Loong rantFollow

A bit of professional background here. Ive been a licensed cosmetologist for 9 years in the state of Ma. In that time I have built up an amazing clientelle who have been with me since day 1. Even when I have moved further away and it has been an inconvienience for them to get to me, 95% of my clients have followed, and thats a very high number. Why do they do this? Because Ive shown year after year that Im one of those rare stylists who listen to what the clients want, will do what they ask for if it will work for their hair, and if it would end up a disaster, I explain fully why, and try to find them something similiar that would work. If a client is unhappy with some aspect I have hammered it into them I can not read minds and to always tell me so I can try and remedy it. I never take it personally when someone ius unhappy. I know that it is impossible in any profession to please people 100% of the time. But I always fix whatever it is thats bothering them. My clients know and have come to respect my ability to never steer them wrong. And when someone goes for a big change I tell them prior exactly what to expect.


I guess I've gotten used to the fact that my regulars are amazing people. I'm very lucky to have the clientelle that I have and I get along so well with them that the line between stylist/client and friend has sometimes been erased and I count a few of them as very good friends, and vice versa. So the situation I went through this weekend caught me offguard as to how not everyone is as decent as you think they are.

One of my neighbors and friends referred me to one of their friends about 6 months back and since then she has been bringing her daughter to me for cuts. In the 6 months since I took the daughter on, they seemed to be very nice, laid back people. Alittle uppity, as their family name is a big one around my area, but when you got past that, rather normal. This past Friday the daughter came in for a haircut and decided she wanted bangs. She hadn't had bangs ever, and her hair was almost down to her waist. While consulting, I informed both her and her mther several times that a certain thing was going to happen and to expect it for the first week. Its called bouncing up, and it's when you take off a bunch of hair, esp long hair, the weight released will cause the remaining hair to bounce up higher than what it had been cut to. It would look a lot shorter than what is wanted for the first few days and can last up tp 7 until the hair relaxes a bit and gets used to the lack of weight it previously had. Once it relaxes, the cut hair will go to what it was cut to. They heard the warning, they accepted that, and still assented to getting bangs. All through the haircut I continued to explain and hammer it into them that for a few days the bangs may look a lot shorter than expected but that was to be expected. They continued to agree and the daughter still wanted it done. SO I trimmed her bangs, keeping htme long than I normally would since they were so new to her and she liked them. The mother liked them. Both were happy and gave me a decent tip.


Sat I worked all day and did not hear from them. Sunday evening though, I got a call from the mother. As soon as I picked up the phone and she realized it was me I was inundated for 5 minutes of screaming insults, threats, and all the like. She began repeating herself so I actually began to surf the web until her tirade was done. I could barely understand a word she said. When she finally had to breathe I asked her to calm down and tell me what was wrong so that maybe I could better understand the situation. Supposedly the bangs had bounced up like I knew they would, and the mother was horrified. She told me she had gone to several stylists who had told her there was no such thing ( but when asked how many and who there was no answer). As with any unhappy client I always offer two things: the chance to see and fix what it may be that is not working ofr the client and if that doenst work out the fee of the trim back. I told her that I had given her ample warning that this would happen and it was why I said to give it a minimun of 4 days but if she was that unhappy I was willing to go down and see if I could fix it to her liking or give her a full refund. Instead of accepting this, she started screaming again and told me to get a damn good lawyer cause she was taking my *** to court for damages. then she slammed the phone down.

I know its all hot air. Any lawyer would laugh his *** off at her, esp after finding out I offered full fees back and to fix it which she refused. It would be a waste of any courts time. I also gave fair warning of what to expect. I can respect her for calling me to tell me something was not working for her. But Ive been ready to punch anyone in my path since then, because she didnt want to just call and complain. What she wanted was a person who had to sit and listen and she could verbally abuse until her tirade was done. I was her punching bag and scapegoat and there was nothing I could do about it but wait for her to finish. And I really hate people who threaten people without being able to back it up.

Threatening to sue over a hair cut is just priceless. Never mind that you warned them what to expect. Never mind that any significantly shorter hair cut will take a few days to settle (everyone knows that, right? You never get your hair done the day before an important date).

Sorry for your irritation, but that was a good laugh.

Haircut stories make me laugh. I mean, it's a haircut for Bob's sake. Hair.

Hair.

C'mon people.

The moral of the story is that nice normal people are usually just acting nice and normal and are actually crazy as a sh[Antiquewhite][/Antiquewhite]ithouse *****.

of course I am

That's cause hair never 'bounces back.' We all know you made that up.

Heck, when I shaved my head my hair didn't bounce back at all.

Sweet!

my urge to punch people is slowly dwindling. Danke guys

I can not see how emotional trauma would hold up in court over a haircut. Like you said you offered to remedy the situation be it a new do or refund. She probably expected you to retaliate and lash back but seems like you kept your cool.

Make sure you thank your friend for introducing you to her

I offer $17.69 and a bag of buttons.

Sounds like its time to spread the word to all the other stylists in the area and blackball her!

Ok, but if this super-stylist gave you a bad haircut one day would you completely freak out over it? I sure hope not. I sure hope that you can recognize that it's only hair. Hair that grows back. Hair.

What's all this talk of "haircutting"?

You crazy kids and your new fangled body modifications!