Nietha.net

I’ve been going to the same lady for my haircuts for… I dunno, half a year? She’s Korean (I think) and has broken English, but I don’t mind, I’m really not into talking to strangers or near-strangers. I’m not a fan of small talk. She’s nice though… once she told me I have a “cute face” and hey, that kinda comment sticks with you. She’s also much cheaper than the previous place I went to, so much so that even with the 50% tip I give her, it’s still not even close to as much as I was paying before. I must have been crazy. Anyways, on with my story.

My haircuts don’t take long - if you don’t know what I look like, well, I don’t have much hair, less than an inch - so even if she’s busy, she will squeeze me in for a hair cut regardless, cause she can do my hair while waiting for another client’s hair to do whatever it needs to do. 2 or 3 times I’ve had to wait up to 10 minutes for her to get to me, which kinda annoyed me, cause when I call for an appointment I give like a timeframe of what works for me and I ask her what’s best for her… and, of course, I show up on time and then have to wait? But hey, she’s human and she’s probably not used to people showing up on time, and when I do have to wait it’s cause she’s quite obviously squeezing me in. And I’m usually so grateful for a haircut and I always set aside like a whole half-day in my schedule to get a haircut (just in case) that it really doesn’t matter that I have to wait. I think the only reason I got slightly annoyed the couple of times is because literally everything in her place is in Korean - the TV, the magazines… so I have nothing to do while sitting and waiting.

Now, for my last haircut, I showed up and was surprised there was no one else there. She (gee, maybe one of these days I should learn her name) was just walking in from another room with a small plate that had 2 potatoes on it. Yes, potatoes. She said hello and sat down on the couch with her potatoes and patted the seat beside her, inviting me to sit down. What choice did I have? So I sat down… and she offered me half a sweet (apparently) potato. I declined. Multiple times. Meanwhile she’s trying to explain the benefits of sweet potatoes. Finally, I gave in after I admitted I like regular potatoes and learned sweet actually means sweet. I was like, “with no butter or anything?” and she said, “no, butter is fat, this is to make thin”, haha. Okay. She gave me a small cup of warmer-than-room-temperature water (which was also interesting) and asked if I was in a rush. I said no. So we chatted for a bit while we both ate. She told me about her family’s trip down to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. I told her a little bit about Hawaii. I probably ate my piece of sweet potato a lot slower than she was expecting, lol. It actually wasn’t bad, and I’m sure it’s healthy, but I think I need *something* on it. I asked her if she boiled them and she said no, she put them in the microwave. Heck, I can microwave a freakin potato, it just never occurred to me to try. Anyhow, it was nice of her to offer and share, even if it was just to cover the fact that she wanted to eat her hot sweet potato right then instead of waiting till after my haircut.

So once I finished we got down to business. She said, “the usual?”

“yep”

“you always get the same thing”

“yep”

“you don’t want to grow it?”

“you think I should?”

she kinda nodded/shrugged

I said, “nah, I like it short, it’s easy - wash and go. don’t have to bother with it”

And we actually chatted a wee bit during the haircut - a first.

Then afterwards, for the first time, she didn’t argue with me about the tip amount (she usually says, “it’s too much!” while shaking her hand).

Anyway, although I fight interacting (even in the slightest sense) with people I don’t know at every turn, it is good to be reminded that there are lots of nice people out there and everyone’s a human being. Lately the saying, “you can either be a positive influence or a negative influence” has been floating around in my mind, and small gestures can really make a difference in that respect. Instead of simply feeling appreciative to have finally gotten a haircut, I felt *good* about my visit and was pleasantly surprised with the time spent with the nice woman that I see every 4-5 weeks and don’t know the first thing about. Shocking, indeed.