Nails By Bea

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I am not sure exactly how to begin writing this post. It’s a long one. You may want to pull up a chair.

Yesterday, one of my first ever nail clients, Carla Coffey of Cole Camp, who was still with me all these years later, had an appointment.

I had my sick baby at home with a sitter and had to run home to take care of a few things. I called her about 15 minutes before her scheduled appointment, stating I would leave the shop open and be back shortly.

While I was gone, I realized I was missing my purse with a large sum of cash. This triggered a frantic search, putting me father behind than I had originally planned.

I called her to apologize and explain what the hold up was. She said she’d look around the shop for it. I thanked her and let her know I’d see her shortly.

When I returned, I noticed her purse was in a different place than ever before, as she always kept it on the table. It was zipped, at her feet, with her wallet and phone on top of it. I found it odd but after her saying she didn’t see it, I told myself I was being ridiculous and began to search the shop.

I went and asked my friend and owner of the neighboring business to help me look, stating I thought I was overlooking it. Carla proceeded to sit at my desk while we searched.

After looking thoroughly and observing her behavior, while outside, I stated to my neighbor and my husband on the phone that I believed Carla may have my purse inside of hers. (I have a small f***y pack type of bag that would easily be concealed.)

They both suggested I ask her outright but at this point, I was still trying to convince myself this couldn’t be true.

I sat down to begin her nail appointment and noticed more odd behavior from her and that her hands were shaking. I explained how important this money was to my family, as it was my rent and proceeded to ask her to give me another few minutes to look.

I stepped out, deciding now to consult another neighboring business as well. I stated I was going to give her a few minutes in hopes she’d have a change of heart and put it somewhere.

When I came back, she was still sitting there, purse zipped at her feet and acting odd. I explained my husband was insistent I asked to see in her bag and explained that if I was wrong, I would not disagree with her blasting me to everyone she knew over my request to check. She proceeded to grab all of her belongings and start walking outside and then gave me permission to look in her car.

When she walked out, she was greeted by the other 2 business owners, whom both asked why she wouldn’t show me she didn’t have my belongings. She went to her car and began to fumble around.

I walked down the steps towards her car and heard something hit her floorboard. When I looked around her door, to no surprise at this point, there was her open purse and, you guessed it, MY PURSE. It was pushed up underneath her gas pedal.

She then stated it belonged to her. I grabbed it from the floor and confirmed what I clearly already knew and reiterated it was in fact mine.

She asked me not to have her arrested and told me she planned to tell me when we were alone.

Let me make clear, she had nothing but time and opportunity to do the right thing by either telling me or throwing it in a corner somewhere for me to find. Being honest couldn’t have been further from her intentions.

She then mentioned the amount of time she had waited to have her nails done as if I was still supposed to service her. I told her to leave and after a brief back and fourth, she did just that.

I called and reported this to the police. They took a report and said they would be picking her up on misdemeanor theft charges because although I did get it back, she left the threshold of my building and put it in her vehicle.

After a discussion with law enforcement in regard to her husband being dependent on her due to health issues, I requested she not be taken to jail. The police made contact with her and she was issued a summons to appear in court on June 11th.

I’m writing this to bring awareness to other business owners and community members in hopes to prevent this from ever happening to someone else. I’m so grateful I followed my gut and was able to recover my purse with at least most of the money inside.

This woman has known my daughter for over 2/3rds of her life. Like most of my long term clients, there comes a point where I consider you family. My business is more than a nail salon to me. It is a place where I raise my children nearly as much as I do at home and a place where I build what I’d like to believe, is genuine connection.

Apparently, I need to take more precautions and be less trusting. There will be cameras placed in the salon. I will no longer leave my shop open for clients if something comes up or I have to run out. I think this will permanently change my comfort level at work. This makes me SO sad because I’ve always been so comfortable with my clients and tried to create a space where we all feel comfortable and like it’s a 2nd home.

At this point, I’m still very shocked by the situation. I feel it’s important others know in our community what happened. This is an older photo of her but the depiction is still accurate enough. She does where glasses now but otherwise, it’s pretty hard to think she could be someone else.

I was also able to see where she was charged for writing bad checks 20 years ago. Case net could be another week or two before it reflects this case from what the sgt said.

In the meantime, I believe she will be looking for other service providers. I hope everyone sees this and has the chance to go into this with a full picture of who she is.

If you’ve made it this far, I sure do appreciate your time and would appreciate even more if you could share this post.

Had SO much fun with these! 💕

These will go quickly! ✨

I have some 4:30 spots on Mondays and Tuesdays I’m considering opening up so feel free to reach out if that interests you also! 💕