Glad to hear you survived the sadists! 😉
As in any other business, some are better than others and even within a salon one person may be better than others. I had both a mani and pedi yesterday too, though I wasn't going to a wedding. 😉
I've been going for so long and so often that I can't imagine going without. As for that person not talking, I've noticed that just about everyone who works in the lower price salons is Vietnamese, with varying levels of fluency in English, which affects how well they can communicate. At the salon I go to, there was one person who I did not like. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt that and she was fired for attitude. If she'd been there much longer and I got her again, I would have asked for someone else.