If you’re looking for a list of possible challenges your new salon might face, I have a few to add to your list: Fire Alarms, Flaming Hot Stone Warmers, Sprinklers, Faulty Toilets, and Firemen! (Well, firemen aren’t necessarily a challenge, except when they try to steal the bride during a nail party.)

It all started with our first big wedding party. Everything was going great — we’d just set up all the food and drinks and the bride-to-be had just arrived. Then, it came: the deafening shriek of the fire alarm. We evacuated the building and found out that the construction workers on a neighboring unit had ignited some small fires while welding! (Believe it or not, we’ve had more than one episode of this happening, but we’re crossing our fingers that it won’t be a recurring theme at Talons.)

We’ve since tried to compete with our neighbors by igniting our own small fires, via the salon’s hot stone warmers. (OK, so the “friendly competition” might be a joke, but our salon fires were very real.) I’m not sure where we got the idea to put wet towels under the hot stones, but I can tell you now from personal experience that it’s not recommended. If left on, the towels will dry out, smolder, and ignite.

Moving on from fire to water, we’ve also had issues with water in unexpected places. First, the maintenance man adjusted the sprinklers in our garden to water our back window, which was when we found out that the window apparently leaks. Unfortunately, the maintenance staff seems to feel that moving the sprinkler has fixed the problem, and I’m still trying to get them to understand that windows shouldn’t leak, period! Water has also been appearing mysteriously in the main bathroom since opening. Many theories and lots of “I think that should fix it” have resounded; for the time being, the mystery water has once again disappeared, so let’s hope it stays away for good as it makes a real mess.

P.S. Back to those firemen, well, every bride loves firemen, as you can see from the picture.

P.P.S. Business has been, ahem, smokin’! Thank you to all our great customers and staff.

—Michelle, Talons Nail Evolution, Victoria, B.C., Canada