The hair to break camel's back.

[Web_Pict]

I was about to add my lines to "Sucktomer Random Thoughts Thread" but when I started writing, my bloodpressure got too high for short reply...

So. Have a seat, this might take for a while.

>bg>I work in a company with several branches. It drives me crazy.</bg>

Rental opens at 7.00. The barbershop opens up nine o'clock. Not 8.30. Not 8.45. Damn it. Some weeks I'll be in 7 o'clock monitoring rental. It's okay for you to come in, have a seat and wait. But I will not start cutting your hair before nine!

Some weeks I'll come to nine, and then I'll be there 15-20 minutes early so I can set things ready. And I really feel it creepy that you wait outside, sit in your car, stare at me when I walk closer and scurry out the moment I reach the door. And start telling me how early you are here to be sure being the first one. I don't care. I have other things in my mind, and I would rather go for them than chat with you. Nice conversation with you is just my time wasted, and delay.

Wait for your turn. There is a coffee machine you can have a cup of coffee while you wait. Oh yes, it is meant for customers. Yes, you can have a cup of coffee, chocolate or espresso what ever. There might be milk in fridge if my assistant has bought some. If not, oh dear me, can't help you with it. Stay composed, I start with the first one to be there and keep going in order of arrival.

Don't rush in the same moment the customer before you walks out. Sit and wait. I will call you in after I've cleaned, washed, disinfected, oiled, dried, ate or drank some energy... You may come in but I'm going to hate you for that. More the hungrier I am.

Why yes, I want to eat daily. Would I live without eating, that'd be great. Would not last very long, I'm afraid. And you'd rather have happy wellfed me cutting your hair than hungry frustrated sweeney-todd-me.

Those are your eyebrows you want me to shape, not your eyelashes!! You would not want me so close to your eyes with my shiny damn sharp scissors.

Yeah, I can talk with you about almost anything. Ask about my situation at house I live in, and you find the bitter, angry, anxious side of me. I will not call it my home, that's not my home and I don't want to talk about it. It drives me to the point I'd break something valuable. Lets talk about weather. It's there every day.

Indeed, raw garlic is healthy, I know that. But please, please keep your mouth shut. I'm not fond of the smell of your garlic breath. And the same goes to raw onion. Even seeing you coming in makes hair in my neck go to knots.

Same as usually? Well then, how about refreshing cut to 5 mm? No? So how would you like your hair cut? I don't remember you. I have no memory how did I cut you curls three months ago. Shorter, I suppose. Have you been total pain in my ass or otherwise flaming idiot, I would remember you.

****

I take care of laundry too. I have an assistant. She's been here almost two years. She made mistakes in beginning. She makes same mistakes now. I made my mistakes, but I remembered them and didn't make them again. She remembers them and does them again and again. She works hard but not especially smart. She is cheap for company so she'll stay. Though sometimes I have the feeling her mistakes are going to cost us our customers. I have too many tasks to follow her all the time.

She is chatty person. That rises my blood pressure when I'm having my lunch. I like to check my emails and some other things on computer then, but I rather not have her there looking over my shoulder. "What are you doing? What is that? What does it say? I don't understand that. Who is that? Why did you do that? What does that mean? How you use that software? Why did you make a circle there? Where is that email from? What is that rope?" (That, my dear girl, is the rope I'm going to tie you down to the tree outside, so I could eat peacefully... Wait for the bear. You said you would love to see a living, real bear. Just wait...)

****

And one more thing... I don't like you calling me by my name all the time. Especially I don't like you calling me by my nickname. I never told you to use it. Never gave a permission to call me by it. Never even told you that. So stop screaming that all over.

*hungry, cranky and tired*

[WishfulSpirit]

I don't get a lunch break at the desk at the hotel. Balance Bars (I like the peanut, honey and yogurt flavor) are great at keeping my blood sugar stable. I've found that at work, if you want to eat peacefully, without Chatty Cathy or Whining Rhonda harping in your ear, you pretty much have to leave the building. At one point it was so bad I bought a breakfast in bed tray and kept it in the car so I could eat comfortably out there, away from the whine, whine, whine, whine.

[Headset Hellion]

I would gladly wait for my stylist to eat something before cutting my hair. Low blood sugar = shaky hands. Shaky hands + sharp scissors = no bueno!

[Slave to the Phone]

Same as usually? Well then, how about refreshing cut to 5 mm? No? So how would you like your hair cut? I don't remember you. I have no memory how did I cut you curls three months ago. Shorter, I suppose. Have you been total pain in my ass or otherwise flaming idiot, I would remember you.

Oddly enough, the lady who cuts my hair every 2-3 months does remember me even though I try hard to not be a pain in the ass.

It makes me sad to think that I'm one of her few customers who waits until being called, reminds her about what I'm trying to do with my hair (going from boy short to long flowing over my shoulders cut) and will happily go out back and smoke with her before she puts scissors to my hair. (I also tip 25% for a good haircut, which probably helps me to be remembered.)

I wants the person wielding sharp objects next to my head to be happy.

I do agree about hiding in your car for downtime. I've been doing that for years and I don't just sit in the parking lot. I leave and find someplace close to park. It really helps me to de-stress if I can't see what's going on around the building.

[Web_Pict]

Oddly enough, the lady who cuts my hair every 2-3 months does remember me even though I try hard to not be a pain in the ass.

I would remember you too. Not from first visit but after a while.

These people I'm talking about are those who I've met one or twice before, average Joes with shorter hair. Some that come twice a year. There has been some that, when it was about year since opening, walk in and proudly tell me that they haven't been any other barber than mine in five last years. Impressive.
Some lovely older guys I remembered after few visits, but seeing so many faces a day... And seeing some faces once a year, because they like to cut their hair whilst on vacation. It would take some years to get to know them. And they walk in saying "Hello, I'm here again. I'm here all the time." All the time once every year? Okay...

Anyhow, too bad our officeroom is the only place with computer and microwave. I'd like to check my mails - business mails - at break and take a snack along. I also do some graphic designing, advertisements, package labels and pricelists. And this one computer is the only one to do them.

[Slave to the Phone]

I do understand that you want to be productive at lunch. We are different people, I want my down time to be totally down time, so my method of hiding in my car with a book works for me, but not for people like you.

I do have an off topic question, though...why do people not tip the owner of the salon? I just got my hair cut in a small, local salon. It is owned by a couple of sisters and they are also the stylists. Of course I tipped, I always tip the person who cuts my hair and have never understood why shop ownership would make a difference. Can someone please explain it to me? (It won't change how I act, but it would help me to understand the mindset.)

[EricKei]

Well, in a restaurant or other place where the workers make below standard minimum wage, owners/salaried managers aren't supposed to accept tips (it's OK to take them and put them into a communal tip jar) -- whether it's legal or not may vary by area.

For something like a salon -- it's probably just tradition. An owner of a business is going to be getting a much larger base wage than the normal workers (usually), even if much of what they make is gonna be plowed right back into the business, so maybe they just feel uncomfortable accepting tips.

[Web_Pict]

I do understand that you want to be productive at lunch. We are different people, I want my down time to be totally down time, so my method of hiding in my car with a book works for me, but not for people like you.

You gave me credits I don't deserve. I just like to read while eating, I always have - a thing that drove my father mad day after day - but that's all I do for them. Answers and so on shall be done in company time. Computer makes reading a bit easier, you don't need to hold book open with one hand.