In October, Ilona Maher posted a TikTok recounting a recent trip to the nail salon where she unknowingly served as a safeguard for the staff. As she says in the video, she arrived for a pedicure, received her treatment, and was told to "just keep waiting" for a curiously long time. The staff checked her out only after a male customer came and went.
"Finally, they're like, 'OK, we'll close you out now.' I was like, alright, here we go," she said in the video. "And then they said, 'Sorry we kept you so long. We just wanted you to be here with us while he was there.'"
She added, "It's insane out there, and I want you to know you can keep me for as long as you want. You can keep me for another hour. I'll cancel my plans if you want me for safety, or you want somebody there [to] just be a presence. It's dangerous out there."