In a dime-a-dozen business like nail salons, you need to have a hook or a gimmick to be unique. At the The Bella Aqua Spa in Laurinburg, North Carolina, they seem to have settled on requiring a copious amount of personal and medical history from you before you get to have a manicure as their little way of standing out.

Emily writes:

I went in to a new nail salon today, they asked if I’d ever been there before, I said no, and they said, “Oh, well there’s some paperwork we need you to fill out.” I didn’t really think much of it until I started looking it over. They were asking for a complete medical history, my marital status, birth date, and address. At a nail salon.

Being an avid Consumerist reader, I of course had to say something. The conversation went a little something like this:

“I’m sorry, why do you need my complete medical history?”
“Well, we need to know what kind of medication you’re on in case you have any joint problems. It’s like if you have a massage done or something.”
“Okay, but I’m getting a manicure, not a massage.”
“Well, you might want to later.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Well you get a massage with your manicure.”
“Right, but not a deep tissue massage.”
“Well, if you had carpal tunnel syndrome, we’d need to know that because it’s contra-indicated–“
“But if I had carpal tunnel syndrome, don’t you think I’d know that?”

So that goes on. I fill out n/a for every field. They didn’t even check when I handed them the form.

(Photo: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com)

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