Writing Prompt – Day 36
**If you are new to Writing Prompt Pal, click here before reading any further!**
I’m back, it’s Monday!
Hope you had a great weekend!
I have another prompt for you and if you are interested in reading my example, well, this one may be an intriguing read. This is about a day in the life of a hair stylist! (For those of you who don’t know, I am a manager at a hair salon so this one is definitely coming from experience!)
Alright, get those timers ready…
& Write on!
Use five points of view to describe a situation.
My example :
I’m running late for my appointment and when I step in, I’m greeted by my stylist that I’ve had for over three years now. I’m ten minutes late but she doesn’t blink an eye, even though I know it just might throw off her whole day. I assume it’s much like a doctor’s office. I’m grateful for her kindness with the kind of day – no scratch that – the kind of month I’m having. But through it all, the one thing remains – I still need a haircut.
“Hey Joe! You can come on over when you are ready!” She smiles brightly.
I smile back. “I am so sorry I’m late.”
She waves her hand and says, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get you all fixed up.”
I sit in the chair and she capes me. “Same thing as always?”
I nod. “Yes mam.”
“Okay,” she says. “Now, it’s not like you to be late Joe. What’s been going on since I last saw you?”
I’m nervous. I’ve never gotten my haircut before. I have no idea what it’s going to be like. All of my friends have gotten haircuts by now and I thought I might be brave enough, but I don’t know, I think I change my mind.
“Come on Wyatt,” mommy says. She grabs my hand and I put on a brave face for her.
The door dings as we walk in. There are people everywhere and I feel scared. Mommy squeezes my hand.
“Walking in or do you have an appointment?” A lady calls out.
“Walking in, just for a haircut, for my son.”
The lady smiles. “Okay, we will be with you in just a moment.”
Maybe it’s not so bad, I think. The lady was smiling and I like that. I see her coming up to us and my tummy feels like it’s jumping.
“Alright little man, you ready? Follow me!”
I don’t budge. I’m too scared to move. I don’t know what it will be like.
The lady comes down to me and looks up at my mom. I hear my mom whisper my name to her.
“Wyatt,” the lady says. “I have some good news for you,” she says with a really big smile. “At the end of your haircut, you get a sucker! And during your haircut, I have a container full of squishy toys you get to play with. Don’t you worry, I will take good care of you. I promise. And mom can come over too!”
I’m still scared. But I think I’m willing to give it a try. I grab my mom’s hand and I follow the lady.
I’m having a bad day and I’m just plain sick of people. In fact, every day is a bad day. And to make it even worse, I need a damn haircut. I choose the nearest place and I walk in.
“Hi, are you walking in for a haircut?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Isn’t this a hair salon?” I roll my eyes. I don’t have time for this kind of stupidity today.
“Yes sir it is. But we do more than cutting hair here.”
“Well,” I say, pulling off my hat, “Does it look like I’m the kind of guy to get anything else? Are you gonna fix me up or what?”
The lady smiles and you can just barely tell it’s forced, but I notice those small details. I’m impressed.
She asks me too many doggone questions about what kind of haircut I want after she buttons that stupid thing on me. “You have your license right? So, that makes you the professional. Just do your job.”
I’m losing my patience as she replies, “I’ve never cut your hair before and I’m unsure how you like it-“
I cut her off. That’s it. I turn to look up at her. “Lady, if you don’t just cut my hair, I’m going to walk right out of here and go to another salon down the road. Now I told you to just cut the damn thing.”
I’m pleased when I see I’m getting to her. I close my eyes and let her get to work. When she’s done, she’s cut it too short. This is not how I like it. And I’m going to let her know what an awful hair stylist she is. I may even deliberately come back to her until she gets it right. Teach her a lesson. Can anyone do anything right anymore?
I had an appointment at the salon to get my hair colored but I don’t think I’m going to go. I’ll just schedule for next week. I know I’ve done it to my stylist a few times and she has always been nice about it so I already know she won’t care. It will free up room for her schedule to take more clients anyway. Or she may even like the break it gives her. And besides, I want to binge watch some Netflix today. My anxiety is up and I’m feeling overwhelmed today so I’m just going to let the call go to voicemail when she tries to get ahold of me. I’ll deal with it later. Maybe tomorrow or a few days from now.
I turn my phone on silent, snuggle up on the couch, and escape into my happy place where nothing else matters.
I take a deep breath before I walk into my home. I’m exhausted and I feel like crying, but I dont. It’s been a long day at work and my drive home is only a few minutes. I don’t have much time to destress before I deal with helping out with dinner, bath time and bedtime for the kids, taking care of myself for the night, trying to spend a little time with my husband, and getting into bed at a decent hour to do it all again tomorrow.
I’m on the verge of tears and I feel heavy. I’m not sure if it’s my own feelings or feelings of the people I’ve been around today. Sometimes I know it’s their energy put on me and other times I’m not so sure.
My day started when I found out my long-time client Joe was going to lose his mom soon. I’ve been cutting his mom’s hair longer than his and I’m so sad. I really like them, they feel like family, and I just didn’t know the right words to say to Joe. He’s normally never late so I knew something was wrong and my heart pounded as I asked him what was going on. I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
Then, I cut a little boy’s first haircut today and it was all going well until he got impatient at the end and wouldn’t stop moving. I nearly cut myself multiple times because his mom wasn’t satisfied with his haircut. She wanted to hold him down but I knew it would only scare him, and he would be afraid of future haircuts for years to come, so I risked my fingers instead. And in the end, I did end up cutting my finger and, of course, she still didn’t like the cut he got. Shes probably going to leave a bad review because the cut wasnt perfect but her boy was scared and had enough. Theres only so much we can do. And then…
Oh God, do I have to remember him? The man who hated me without even giving me a chance. I know people like him are miserable with themselves and everything else, but it doesn’t hurt any less to be treated that way. And it takes so much energy to rise above that kind of negativity being thrown on you. That fifteen to twenty minutes spent with that kind of person can ruin your whole day. It takes all your strength to shake it off and not let it get you down.
And the funny thing is – not that I would have wanted another stylist to deal with him or to cut themselves cutting the child’s hair – but I wouldn’t have gotten those walk-ins if my color had showed up today. She no-showed me… again! For the fourth time and I could just scream! I had those three haircuts today and that was it. It was slow today. I couldn’t find anyone to fill the spot last-minute and so my paycheck is going to be a smaller one again. I work commission so with the three cuts and the tip I made (I say tip, singular, because the mom and Mr Cranky didn’t tip me), I have gotten 55 dollars for 5 hours. But I have to put some of that money aside to cover taxes.
I feel grief-stricken for Joe and his mom Lucille – my very loving clients, and at the same time I’m frustrated from my tough day. I’m severely underpaid for my time and efforts and angry that some people can be so careless. But… that’s the career path I chose. I knew the pros and cons going into this.
And now, my day is not over yet. I have to go into the house and put a smile on for my family. I have to somehow let it all go. And when I wake up tomorrow, I have to do it all over again.
Not all days are tough like this though. Some days are full of laughter and fun, with absolutely no negative energy. Other days are so overwhelmingly busy that you haven’t eaten your whole eight-hour shift and haven’t gotten even one break until you arrive at home. You try to be happy go-lucky for all of your clients, run around answering phones, greeting everyone walking through the door, remembering how your client likes their hair cut and what was happening in their life last time you cut their hair, trying to be attentive to your co-workers and their needs as well, and making everyone’s hair who sits in your chair as perfect as possible. And believe it or not, while juggling all of this, some days can be even worse than today. Some days I have to talk people out of the black hole of wanting to kill themselves.
My job is not just cutting hair, and I’m never done when I leave the salon. When I walk into my home, if a client gets ahold of me, I’ll answer. If a co-worker gets ahold of me, I’ll answer. If my boss needs to talk to me, I’ll answer. I’m also the manager so I have to make sure everything runs smoothly at the salon on top of it all. I have to make sure employees are happy but also doing their job right. I have to make sure clients are happy, especially my own, because the bigger your clientele, the bigger the paycheck. And with inflation, Lord knows we all need to make money. Of course, I don’t look at my clients as money signs. They are real people that I really care about. And that makes it hard to charge what I’m worth because I don’t want to put them out to get their hair done or I’m too afraid that I’ll lose them… and then my paycheck suffers.
So, you see, I’m not just a hair stylist. I’m a therapist, a friend, a scapegoat, a doormat, a lifeboat, a human being…
I love being there for my clients. It’s what makes this career rewarding. To be a shoulder to cry on or to celebrate the beautiful moments in their life, or to make them laugh when their life is tough – it all makes it so so worth it.
I wish everyone knew what it really means to be a hairdresser, because I barely touched the surface of it all.
But now, I’m going to open that door and be the mom my kids need me to be, and the wife my husband needs me to be, and hopefully I can shake this exhaustion off and switch my mood so I can spend a little bit of quality time with my family before bed.
Please, please be kind to your hairdressers. Believe it or not, we are superwoman without a cape – or at least we try to be…
And it’s all for YOU!
Alot of times at the expense of ourselves. Even when we are stretched thin, we push ourselves to be there for everyone else. We care more than you realize, and we hope you care just as much about us too!
Ahhhh! This one went WAY over fifteen minutes. I couldn’t stop once I got started. As a hairstylist myself, there is so much more I could say. We really are more than just someone who cuts your hair, and the thing is, we truly care about you. It can be a very overwhelming job but I absolutely love what I do. I can make you feel good about yourself by simply shaping or coloring your hair, I can be there for you in your good times and your bad times, I can even vent to you in certain circumstances with those I feel really close with, and even sometimes, I can turn your terrible day around. I can be whatever you need me to be. I love what I do because I matter. And because I get to show you that you do too.
How’d you do pals?!
I would love to read how yours turned out! Share yours in the comment section below!
& Stay tuned for another prompt tomorrow! (:
If you enjoyed this & want more prompts, hit the like button & subscribe below for notifications so you never miss a new post!
Writing Prompt Pal 