After work I drove over to the little place where I usually get it cut. I walked in and there were two haircutters (stylists? umm...yeah) on staff at the moment, and one was already cutting someone else's hair. The other girl was sitting on one of the chairs texting. She looked up at me as I came in as if I was some sort of annoyance. Awkward moment number one. Then she came over and unenthusiastically "welcomed" me and ushered me back to one of the chairs. I proceeded to tell her what I wanted to do with my hair, explaining that I had a "love-hate relationship" with my bangs; that some days they looked cute and other days I wished they didn't exist. She looked at me blankly; then, as understanding dawned, she said, "So...some days you love them and some days you hate them." Awkward moment number two. Yes, that is what love-hate relationship means.
When it became obvious that I was not going to be able to have an on-going conversation with this woman, I tuned into the conversation betwen the other stylist and the man whose hair she was cutting. She was explaining that she and her husband had met over match.com, and the man seemed unduly surprised by this. Indeed, he began yelling, "You met on match.com?! I've never heard of that before! I thought it didn't really work! There must be something wrong with me!" Awkward moment number three. Actually, awkward moment number three turned into awkward-sequence-of-conversation-number-three as the man proclaimed his astonishment for the next 20 or so minutes. Yeah. That'll teach me to eavesdrop. Not that I really had the choice to not hear what he was saying.
I suppose awkard moment number four would be when the woman who was cutting my hair said, "I think I'm going to part your hair over a little farther just to see what's going on with your bangs, then I'll put it back." Okay. Then she said, "I think I like it better over there." Totally open to suggestions, I said, "Oh yeah, why's that?" I didn't think this was a strange question--I was just curious as to why she liked it better that way, but she just gave me another blank look and that was that. My part stayed further over on my head.
I've never really thought about this in-depth before, but since yesterday, I have come to realize that good communication between myself and my hair stylist is very important. Or any communication at all. That would be nice, too.
Fifth and final awkward moment. I walked out to my car after getting my haircut, and my truck wouldn't start. This is actually a very common occurance, so I wasn't at all surprised, and I know a few tricks that usually work to make it start. I tried the first few, and, not succeeding, moved on to my last resort. This involves (as strange as this sounds, it really does work) pushing the entire truck back and forth in quick succession. I was in the process of doing this when a mother and her teenage son got out of their car and walked quickly away from me, their eyes darting back and forth from their destination to me with just a hint of fear. Yeah, I know I might have looked crazy, but come on, people. Fear? Flies aren't even scared of me. I am not an intimidating person.
Needless to say, I am glad it will be another six weeks before I get my hair cut again.
