Managers and the salon chair

[Daria]

I think the problem with the salon chair is that customers lose it from their queue very easyly : for example simJane just decide that she wants the make-over (her green "carrot" bar fills up to the top) but SimJoe is telling a dirty joke to simTom just in front of the chair : simJane just drops the action, and often goes to check another chair if available, starting over the green "carro" bar filling process. You may gain some stars this way, but no money !
If there's no one in the way the chair works very well in my game. When two sims are checking the same chair, the second one to make the decision even go sit on a sofa and wait for his turn to the chair. But then again if someone or something blocks his way he drops the action immediately and goes away, finding something else to do.

Bearing in mind I haven't got the game yet, but would it be feasible to incorporate, say, individual mini-room 'booths' with a chair in each?

Better yet - if you *can* do little mini-rooms, would it be feasible for someone to code a hack a bit like the Bathroom Uses You object to allow only one non-player Sim into the room at a time, so they could get to their makeover and then bugger off afterwards?  Something that'd stop them dropping the makeover thing from their queue?

Like I said, I don't have the game; if that's a completely stupid suggestion just ignore me and I'll go away.   

[pioupiou]

I'm afraid more walls and doors mean more chance to have the sim's path blocked... A kind of bathroom use you for the chair would be nice but maybe not possible : the sims are slow to make their decision to use the chair, so it's good to have more than one look at the chair at the same time...
Something like macro... concentrate could help, but I'm not a modder so I don't know what's possible to do.
Pioupiou

[skandelouslala]

I think I have finally figured out how to run a somewhat successful salon..at least as successful as it is going to be with the way the chair works and how fast the buy bar can drop out of que for it.

All that is really needed is one chair...two worked okay but it was much more than needed with how long it takes a sim to decide to get a makevover.   I started out with 4 but that was complete overkill.  Make sure you have absoloutly nothing else for sale at your salon, otherwise the customers are automatically drawn to that and not the chair.  I had one thing of perfume for sale (thought it would be fitting) and everyone flocked to that one tiny display & ignored the chairs altogether. Got rid of that and layed off my overkill of employees and it started working better.  One or two good sales-sims help although all customers seem to generally grouchy about the thought of having a makeover.  Some even seem to be insulted by being offered a makeover, but now I get 5-10 a day doing it this way.

I do like that it is one of the more challenging businesses to run, both with customer loyalty and making money.

[PlayLives]

Just started a salon and it is going good. It is only my sim working with one chair. In two days of working, she received the bronze sales badge and the bronze cosmetology badge and reached rank 3. She only has about 2-4 points in the assosciated skills.
She drew in ALOT of customers and all she had in there was the make over chair. I didn't give any free makeovers and the customers paid without any problem. They didn't have a problem sitting in the chair and they even would sit waiting until I was finished with another customer. Although you do have to be quick as their attention span is really short. What I did when they showed up was offer them a makeover; they then would either "consider" it (green carrot) or walk around for a while. Once they started to consider I would do a sale on them. This would make the bar go up higher and once filled they would sit on the couch that I have and wait until I click the chair to "be stylist". Once I clicked the chair, they would get up and sit in the salon chair.
With all the makeovers done, only two were messed up and that was because her needs were low.

That is what makes this really hard. I spent so much time, focusing on the customers trying to make some $$ that her needs (hunger, energy, bladder) would bottom out. So much time is spent on the business; it becomes a challenge to balance the business, the needs and the aspiration. Also, it is takes time for the business to make money. My poor sim didn't have anytime to chat up the men she was meeting to fulfill her want of 50 dates.

skandelouslala,
how did you sell perfume? was this a home business?

[Ancient Sim]

I risked it last night and got Dina to buy the Bluewater Salon place.  Because she can't stand for more than 10 seconds without having to "lounge", I used a PY plant to keep everyone's stats up (I've found this is the easiest way to build-up the businesses, but prefer to avoid it if poss).  Anyway, everyone who came in totally ignored the chairs and walked straight past them to get into the hot-tub - it was also the first thing Dina tried to do as soon as she arrived on the lot.  The first visitor was a playable who has 3 bolts for Dina and he accepted a free makeover, but no one else was biting.

In the end I made them selectable, instructed them to get a makeover, which caused them to leave the hot-tub and go to the chair to think about it.  Once they'd accepted them, they just stood there and after a while Dina would get an instruction to make them over.  Sometimes this didn't come quickly enough though and they would start interacting, which meant she had to offer them the makeover all over again.  She had no experience whatsoever but all the makeovers turned-out well, presumably because her stats were always high.  As I wanted to see a bad makeover I will have to stop cheating (sigh), apart from her comfort.  Even with the bar totally full she still kept trying to lounge on the sofa.

When she got home she took on a townie teen with a bronze cosmetology badge, so I'll see what happens when she starts working.  Sounds as if the makeovers in that case are all 'cosmetic', if you'll excuse the pun.  I assumed that the higher the badge, the better the makeover, but it doesn't sound that way. 

[buddha pest]

Anyway, everyone who came in totally ignored the chairs and walked straight past them to get into the hot-tub - it was also the first thing Dina tried to do as soon as she arrived on the lot.

Those hot tubs are a nightmare when an employee takes a break. I had to get rid of them.

And yes, also the customers ignore the salon chairs because of them.

It's too bad that lot is set up to be nearly unplayable as a salon because it's really cute. You could of course, go the route of charging hourly admission to sit in those hot tubs, but that's not terribly interesting.

[lefty]

Once you have offer a make-over to a sim he will stand next to the chair, looking at it with the green money bar on his head. When the bar fills up he will go to the chair, sit and have his make over : it works exactly like for selling objects in a shop (instead of picking up the object, the sim sits for his make over)
You can use the sell intercations on this sims to make the filling of the green bar faster.
Hopa my english makes sense.
Pioupiou

Thats pretty ridiculous. When I go to get my haircut I don't stare around the shop filling a "buy bar" (hmm, should I let them cut my hair? Who knows, they might be shady business men and shave me bald instead! The Horror!).
I go in and get my haircut (or an appointment).
I think I'll stay away from building a salon business. I'd be bored to tears if I had to "convince" every customer to get a haircut.