A shocking incident happened in Pune where a woman was denied service at a famous spa because of her skin condition. Jacqui suffers from Vitiligo, she was looking for a soothing massage at a spa, but was denied the service due to her skin disorder.
For those who don’t know, vitiligo is a skin condition which leads to white patches on the skin and is not contagious. Vitiligo can only be passed genetically, it doesn’t spread from touch. Vitiligo does not cause any discomfort, irritation, soreness or dryness in the skin
However the therapists at Four Fountains Spa were ill-informed about the condition and denied service to 55-year-old Jacqui.
When she entered the spa, she was welcomed by the staff and when she lied down for the massage, the therapist noticed the patches on her skin and left the room without uttering a word. The therapist didn’t come for the next 15 minutes, Jacqui got up and went to speak to the manager. The manager told her that the therapist refused to give her a massage because of her skin condition.
Jacqui has been living with the condition for over 40 years now and she has never faced such a humiliation before, except during her school days. She quoted,
“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.”
When Jacqui visited her daughter in Mumbai during Ganpati visarjan, she narrated the incident to her daughter. Her daughter reportedly took up the matter with the management and Sunil Rao. The director of Four Fountains Spa spoke to Pune Mirror on this controversy, he said,
“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.”
Jacqui hasn’t received any apology from the spa. She said,
“I am a strong person. I can face humiliation and rise above it. But not everybody can stomach and even resort to drastic action. I feel that it is the responsibility of the society to make sure that people suffering ailments such as mine don’t feel ostracised and humiliated.”
55-year-old lady, Jacqui was only looking for a day to relax. It was her first time at the spa, and it turned out to be such a traumatic experience for her.