In panic mode: I need another nail technician!!!!!!

Okay, how shall I say this without Great Spirit getting pissed at me? I need to remind myself that everything happens on purpose, and that what I perceive as disappointing or DISASTROUS is truly a learning or growth opportunity and is a chance for me to get over my fear. But I will admit to feeling a lot of panic right now, that is for sure.

One of my beloved nail technicians, and keep in mind I only have two of them, has lost her childcare at home and needs to return there to raise her family properly. Her mother went away to another country for 6 months, and will not return until the summer. This particular nail technician is a wonderful employee, everything I could have wanted. She was hard-working, ethical, gentle, sweet, helpful, flexible, a great communicator, anxious to learn, and anxious to please. She was also a good esthetician, astoundingly good at waxing and was getting very good at facials. But while good estheticians are easy to find and hire, good nail technicians are NOT! That is the strange secret of the spa industry...it seems like you can find nail technicians anywhere, right? Because there are nail salons everywhere!

Yeah, well, those nail salons charge $18 per pedicure and $9 per manicure and don't speak English to you and probably use Windex as disinfectant, just because it is also blue. And to tell you the truth, I can't hire a nail salon employee. We charge $55 to $85 a pedicure, I think our clients should expect someone who can communicate with them and someone who is maniacal about cleanliness. I certainly do expect that when paying that much!

But where to find them, where to find them? Here's an illustration of how hard it is: I put an ad out for spa coordinator on Craigslist, and was immediately flooded with 50 resumes. I put a similar ad out for nail technician on Craigslist, and not a single resume has come in yet. What am I going to do? I have no idea. I like this employee too much to just willy-nilly terminate her. Good people are hard to find, in any industry. But in nails, when you find a diamond nail technician, you don't let her go off and take care of her kids!!! Okay, Mare, get a grip. Did you see what you just said?

So I told her that she could come back whenever she felt she had the situation in hand at home, even if it wasn't until the summer of 2008. We also might work out a limited schedule during the weekdays, but only before she has to pick up her kids from school. But in the meantime, dilemmas dilemmas.

I understand that Spirit or God or my Higher Self (or whatever the term I use for the entity that is in charge of me) may have a reason or plan, but it took me forever to find this great employee, and I am resisting going through that process again with a vengeance. I did place an ad in Thang Mo, the Vietnamese weekly, which is how I found her last time, so hopefully I will be successful again. Oh please oh please, let that happen. In the meantime, if you are reading this blog, and you know of someone who is a great nail technician and is looking for a position, let me know!