The reason is, is that I dislike going to the barber to sit.
And sit and sit…
Yesterday was no exception.
I’d been looking ragged for a few weeks, and I’d contemplated going in for a haircut. The way I see it, getting a haircut is like going to get gas. Eventually you’re going to reach a point where you will simply not have a choice anymore; you’re just going to have to break down and do it.
In my case, this decision is often helped along when I have to apply generous amounts of Spike Glue to my style, and then have it still come crashing down minutes after leaving the bathroom. In all, I feel that I look like a puppet of myself made out of lint.
I contemplated putting off this task until Monday…that’s when I remembered that it was President’s Day…the barber shops would most likely be closed to commemorate the leaders of the USA.
Curses.
I decided that Saturday would indeed have to be the day. However, before leaving I needed to make sure that my hair looked good, and to shave the back of my neck. After all, I didn’t want these people to think that I had absolutely no self-respect.
I drove to the barber shop and signed in. Since there were only about three other people in front of me, and three gals cutting hair, I figured that this wouldn’t take very long.
I was wrong.
For some reason, it appears that Saturday is ‘slow haircut’ day. I’d already leafed through nearly two copies of Entertainment Weekly, as well as watched part of an episode of “The King of Queens.” I was thinking longingly of my iPod, off in some distant repair shop, which’d usually helped me with long periods such as this. I didn’t even have a notebook with me in which I could write.
I was stuck.
The clock moved cataclysmically slow as a few more people walked in, apparently, having called in an appointment. I was not going to be getting a haircut quite as quickly as I may have liked.
It was at this point that something kicked in. It’s the evaluation of time spent. One begins to question whether or not they should simply wait it out—after all, they’ve already got this much time invested, or throw it to the winds and just leave—all too well knowing that they will be back in this same place in a day or two because, like I said earlier, sometime they’re going to have to come back. It was apparent that the guy just ahead of me decided that his investment would be forfeited, and I moved up one in line as he left the building.
And still I waited.
Sometime between now and the millennium, my name was called, and I was presented the chair in which to sit.
I’ve also now come to the conclusion that talking with your barber is probably not the wisest thing to do—that is when they stop cutting in order to answer your questions. I could feel my life slowly ebbing away as a ‘normal’ haircut took twice as long as it might usually have.
When she finished, I pulled out my ‘frequent visits’ punch card and asked her to get me one step closer to my free haircut.
“I don’t do those things.” She said, offhandedly, as if merely mentioning the time of day.
“You don’t?”
She shook her head, “Sorry.”
Who did this woman think she was?
I know that I should probably say something to her…mention how I’d been coming to this barber shop longer than she’d been working here, and how nobody had ever questioned the ‘free haircut’ card. Nobody but her.
That’s when I was remembered that it was Valentine’s Day.
I slid the card back into my wallet, and instead handed her a tip with a well wishing of, “Happy Single’s Awareness Day.”
I gave a wink as I left.
As I walked out the door there was a newness of the day. The sun was streaming down and melting the newly-fallen snow. The air was fresh and bright. As I walked I noticed that I had a spring in my step. Life was good…
I love haircuts.
8 comments:
You probably made her day.....a tip AND a wink............wow!
I bet your new haircut looks Great on you! Glad you waited it out and got it done! Learning Patients can be hard! I waited for over 30 minutes for two very tiny, heart shaped pizza's on Saturday. I was taking them to Shantel and Madison for lunch after they practiced their duo...I was almost an hour late picking her up. Come to find out the freezer had broke that night and the owner had to restalk the food...Should have went to Little Caesars! Oh well! They only make heart shaped pizza's once a year...even if they were super tiny, the girls enjoyed them!
you're amazing!!!
There is nothing worse than waiting. The last time I went to get a haircut I had an appointment but the girl was running behind so I sat and waited looking at hair magazines and saw the cutest little hair cut and inpulsivley chopped all my hair off and hated it now six months latter it is finally getting long agian.
I prefer to procrastinate haircuts as well - but it's easier for us of the female species to avoid the hairdresser than for you of the male variety...
Come down here next time and I will do it. No tip and only 5 hrs down and 5 hrs back!
I know you made her day...nothing like a nice comment and a little cash. I've learned to just sit and bear it. Talk only when talked to and never say can you take a little more off...bad move. I remember when I was young a barber told me he could cut my hair so I would have to come back every couple of weeks to look good.. or he could cut it so I had to come back monthly.....or he could cut it so I would never come back.... I sat in the chair for a moment thinking give me a hair cut that will last forever... What was I thinking????????? better yet why wasn't I thinking.
I also tend to delay haircuts. It's just not part of the routine. But it does feel great to get it done. I suppose on the bright side, most of my post-mission haircuts have been good. Not so true of my mission haircuts--and I have photos to prove it. . . unfortunately.
And, for what it's worth, you can always call ahead and schedule an appointment. That avoids the waiting. But if you did that, you wouldn't have all those awesome opportunities to learn patience--which is the art of finding something else to do while waiting (or so I've been told).
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