chair, I can’t imagine it WOULD. Sort of a “you break it, you buy it” policy. But then, I don’t know how that would work out, legally. Personally, I don’t see how charging for damages is a problem.
He’s saying that the customer shouldn’t be responsible. Why are you mad?
Who said I was mad? (More like sarcastic.) I simply disagree and feel that the customer should be at least partially responsible if they break something. That’s all.
It’s no skin off of my ass.
She chose a nasty, prejudicial, foolish business practice - it’s her right to do so, and it’s my right to form an opinion of what she’s doing.
It’s also the right of a whole mess of people to vote with their dollars-- I have a feeling this lady will be out of business without too much time passing. Like I said before, a vital part of running a successful salon is creating an environment where customers will be comfortable and relaxed— they can’t be worried about judgments and such. Salons are places where people get their crotches waxed, their calluses shaved off, etc etc. There’s no place for body shame in the salon business.
I certainly respect her right to do it but it’s basically the most retarded thing she could do. The fact that she thought the shit wouldn’t hit the fan is really indicative of her intelligence.
I don’t think it should be the customer’s responsibility at all. If they sat down, that means they received permission to sit down. The moment the owner granted that permission, she became fully responsible for any consequences.
Assuming, of course, that she didn’t do something that could be expected to break it. I’m not sure what that would be, but customers are quite good at doing things wrong.
Having said that, if she wasn’t doing anything stupid and the chair broke, I think it would be more likely that it was from years of being in service rather then one overweight person sitting in it. That overweight person just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. It probably would have happened sooner or later regardless of who was sitting in it.
Given it doesnt happen in planes and theres a much stronger argument for it there to charge by body weight, it does seem like a reach.
Breakge wise Im also wondering if its size rather than weight directly, ie stretching things when they sit down or whatever?
Otara
People don’t know what weights look like–if you weigh 120 and are 5’2", you may well think that 200 on anyone is can’t-fit-in-an-airline seat huge, but it isn’t: on someone 5’8", 200 is chunky or thick, and even on someone of average height-5’5" or so–it’s “need to lose some weight” size, not “can’t-ride-the-roller-coasters” size.
So the 200 number may have come from a fundamental misconception of what a 200-lb person looks like. However, no woman over 180 will go to the salon now, for fear she will be asked to weigh in because she’s worried she might look like she might weigh 200, and such a request is simply too humiliating to risk when there are easy alternatives.
Yeah, if I go in to get a pedicure and the chair I’m on breaks, and the owner hands me a bill for $2K and says it’s my fault? No way in hell I’m paying for that. If they expect people to do that, they’ll have to get them to sign something to that effect before they sit down. I’m sure that will be even better for their business than this horrible publicity.
Those chairs are mechanical–they massage and jiggle and blow bubbles. If they have a motor problem (I’m assuming that’s what the problem is, not the chair actually collapsing) that’s most likely an issue of cumulative wear on the parts, or whatever. It would be impossible to point to the last person who sat in it and say “all your fault!”
As to whether the salon was reasonable? Certainly it was stupid. I would never go there, because it’s clear that the owner is both an idiot and mean, and my weight is well under 200 lbs, so you’re driving away normal-weight customers as well as heavier ones. Not smart.
Business owners sometimes make stupid decisions about their business practices or products. New Coke is a famous historical example of this. Business owners aren’t infallible. Sometimes they make decisions that alienate customers or potential customers.
That makes no goddamned sense for a situation like this. It isn’t like the customer dropped a glass jar and it shattered; the customer was the last in the line of hundreds or thousands of people who sat their ass in a chair that has a motor for massaging, tilting, making water bubble, etc. It’s cumulative damage, not one long person.
The devil you say! Consumers aren’t supposed to have any power in a capitalist society! We should be glad the demigod class of business owners deign to share their expertise and haircare products with us savages.
Trying out a new recipe is a chance you take as a business. Charging extra for being fat isn’t a bad decision, it’s just stupid. If she was really worried about her chairs, she needs to raise her pedicure prices a bit to cover maintenance or replacement.
It’s still medically obese- not just overweight- for both people.
I actually agree that the woman involved is an idiot. But I know that obesity has a strong social component, including a normalizing effect that means when when we are around so many big people we lose site of what “normal” is- and this causes us to do things that make us gain weight. So I’m just kind of surprised to see 200 lbs. called “a ridiculously low weight limit.” It just doesn’t seem like a good thing for our society to treat that as “normal.”
I could see your point if the salon doesn’t allow male clients.