"Do You Want to Pay or Cut Them Off?" — Woman Refuses to Pay for $85 Nails

A nail stylist is being praised for the way they handled a client's refusal to pay the remaining amount for the work she performed.

Mya (@geminimya24) posted a viral recording of their interaction with the customer, which begins with their denial of knowing the original prices of the nail work, despite the stylist informing her that the price was clearly displayed in the original confirmation email they received.

What transpired next, many TikTokers speculated, was a situation where the client intentionally went into their meeting with Mya knowing full well they weren't intending on paying the total amount.

"POV: your client did not read the confirmation email and doesn't want to pay," a text overlay in the video reads. The clip begins with a recording of the customer resting their nails on a small raised padded table above a machine. They hold a cell phone in one of the hands decorated with the bedazzled, jagged pink shards on her fingertips.

The following is a transcript of the conversation between the nail stylist and their client:

Nail stylist: Okay so your total is going to be $85, did you want to do card or cash?

Client: $85?

Nail stylist: Yeah that's the remaining.

Client: But I thought you said it was $50?

Nail stylist: No, in your confirmation email the remaining balance says $85.

Client: Hold on, let me check because....

Nail stylist: It...it subtracts your deposit and then $85 was the remaining.

Client: Well I didn't get no email so I don't know what you're talking about. I thought it was $50.

Nail stylist: Well when you book you cannot book unless you have an email and a phone number and the email you put should have the email with your confirmation.

Client: I thought I put the right one in I don't have it so, um...can you take the $50? (she moves her nails, seeming to inspect and wave them in front of her body as she asks for the discount).

Nail stylist: I need all of it like I can't talk half payment.

Client: $55 is the most I can do (she continues to inspect the nails)

Nail stylist: I can't take $55 so do you want to cut them off or do you want to pay?

Client: You can go ahead and cut them off then...

The client then extends her fingers over the padded mini table as the nail stylist takes her hand prior to initiating what appears to be the nail severance procedure.

Several commenters who responded to the video expressed their shock with the client's behavior. Like this one commenter who didn't think the price was all that bad: "85 not even that bad for nails"

Someone else wrote that if they were in a financial position where they worried about being able to pay for a good or service they would pay extra careful attention to their bank account to save themselves from a potentially humiliating situation: "If I’m broke best believe I’ll triple check the price because I couldn’t deal with the embarrassment"

Another thought the client was well aware of the price and was just attempting to get the work on her nails discounted: "She knew what she owed!"

"Why'd she think it was only $50?" someone else asked.

One TikToker seemed upset that Mya didn't record herself hacking the nails off of the client's fingers: "Me wanting to see you cut them off."

Another person couldn't believe someone would be getting their nails done if they didn't even have $85 to their name in the first place: "Why are u getting ur nails done with only not even $85 in your account"

There were particular behavioral cues from the client that bothered some folks more than others: "Her checking her hand out and saying 'you can't take the 50?' is what sent me over the edge smh."

For others, what really got them heated was the client's comment about inputting the incorrect email address: "Her saying she put the wrong email got me mad like be so fr."

Another TikTok user speculated that the client probably assumed that Mya wasn't going to demand the original price: "She must not of thought you were gunna stand your ground"

And then there were those who thought the woman's attempt to purchase the nails at the price point she mentioned was unreasonable, given their own experience in dealing with nail beautification prices: "NO one on the planet is charging $50 for a full set right now. Especially for French nails with art."