A woman tried to bribe a beautician with her child’s shoes, fake money and even a pasty – then branded her ‘disgusting’ when she declined to do her lashes.
Coll Livia, who co-owns Bombshell Studio in Wigan, Greater Manchester, was subjected to a bizarre 10-message exchange in which a customer begged for a £35 Russian lash treatment despite not having the funds.
The unnamed woman offered £70 in fake notes and later threw in a pasty and a pair of her child’s new trainers from B&M to sweeten the deal.
Coll Livia (left) was shocked when she received a bizarre run of messages offering her children’s trainers, fake cash and a pasty (right)
Mother-of-one Coll, 28, politely declined the offer and proposed an alternative slot for her to have the treatment after her partner had been paid.
Enraged by her not being open to the offer the woman furiously messaged Coll branding her ‘disgusting’ and sniping ‘it’s not like you need the money’.
Coll, from St Helens, Merseyside, said: ‘I was shocked when I saw the messages. She’s being serious, it’s 100 per cent brazen. I would obviously never take fake money, I want paying in real money.
‘We do get people that ask can we do treatments on tic [on credit]. You wouldn’t take a basket of clothes to a till and ask for that without paying, it’s ridiculous.
‘Since I shared the messages about this different people have been in touch and it sounds like she’s been trying it on at beauty salons round Wigan.
‘I shouldn’t have been surprised as you wouldn’t believe the messages we get as a business when it comes to paying, it’s horrendous.
‘We had someone in a few weeks back who “forgot” their money and the boyfriend offered to give us his Rolex watch.
‘It obviously wasn’t real you could tell as it was off-gold, that’s the kind of stuff we deal with. We never did get the money for that treatment.’
Coll didn’t reply to the last message and has since blocked the number. The customer didn’t arrive for her pre-booked appointment on Friday morning.
Coll said: ‘Thank god she didn’t turn up at 9.30am as planned, we would have had to turn her away.
‘She’s been here three or four times before but she won’t be coming back.
‘If she would have messaged me and explained she had no money I would have been quite lenient with her, but admitting to having fake notes is bad.’
The business owner quipped that if the woman had suggested a different snack she may have been tempted by the offer.
The beauty salon co-owner (right, with a pasty) has been inspired to host Prosecco and pasty nights after the strange offer (left)
The beauty salon responded to the bizarre offer of a pasty as part payment for a treatment by hosting festive events
Coll and 34-year-old co-owner Sarah Sheridan are now planning to tweak their festive ‘prosecco and mince pie’ event to a ‘prosecco and pasty’ celebration to commemorate the bizarre proposal.
Coll said: ‘We have plenty of paying customers so definitely don’t need her custom.
‘Since I posted about what happened I’ve received multiple offers from people offering to buy me a pasty.
‘We had originally organised a prosecco and mince pie event but now we’re having a pasty party with prosecco.’
The pasty and prosecco events will start on December 18 and run through to December 23.