esthéticien

district manager

Buff Wax Spot

I would not recommend applying for employment at Buff Wax Spot. 
Multiple things come to mind when I think of my experience working for this company, although the pay is good and they offer benefits, this does not compensate for the amount of stress & harassment I witnessed by the management staff. 

Work/Life balance is non-existent while working at Buff Wax Spot. 
Staff receive an unusual amount of emails from management on a daily basis, most of which are aggressive and received at any time day or night. Staff are not allowed phones during their shift therefore are required to answer all emails on days off, and during other personal time. 
Failure to answer these emails will result in further emails being reprimanded by management staff.
Staff receive 10 days off per year, which are not of their choosing. Management requires 3 months notice for days off requests, and will often choose to decline the request without reason
Staff may be required to come in on their regular scheduled days off as you cannot miss monthly meetings (which are often personally intrusive) Staff are not allowed to take unpaid time off, outside of their 10 permitted days per year, and are unable to take time off if it overlaps with any other co-workers scheduled days off. 
Days off are not permitted for Doctor or Dental appointments, and if an exception was to be made staff is required to give a months + notice and use one of their 10 yearly days off. 
This makes work/life balance extremely difficult, I felt very isolated and depressed during my time working at Buff Wax Spot. 

The management staff themselves are not trained properly for their management position
They do not have prior management experience, management training, HR courses or any type of Sensitivity and Diversity Training. They do not treat fellow employees fairly and often name call, gossip, and create a bad company culture. 
They do not have a procedure in place to address workplace bullying or other workplace issues
Often times it is not addressed in a timely manner, or addressed at all. Other performance issues are addressed in a similar fashion with no proper procedure in place and no written warnings. 
Staff are often yelled at, sworn at and belittled for mistakes big or small. The management staff does not act with any sense of decorum.
Staff are not addressed personally when the management staff would like to meet with them, instead it is posted passively to a schedule that all other staff have access too. 

Buff Wax Spot is not what I would consider a "Professional Workplace Environment". 
Inappropriate comments are often made by management staff about their sex lives, other staff, clients etc. 
The management staff participate in or create most of the gossip that occurs in the work place, and express their strong distaste for the owner of the business with all new staff. 
This behavior by management instills a poor culture early on for new employees who become influenced to participate in this behavior, as they wanted to fit in and to remain employed. 
This set the tone for an environment that was/is extremely toxic.
Despite the gossip and distaste they have expressed for the job the management staff still expect all other staff members to be "Best Friends" and if they do not behave accordingly they will be let go. 

The staff turn over at Buff Wax Spot is extremely high as most staff is disrespected, undervalued and overworked. 

If you value your mental health, I would not recommend a job at Buff Wax Spot.

DO NOT WORK FOR THESE PEOPLE! I have never worked for such a poorly run business. The management is just a group of best friends with no prior management experience. Their "head of engagement" is just a woman with no university degree in marketing or HR... and she's the "HR" lady for both locations. Don't get me wrong though, she was the only reason I stayed with them for so long because she would defend me when the owner would go on a rampage and send unprofessional and passive aggressive emails daily. They constantly have these team building meetings where they talk about how they do not tolerate workplace bullying, yet their biggest bully was the northside manager. She's rude, aggressive, inappropriate and unprofessional. She's always quick to get mad at the staff for things they're doing wrong but she's the worst for it. Always on her cell phone, always on social media, always online shopping. And the constant gossiping going on between management and the staff is unacceptable. They'll say rude things about other staff and even clients. The northside manager is also extremely transphobic and disrespectful. When a client tells you they're transgender and they want to be addressed with a specific pronoun, don't disrespect them and address them by the wrong pronouns/preferred names. And when your staff that has personal experience with the LGBTQ+ community corrects you, don't dismiss them. On top of all of this with the northside manager, she's childish and will swear and scream at you when you tell them they're making your work environment toxic and try to blame you for your problems. Rule #1 of being a store manager: DO NOT BECOME VERBALLY AGGRESSIVE WITH YOUR STAFF. ALSO, they do not care about their clients needs and concerns because they'll hire literally anyone off the street to do waxing services. They hired a 21 year old girl fresh out of school who smells like a cat peed directly on her. Clients have made comments regarding the smell being so foul and that she's had issues sticking her hands down her pants to pull them up because they're so loose and not changing her gloves prior to continuing the service. When these issues were addressed with management, nothing was done and the issue continued. The concern for her hygiene was never addressed and clients continued to complain with no solution. Trust me when I say that Buff isn't as clean as people think. The newer staff do not clean their rooms properly. Aside from management problems, their time off requests are ridiculous. You only get 15 days throughout the entire year to request time off - whether it's for vacation, health related issues such as doctors appointments, dental appointments, surgeries, etc. They really don't care about their staff if it doesn't benefit the company. You have a dentist appointment that requires you to have a couple days to rest after? They don't care, they expect you to come to work the next day even if the dentist specifically says not to. The pay and benefits are not worth it, they'll bully you and force you to quit and try to make you out to be the bad guy. ALSO DO NOT TRUST ANY OF THE WAX TECHS. THEY ARE ALL FAKE AND WILL SPREAD LIES TO DEFACE YOUR CHARACTER!!!

This is a great job if you enjoy people but not for very long at a time. Services are very fast, it can take awhile to acclimatize. It can be stressful. And like any spa industry it can be painfully slow for appointments. Pay is fair. Tips are excellent, you make almost the same amount in tips as you do per hour. The product line is small, I believe they could add to it, and you have a retail goal each week based on your hours. 40hrs  per week/$300 to sell. (10% commission) The goal goes down if you work less hours. They have a two week training period to get you prepared. I found they did not go in to enough detail about the cleaning procedures. It is very thorough, follows Alberta Health And Safety standards (as it should) and is to be meticulously recorded in logbooks.  Being detail oriented is very benificial. You need to clean and disinfect the wax pots, surfaces, bed, chairs, stools and equipment and tools, in between each client. A typical appointment goes like this: Client arrives, fills out form,
You bring them to the service room, they get changed, enter room, get them into butterfly position for brazilian, remove towel, perform waxing, leave room. Staff usually checks out the clients. I believe they should have fulltime reception, currently it's one person who travels between three locations. Then you head back to your room, stripthe paper off the bed, wipe it down with disinfectant, wipe off all wax from wax pots, surfaces, floors, disinfect tools, door handle, light switch, client chair, footstool, drawer handles, put down fresh bed paper, a towel, dental bib, and body wipe. Refill wax and  applicators, wax strips. All this in 30 minutes. It can be stressful, but the staffs great about keeping everyone on time, helping each other out. You go through a lot of consumables . It's a fresh applicator each time, no double dipping and you must wear gloves. Hard wax is used for all sensitive areas, underarms, facial waxing, brazillians. Strip wax is for legs, chest, back, arms and for the mound only for the brazillian, unless the client is pregnant or requests hard wax only. Transgender clients are welcome and male brazillians are performed BUT only if the wax technician is trained and comfortable offering this service to transgender and male clients.
All cleaning is recorded, there are hourly, daily, and weekly checklists and logbooks. Rooms are inspected daily. They offer complimentary beverages (coffee, water, Gatorade) and snacks (rice krispie squares, sesame snax) which is a very nice touch for clients. There isn't room to grow and its very repetitive. Most staff have been there for a while and they have expanded to three shops. You can travel between the shops for variety, but mostly you are at your one location. Management is great. They really care about staff. It's not just lip service. I would recommend for new estheticians to get started in the industry, great as a part-time job, but not much room for growth, it's a bit stagnating, waxing day in, day out. 

Working for this company killed my passion for esthetics and the industry as it was the most unprofessional and drama ridden place I've ever worked for; so much so that it affected my mental health negatively. The manager for the south side location was super bad at her job, I honestly do not know how she got that position. Basically got it by default. Also, she was an all around difficult person to work with as she would preach about handling stress and being over emotional all day long but if she was experiencing personal issues she would take it out on the whole shop. To the point that we would dread her coming in as she would snap at us, make unnecessary comments that sometimes didn't even pertain to our work ethic or the business. Inventory suffered, which made our jobs harder than it had to be because the owner is cheap and lazy. The owner would cut our service times down forcing us to rush and the services to suffer because she is greedy. Although we managed in the time we were given because we are amazing at our jobs, she could never ever meet that time requirement. The owner would also send unprofessional, trivial emails and schedule out of the blue meetings which were never for a good reason. They will fire you for absolutely no reason, then turn around and tell your former coworkers lies as to why they fired you. They subject employees to discrimination against mental well being while lecturing everyone about how important "self care" is, they straight up told an employee not to say the word "anxiety" at work because she suffers with anxiety. We also were forced to attend mandatory "sales training seminars" held in shop which became a weird touchy feeling session and had nothing to do with sales. Work is work, if an employee chooses to come to work and focus on work and shouldn't have to be forced to be friends with everyone. That is not the point of getting the job. If I choose not to add you on social media, that is my choice. The management was extremely catty and gossiped every day. Especially the one manager, the default manager, she would issue "warnings" for bullying and gossiping then an hour later would be talking about another employee behind their back. They let go some of the best estheticians I've had the pleasure of meeting because they are petty. Don't you dare stand up for yourself if you choose to work here, they want blind followers. The manager only seems to hire people that will take the abuse she dishes out. So if you want to be paid to wax and be forced to be her friend, this is the job for you.

The clients were generally good to work with, and tips were consistently reliable. There is commission available on certain services and retail product sales, which is a positive incentive. The hourly wage of $18.50 is fairly standard for the industry, although it can be challenging given the current economy.
In my experience, the workplace culture felt very cliquey. There was a strong emphasis on being a “team,” but at times it felt like social standing played a role in how people were treated. As someone who prefers to keep work professional and focused on the job, this environment was not the right fit for me. I also experienced comments from coworkers that felt unrelated to my work performance. While they may not have been intended negatively, they felt unnecessary and made the environment feel less professional to me. Management appeared well intentioned and often asked for feedback, but there was not always consistent follow through when concerns were raised. At times, situations involving others were explained in ways that made it harder for me to feel that my own concerns were fully understood. Scheduling is highly dependent on how many request clients you have compared to other technicians, so hours can fluctuate. Over time, some benefits changed, such as paid lunches and overtime for cleaning after hours. The overall atmosphere could feel tense at times, which affected the daily work experience. This can be a good place for someone who enjoys client interaction and commission opportunities. However, the social dynamics and inconsistent management follow through made it a difficult environment for me personally. People who align well with the existing workplace culture may have a more positive experience.

I have been a visual merchandiser with Buff for five years now and I hope I am for many, many years to come! 

Buff has a supportive and kind team atmosphere, where collaboration and creativity are welcome. I am always praised for my good ideas and if someone disagrees, we discuss it in a kind and respectful manner, then brainstorm a resolution together. I have done some of my best merchandising with buff because of the great working environment.

My hard work is always appreciated and everyone is happy to enthusiastically let me know they like what I do. Every time I go into work with Buff, I look forward to it. The work I do is fun and the praise and encouragement I get drives me to do better and better every time. 

There are always new and exciting promotions or product and the brand is frequently growing and evolving to best serve the customers. I find myself always excited about what's going on and what's coming up next and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

I’ve been working at buff for the last year and half and have grown to love this company. Working with upper management is something I haven’t gotten to experience in previous esthetics jobs. Management is fair and kind and asks our input as well . Working at buff is like spending all day with your best friends and getting paid to do it . The team atmosphere is amazing, everyone helps each other to meet goals and complete daily tasks as well as support each other on our harder days. The sales goals are fair and easily attainable. The support from management to reach these goals is also above and beyond what I’ve experienced at other places of employment. Management sets up training events with sales experts to help us grow our skills and education so we can make sales that are designed to target client needs rather than sales goals. We have plenty of days off given in the year and do not have to reply to work emails on days off so work to life balance is great. 

I worked at Buff Wax Spot for just under half a year. I loved my time there! My manager was so kind and helpful and would ensure we were always running smoothly. I felt that we had a lot of opportunity to grow and also the pay was really good compared to other similar places. 

I respected how there was such detail and attention towards cleanliness and training the staff. It helped me feel more confident and comfortable working in a fast paced environment. Having dealt with the boss only on a few occasions, she was always very warm and inviting and always asked about me and how I was doing.

I ended up moving due to the effects of the Pandemic on my family, so I had to resign but I definitely recommend Buff Wax Spot to anyone interested in waxing. I really don't think there would be a better place or group of people.

Working for Buff as their Communication/Content Manager has been such an amazing experience. The environment created by leadership is a very welcoming one, communication channels are always open and that makes coming to work every day a pleasure.

Learning new skills is encouraged by the CEO and management. You are given all the resources to learn without any judgement or being rushed. The trust management has in its employees is so empowering and encouraging, it makes learning so much more fun!

If you want to feel like your expertise, time and ideas are valued Buff is the place to work at. 

I have been working with the company for over 5 years now, and feel so fortunate to be a part of helping the brand evolve visually over these years! My work focuses mainly on providing designs for packaging, interior and exterior shop signage, digital assets (web & social), and more. 

The team is supportive, kind-hearted, collaborative and professional with everything we work on together. They are always easy to communication with, are incredibly open and receptive to my input and thoughts, and are enthusiastic when showing their appreciation! 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Esthéticien 2 salaries reported	$17.80 per hour
District manager 1 salary reported	$67,000 per year

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