Vitiligo is a skin condition which is not uncommon in our country.Vitiligo leads to white patches on your skin and is not contagious by any means.
However, the staff of the pune spa Four Fountains seemed to be uninformed about this fact which led to the denial of service to 55-year-old Jacqui.
When Jacqui entered the spa, she was welcomed by the staff and taken for massage. However, as soon as the therapist saw patches she left the room to never return back. Jacqui realized there was some issue and spoke to the manager. The manager informed her that the therapist was reluctant to give her a massage because of her skin condition.
?All I wanted was some relaxation on that day. It was my first visit to this spa and I sought a massage. The staff were welcoming initially and I was soon lying back, awaiting a therapist to attend to me. When she came in, she examined the white patches on my hands and legs after which she left the room. I remained lying there, waiting for her to return. When there was no sign of her for over 15 minutes, I approached the management to get an explanation. Their response shocked me,? she told Pune Mirror.
The incident left Jacqui hurt and humiliated since she had never faced such an insult except for her school days. ?I was under the impression that the society has since become well aware of the problem and vitiligo patients like me find acceptance at public places. So, this came as a rude revelation,? Jacqui was quoted as saying.
She reported this incident to Sunil Rao, the director Of Four fountains spa.
?It was a mistake on our part. We are tendering an unconditional apology to our guest. We have a standard operating procedure in place, where we have given training to our therapists to provide therapy to guests having skin issues that are not infectious. We have taken strict disciplinary action against the therapist involved. We have also instructed managers to carry out re-training of all the teams across our spas to avoid such faux pas in future.? said the director to pune mirror.
However, Jacqui is yet to receive an apology from the spa chain.
