9. I Had an Intruder in My Salon (BONUS)

In this bonus episode, I’m telling the story of one of the most traumatising moments I’ve ever had in my salon… The morning a completely uninvited visitor showed up, refused to leave and sent me into a full panic attack minutes before my first appointment.

Before you assume the absolute worst, I promise it’s not as bad as you’re probably expecting😅 But in the moment, it was genuinely one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire life.

Traumatising then, but lowkey hilarious now. The perfect little bonus episode to keep you entertained while I’m overseas💗😅

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone and welcome to Blossom and Business, the podcast for all things beauty, business, mindset, and more. My name is Monique and I am the owner of Royal Blossom Beauty, a beauty business based in Melbourne, Australia. I offer nail, lash and brow services as well as nail and business education. I really hope you enjoy this episode and let's get into it. Hey guys, and welcome to a bonus episode of the podcast. Now this episode is gonna be a little bit more chaotic. This is a little bonus episode. I'm in Japan right now, so I thought I'd give you guys a little extra something-something since I'm not gonna be on socials very much, and I wanted to give you guys some more content. Today I'm talking about one of the most traumatic experiences I had in my salon. This experience literally left me having a panic attack, screaming, crying, and was the most traumatizing experience I've honestly ever had, probably in my lifetime. And I was still crying minutes before my client came. They showed up completely uninvited, they had no appointment, and they refused to leave. Now the clickbait part is done. I promise you, you're actually gonna want to listen to this episode, but it's not as bad as you think. It was not a client, it was not a human. So let me give you the rundown. By the episode title, there was in fact an intruder in my salon, but it was not a human intruder. So sorry for the clickbait, but this was genuinely the most traumatizing experience I've ever had. So don't kill me. I did genuinely have a panic attack. I did cry, I did scream, and I was still crying minutes before my first client of the day. So this is what actually happened. So this was probably a few years ago, and it was summer in Australia, of course, it gets very hot. I have a garage salon, right? So it's a converted garage, and the front of the garage, the roller door's gone, it's just glass doors, and it connects to our driveway, which is like a U-shaped driveway. So my car is parked directly in front of the salon. So this was the Saturday, by the way. It was a warm day. I had arrived and put my stuff in the salon, and I forgot something in the boot. So I go back out. It's still already warm at this point, and as soon as I open the door to go back out, I see a lizard, right? And it sees me, it freaks out. Now I hate reptiles, may I just add, I hate reptiles. They are my biggest fear. Like, you know how people say, like, I'm scared of heights, I'm scared of spiders. I'm scared of reptiles, specifically snakes and lizards. But to be fair, if I saw like a crocodile, I'm I'm I'm running, I'm sprinting. I will not even put myself in a position to go anywhere near one. I hate reptiles. I could probably handle a turtle, but anything more than that, even the turtle themselves, like the actual turtle without the shell, no, bye. Anyways, I hate reptiles, biggest fear. I can handle a spider. I don't love spiders, but I could handle a spider much better than I could handle a reptile. Reptiles and me, no. We just don't know. My fear of reptiles is so strong that I refuse to go for walks when it's like really hot. Like it takes like a lot of convincing, and I freak out. Like I think if I was if I had a close encounter with a snake, I would probably like faint, realistically. So, anyways, I was grabbing stuff out of the boot and I opened the door to go outside to the boot and I see this lizard and it sprints off. Right? It sees me, gets scared, runs off. I was a little bit shaken. I was like, oh sh like this lizard right outside the salon, but it ran away. So I quickly got my stuff out of the boot, went back in the salon. Now, mind you, after this I thought nothing of it again. I didn't think about this lizard again, right? So I went about my day, I was doing clients, and I had a client come in, and it was really hot. Like I've got the front of the salon's all glass, the sun just like penetrates through and it gets really hot in the salon. And again, I've only got that glass door, so I wanted a bit of airflow going on because the split system can only do so much. So I actually had the door open. There's no like fly screen, nothing. I just had the door fully open. Now back then I had the salon set up that I could see, you know, people walking through the front door, but I had a beauty bed in the way, so I could only see maybe like kneecaps up, so I would not see anything on the floor coming into the salon. Now I think you can see where I'm going with this. But anyways, all was well. I did my client's nails, she paid, left, whatever. And back then, my reception desk was right next to my door. So you walk in and on the left was my reception desk. Now, after that client, or after my clients of the day, I was sitting on my computer at my reception desk and I earlier that morning I had a like a little bin behind me on the right in the corner of the room. I had scrunched up plastic and put it in the bin, like it was like a wrapper of something. And you know when like plastic, like when you scrunch it and then it unravels, it's like kind of that crinkling noise. I heard that crinkling noise coming from that bin, and I just did like a quick, like a quick glance. Like I didn't like fully look to see what was going on around that little bin that I had. I had a quick glance. So I don't know if it was a plastic or if it was something else. Anyways, so I was working on my computer, mind you, this is still the Saturday, and then I packed up and I went to my mum's house. And I worked Sundays back then, so next morning I come in on the Sunday, and when I come in, I normally come in and I'll dunk my work bag on the floor next to my reception desk and set everything else up and then come back to set up my laptop at the end. I always come into the salon an hour early because I like to be prepped, ready to go, and some clients just walk up early and I'll just take them earlier. Now, I walk into the salon and I go to my reception desk and I bend over to place my little laptop bag on the floor. I see this reptile-looking thing wrapped around my bin. Now, mind you, this I'm pretty sure it was a blue-tongue lizard. Like, I'm no reptile expert, but I'm pretty sure it was a blue-tongue lizard. So she was thick. I think it was a he. I don't know. I named him Larry, by the way. So to me, it's a male. He was thick. Like I didn't know if it was a snake, I didn't know if it was a lizard. It was wrapped around, like the bin was probably, if you're watching the visuals, like about this big. Like it was like a fairly small bin. Kind of like a little bathroom bin kind of thing, like very small bin. It was wrapped around. So I didn't know if it was a snake, I didn't know if it was a lizard, I didn't know what the hell it was, but it was like thick. It wasn't no gecko. I'm scared of geckos too, but like not to this degree. Anyways, I saw some sort of reptile thing wrapped around this bin. I was all alone. I didn't have cameras back then. I wish I had cameras back then because I could have shown you on camera, like how like everything happened. I did record some bits and pieces on my phone, but I was literally like traumatized. Like I saw that reptile-looking thing. Mind you, the door was still like fully opened. I had the door stopped in and my bag was on the floor. I sprinted and jumped onto my lash bed and I sat there and cried my heart out. Because I'm not joking, like when I say reptiles are my biggest fear, I'm not saying like, oh, I'm a little bit scared of reptiles. Like, no. I am like next level. I was screaming and crying and just like, oh my gosh, like next level. Like I wish someone was there with me, but they weren't. Now, I work in a salon at my dad's house. He was not home. I called my mum, she was not at her house. No one was around. I didn't have a boyfriend back then either. So I called more family, and the soonest they could come was in like 20 minutes. Luckily, I'd come to the salon an hour before my client. So I had a bit of time, but I was sitting there for 20 minutes crying my heart out because this lizard, and I would not step foot on the floor. I would not. So, anyways, I was miserable and I was crying my heart out, waiting for someone to come like help me, like save me, and just get this lizard out of the salon. And I was like literally so like miserable and crying. I even recorded stories of me crying and like telling the story to everyone. Like I posted it on my story, and back then I didn't really show myself online very much. Like I wasn't doing any education, I wasn't like posting me, photos of me, like no one really like, you know, it was so random for me to record not only myself talking to the camera, I'm posting it on my story, but recording me crying and screaming and just like being miserable. Like I literally was just like sharing it with my story because I had no one out. Like, this is my business story, by the way. Just sharing it with people, like my clients, because I had no one there to like comfort me. And mind you, when everyone replied to this story, there was no like oh Monique, like, I'm so sorry. They were all like, oh poor lizard, he just wanted to cool down. And I'm like, where's my sympathy? Like, I'm here having a panic attack, and people were like, Oh, poor lizard, like, no, poor Monique. Poor Monique couldn't even work. There's a damn lizard in the salon. Like, I outside, the lizard space is outside. I, as scared as I am of reptiles, I'm like, you know, it's their land, their whatever, like, as much as I'd love them not to be right outside the salon, like if they're outside, like, it's not as big of a deal. But this lizard was inside, inside the house, inside the salon. I was like, no, this isn't my space. Your space is outside. Anyways, there was no sympathy for me whatsoever. Everyone was just like, oh, poor lizard, poor lizard just wanted to cool down. Like, it's probably more scared of you. And like, yeah, it probably was, but I didn't see the lizard having a full panic attack, screaming and crying. I was having a panic attack, screaming and crying. Now, by this point, like 20 minutes had passed, and my family comes, and obviously, we don't want to kill a lizard. So they had the broom, and it just like gently sweeps it out. And mind you, this lizard did not want to go. Like, I could not work with the lizard in the room, like I wouldn't even touch the floor, but I definitely could not work with the lizard in there, so we had to get it outside. So they used the broom to like sweep it outside because it would not go willingly. You could walk right up to it and it would not move. It was still alive, by the way, but like it would not move, so we had to like sweep it outside, and it was like it was crawling back in, like it would just not leave. And then eventually they swept it away. And because to get to the door, it had to go kind of close to where I was sitting on the beauty bed. So eventually I jumped off the beauty bed and I ran and I jumped on top of my sink that I have in the salon because I was not touching the floor. Because what if it came crawling and come to get me? Which I know it's lizard, like they don't do that, it's not like a snake or something, but like I was petrified, so I was like, nope. I climbed and sat on top of the sink, and I was still screaming, I was still crying, and yeah, they broomed the lizard away. And oh my gosh, it was so traumatizing. And by the time they got the lizard out, I was still crying by the way. I had 10 minutes before my first client of the day. Oh my gosh, and mind you, this damn lizard, like it would it had thrown me off the whole day. And even the clients that come in, they're like, oh poor lizard, like, shut up! Poor lizard who? No, it was me. It was like I miserable. Anyways, I've so like it thrown me off my whole day. And then the lizard had the audacity to rock up again a month later, not in the salon, thankfully. I've learned my lesson. I've never ever ever left the door open in the salon ever again. I'm traumatized. I survive sweating and being miserable when it's hot. I will never leave the door open ever again. Learnt my lesson for sure. But this lizard, he was outside in the back patio area a month later, and I saw him again. Larry the lizard. This guy didn't want to leave. He just had to keep hanging around. But as scared as I was of him, I could tolerate him being outside, away from me, away from the salon. But what I could not tolerate was him inside my salon. Like he was inside my salon. Like I literally could not work on clients because he was in the salon with me. Absolutely not. So that was my traumatizing story, and mind you, I have had more reptile experiences since then. Like I had with the same client, by the way, we had a gecko come in with the door closed, like there's a tiny little bit of a gap under the door, a little gecko came in through me so crazy, so unexpected, because the door was obviously closed, but it still fits in that little gap, just wedged itself through. So the same client that the lizard had come through in her appointment, we had to get the gecko out of her appointment. Like three years later, by the way. Like maybe she attracts reptiles, but oh my gosh, the amount of just like no reptile experiences I have had in recent years, even like up until recently, I had never come face to face with a snake, like apart from a zoo, and then me and my partner went for a walk, and luckily it was like five meters ahead of us, otherwise, I probably would have fainted. Like, honestly, I probably would have fainted. I've just had too many reptile experiences for one lifetime, and I'm over it. Like, obviously, we've seen so many geckos when we're going to Bali in Thailand, but like a lizard, a whole lizard in my salon was like not on the cards for me. Now, to this day, because I don't have cameras, I still don't know if that Saturday afternoon when I was working on my computer, that crinkling, ruffling noise, I don't know if that was a plastic unraveling, or if I was sitting next to that lizard that entire time, I had no idea because it kind of was like a bit hard to see. The floor in the salon is painted grey, like it's concrete and it's painted grey. And obviously it wasn't like a very vibrant green, like it was kind of like a very like faded green colour. I don't know what lizards look like. But anyways, it kind of blended in a little bit with the floor. So I don't know when I thought I heard the crinkling and I had a quick like glance back at the bin, I only looked for two seconds, like not even two seconds, I guess. Like a 0.5 of a second, I had a quick glance, but I don't know if that was just the plastic unraveling or if I was sitting next to the lizard that entire time. And imagine how scared I would have been. Like I would have f screamed if I was sitting next to that lizard and I turned over and I saw a lizard next to my foot. I would have oh my god. Traumatizing. Now I know to most people a lizard intruder in their salon and a traumatizing lizard experience is probably less traumatizing than a client intruding or a person intruding. But for me, this was next level, my biggest fear. I probably would rather a client intruder than a lizard intruder. So after this episode, I better not get any damn messages or comments about that poor lizard. No, there was poor Monique. I was crying and screaming and just the my biggest fear. Like I literally, snakes are worse, like lizards are like eh, but like snakes, next level. If that was a snake in my salon, I probably would have retired. I would have retired. I probably would have never left the house ever again, probably would have never stepped outside ever again. Like when I say reptiles are my biggest fear, I'm not messing around, I promise you they are, and I'm just so traumatized. And like now that like I feel like I'm experiencing more life now, like I've had more encounters. Like I would go outside more because my partner loves the outdoors and we go for walks, and I saw a snake, and then he's had a lizard like in his gutter, right outside his house, and then we went to um Bali and Thailand, there was geckos everywhere. Obviously, I had a gecko in my actual salon in Melbourne, and then even Thailand, like there was a time that we were on the bike, and then we were in the middle of nowhere, and we had to stop on the side of the road to look at the directions. And of course, exactly where we stopped, massive lizard. Like, I'm talking huge lizard, like way bigger than what was in the salon, bigger than a blue tongue. I don't know what it was. Thank goodness it wasn't a Komodo dragon. If I saw a Komodo dragon or a snake, like a or even like a crocodile, absolutely not. Bye. See ya. But in a good way, I guess, like the lizard probably wasn't as bad to most people, I guess, than a client intruder, but it was still very traumatizing. But anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this little story time. Again, sorry for the clickbait, but I had to get you to listen to this episode because it was just crazy. It was just traumatizing and just ugh. Like I laugh about it now, but like looking back, it was probably the most petrified I've been in my entire life. Like honestly. So I hope you guys found this story time interesting and find joy in my misery. But yeah, I thought I'd just give you guys a little bonus episode in between my normal episodes since I'm overseas right now and you won't be hearing much from me. So I thought I'd give you guys a little bit of extra something something. So thank you for listening to this episode, and I'll be back to regular programming very soon. Thank you for listening to this episode of Blossom in Business. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love if you give the video a thumbs up on YouTube or rate the podcast five stars on Spotify. If you don't want to miss an episode, make sure to hit the notification bell so you get notified every single time a new episode drops. If you want to follow along on my journey, make sure to follow me on socials at Royal Blossom Beauty. And if you have any requests for certain topics or story times or anything else you want covered on the podcast, or you want to apply to be a guest speaker, click the link in my description and you'll be taken to my website with all the information. And I'll see you in the next episode.