Yesterday morning I went to Great Clips to get a haircut. I checked in and had a seat. After about five minutes of waiting I watched a boy leap off the stylist’s chair while his dad paid for the service. They then left the shop. About two minutes later an agitated larger woman swung open the doors and approached the front counter…

“I wanted my son to get a haircut, not a BUZZ CUT,” the woman angrily exclaimed.

The manager on duty listened to the woman’s complaints: Her son’s hair was cut short, it didn’t look like it did last time it was cut, it didn’t resemble the picture of the male model that was hanging up in the salon behind where I was seated, etc. The woman made a big show as she moaned and paced back and forth in the waiting area while pleading her case.

One of the stylists came to the aid of the manager and started to listen to the woman’s gripes. This employee calmly told the disgruntled mother that they gave the exact same cut to the boy that was described in the computer from his previous visit. In fact, the explanation given by the boy on what he wanted matched the records in the computer exactly.

Of course this didn’t appease the woman who again complained that the haircut looked nothing like what he got last time. Then, again, she flung a frustrated arm at the photo above my head and whined, “I wanted it to look like that.”

The stylist told the lady that the clipper setting that the boy requested and that was recorded in the computer didn’t come close to matching the hair of the dude in the framed photo. The reasoning didn’t satisfy the mom. She continued to argue with the stylist and question the competence of the employees. Mind you, this Great Clips that I go to is always packed. As the noon hour was approaching there were about 10 stylists working and they all had customers in their chairs (except for the one dealing with the woman). The waiting room was full. Everyone was watching this unfortunate tantrum. I debated videoing it with my iPhone but decided I would just write about it instead.

“But I wanted his hair to look like that photo,” the woman groaned for what seemed like the 20th time.

The lady finally stormed out. The stylist who had received the brunt of the mother’s wrath now had to get back to cutting hair. She called my name to come back.

Realizing that she probably still needed a couple minutes to gather herself, I just quietly told her that I wouldn’t be as hard on her as the woman was. She sat me down and put my haircut cape on. She then had to answer to another employee about the exchange that just took place. Then, after taking a deep breath, she asked me, “Do you know how you want your hair to be cut?”

“Exactly like that picture,” I teased.

She busted out laughing.

Driving to church with my new haircut!

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I have written before about how Great Clips is the only place I go to get a haircut. However, I make it my hair destination because of convenience. I don’t go there thinking I am going to get a movie star makeover. Sure, simple standards should be held by customers when they go to a place like Great Clips. However, thinking that their son’s hair will turn out exactly like that of a photo of a model hung on the wall is not realistic. To throw a tantrum about it is ridiculous.

Would you believe that the woman came back in again? This time she brought her son back with her. The poor stylists tried to do everything they could to make the mom happy. They sat the boy back down in a stylist’s seat (right next to me! Luckily my stylist didn’t have to do damage control again) and fiddled with his hair more. As the mom complained about how unprofessional this particular Great Clips was I shot glances at my stylist through the mirror expressing how sorry I was.

The only other person I had more sympathy for was that poor boy. I can’t imagine how embarrassed he was to watch his mom act like that and to be brought back inside the shop for a second time.

I don’t think it is appropriate to get too worked up about a haircut at Great Clips. We need to have realistic expectations and keep in mind that we get what we pay for. Don’t Blink.