The manager of the Brooklyn nail salon where workers were caught in a racially charged brawl with black customers over a $5 eyebrow wax said Monday that he only wanted payment for other services rendered — but the mom of the customer who was arrested said he made the matter worse, according to reports.
Michael Lin of the Asian-run 888 Happy Red Apple Nails shop reportedly said he called cops, and it got physical when he had employees block the woman from leaving before officers arrived.
“She said she didn’t like it and doesn’t want to pay for nothing,” Lin told WNBC/Channel 4. “I said, ‘Sit down, let me call the police. If the police say you can go, you pay nothing. [If the] police say you pay for the pedicure, then you pay for the pedicure. No eyebrow, no problem.’”
Surveillance and cellphone footage from the Friday incident shows two workers whacking customers with broomsticks, with one patron staggering toward the door as a worker rains blows on her back.
Cops on Friday arrested salon worker Huiyue Zheng, 32, and customer Christina Thomas, 21, on charges that included misdemeanor assault, harassment and menacing.
But Thomas’ mother, Abby Moses, told WCBS/Channel 2 that after they complained about the wax, the owner intervened and the situation worsened.
“She had practically all her eyebrow off,” her mom reportedly said. “He said, ‘I’ll fix it,’ she said, ‘You can’t fix it.’”
The videotaped brawl and subsequent arrests led to protests in the East Flatbush neighborhood around the salon.



