The Rudest Client Yet

 I expect my Mom to yell at me when I risk my life walking on a tree, but I didn't expect to get yelled at over a hair cut.

It was a case of a classic misunderstanding between a cosmetologist who perceives "a half inch" as precisely 0.5 inches, and a client who perceives "a half inch" as a fairly short length.

She said she wanted her son's haircut to be about a half inch in length on the top, and asked me to use a #2 guard on the sides.

I said, "If you want the top to be exactly half an inch, I can use my #4 guard on top, does that sound good to you?"

"Sure," she said. And I got to work. I did not think at the time that I might be doing something wrong. A #4 on top blended to a #2 on the sides is a very common haircut, even more common on young boys in summer time. The boy didn't have especially long hair to begin with, either, so I had no reason to think that he was one that hated short haircuts.

I finished the cut in under 10 minutes, and walked him up to the front desk where his mom was waiting.

We didn't even make it to the front before she started yelling. It was obvious she was livid. "That is not a half of an inch, you only left a quarter of an inch of hair on his head! This isn't what I wanted at all! You didn't listen! I wanted it longer than this on top!"

Completely shocked, I started apologizing, "I am so sorry, I thought you wanted half an inch left on top."

"I did--but this is not half an inch, this is much shorter than that! How could you do this to a 12 year old boy? He is very upset!" {the boy showed no signs of being upset, however, the mom did, as her voice continued to rise and her face got redder and redder.}

"Well, I guess there's nothing you can do about this now, but you did a horrible job. This is not at all what I asked for! This looks awful!"

The mom proceeded to call the teacher who was supervising the salon to yell at her for not keeping a closer eye on me and preventing me from cutting her son's hair so short. Then she spotted another teacher who wasn't working in the salon but rather in the classroom and yelled at her for the poor quality of this particular haircut. Then she left, claiming that the school will lose all of her business from that moment forward, then she came back in the building to ask what my name was so that they could specifically request not to let me cut her son's hair next time they come in.

Then, about ten minutes later, she called and asked to speak to the manager of the salon.

I kept it together while she was still in the building, apologizing repeatedly, saying that I was so sorry for misunderstanding, then I cleaned and sanitized my station, went into the breakroom, and cried.

That was my first time ever being yelled at by a client. I'm sure it won't be the last, but it was certainly unpleasant enough that I hope it doesn't happen again. There was definitely a misunderstanding somewhere. I thought I was doing exactly what she wanted--I had no reason to think that I wasn't, but clearly, she wanted his haircut to be longer on top than what I made it. When that's the case, it doesn't matter if it was a perfectly executed and perfectly blended #4 on top and #2 on the sides, it wasn't the right haircut. My guess is she actually wanted his hair to be closer to 3/4 of an inch or a whole inch on top.

But it's far too late for regrets and "I should have clarified with her exactly how long her version of half an inch was."

My classmates and teachers tried to cheer me up. "Rachel, you know that lady, she's always like that, and there's nothing you can do about it." My teachers said, "If she never comes back, won't that be great?" That's true. She brings her sons in for haircuts regularly every month, and regularly sends them back for approximately three modifications on each haircut--and even at the end, she's typically not completely satisfied. But yelling at students is out of the norm, even for her.

Then someone at my school said something that hurt even more. "And she's a Christian."

Ouch. Some of my classmates at school already have quite a negative picture of Christianity--I was saddened more than any personal hurt over the fact that this woman yelled at me and two teachers in front of her own young children and a whole school full of teens and twenty somethings. And all those children, all those teens and young adults know that she's a Christian. She's a Christian who has no problem yelling at and shaming a girl who cut her son's hair the wrong way...and that's what breaks my heart.

I just want to say, to Christian and non-Christian alike, that that is not Jesus. I don't know that woman personally, I don't know the state of her heart and family, but her actions towards me and her poor way of handling a bad haircut were most definitely not based on faith and the life-changing power of Christ. I can't imagine ever treating a stylist, waitress, or other person serving me like that, no matter how disappointing the service was. Your character is shown by how well or how poorly you respond to unpleasant circumstances. I don't know that woman, and honestly I don't want to, but I can assure you, that response was not Jesus.

The lesson I learned vividly that day was that you never know when people are listening to you and watching you close enough to know that you are a Christian...and they do notice when you don't act the way you preach.