DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN OF THE HAPPINESS PROJECT

Day 327.  I need a haircut to much today.  I went to my afternoon appointment.  I need some feedback.

I was at my appointment and my hairstylist (the owner of the shop) was cutting my hair.  Then the building cleaner came by to clean the hallway.  My hairstylist stopped cutting my hair and went out to talk to the cleaner.  It wasn't a simple "can you please clean my windows".  It became a contentious interaction.  I was sitting in the chair with my hair half cut and he was getting into a thing with the cleaner.  Finally it seemed like it was over and my hair stylist came back in the shop.  He then proceeded to download all that happened to me.  Trying to get me to agree with him.

He began cutting my hair when I guess he thought he heard the cleaner talking about him to another person (which, mind you, he was just doing with me!) and he got upset.  He went flying out of the shop, stopping my haircut once again, to confront the cleaner.  "if you have something to say about me, say it to my face, not behind my back."  The cleaner sounded confused in his response as if he was not speaking about the hair stylist at all.  The cleaner said he would clean whatever the hair stylist wanted, he needed the job.  Of course this was not his tone during the first discussion but I think he could see his job was about to be on the line and he took a more conciliatory tone.

After that altercation, the hair stylist came in and once again told me all about it.  No, I didn't tell him to stop talking about it but I really didn't want to hear about it.  Do I piss off the guy cutting my hair?  I think not.

Then he was done cutting and it was time to pay.  I thought for a few minutes and decided that I was not going to tip him.  I paid him the full price but I didn't get very good customer service.  He could have waited until we were done to deal with the cleaner or excused himself once and gone out in the hall and dealt with it in a professional manner out of earshot and then not spoken of it to me.  That would have been a professional way to deal with it.

For those of you who think I am cheap think of it this way: if your waitress took your order and then screamed it across the room to the chef, left you waiting with no drinks while she went out for a talk with another person, and then gossiped to you about another waitress, would you tip her?

Until tomorrow...