By Eric Andreychuk
I still often consider myself a young person, but recently an experience left me feeling old and quite annoyed at the generation that has followed me.
I typically always just walk-in to a salon for a hair- cut and usually just hope for the best. I’m not very particular about my hair and often go months before the next one. I’ve never found a barber or stylist who I thought did an amazing job that would necessitate loyalty to that person or business.
The experience of a hair cut has never been all that fun or enjoyable for me, but it must be done, and so I go.
So I walk into the salon that I’ve had my most recent success with and find about six very young girls sitting around chatting it up, heads buried in their phones, texting like mad. Not unusual on a slow day in the middle of the afternoon, but the look of displeasure and resentment that washed over their faces that someone had come in to disrupt their leisure time made it apparent I was not entirely welcome.
I looked frantically for the stylist that I’ve come to know over my past several visits and she, unfortunately, was not in. One girl stepped forward and decided to take me, begrudgingly.
She couldn’t have been more than 18 or 19 years old and probably had just graduated from cosmetology school. After a few brief words, she lost interest in me and turned her attention to a few friends and co-workers who were lounging around, doing their own hair in the mirrors around me.
For the rest of my hair -cut, she talked to her pals about how she was about to take a break, but a walk-in came in and so she had to work, clearly talking about me. Her friends and co-workers did their hair and make-up around me, preparing for a night of who knows what while having conversations about their plans for the evening.
Not only did she pretty much ignore me and complain that I ruined her break time, she was so slow! Every snip of the scissors was in slow motion. The agony of sitting there was almost unbearable. After she presented me with her “finished” product, I decided to just pay and get out of there.
I’m not saying that I should have a stylist’s sole attention, but I am paying $12 to have some attention paid to me and to make me feel welcome, comfortable and, most importantly, to do a good job cutting my hair.
So with that said, I will be making appointments to have my hair cut and will no longer just be a walk-in.
Eric Andreychuk is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. He can be reached at eric@tcadvertiser.com.