Hair today, gone tomorrow

I am forever pissed off at the customer service I receive. It's never enough. I'm not sure why I'm such a persnickety bitch about my need to have sales clerks falling over me, but I think it's because when I was in any service industry, I just stopped short of a blow job. I gave and gave and gave. Because in my day, the customer was still right.

Which leads me to today's debacle. Seven weeks ago (who's counting), I got my hair cut VERY short. A young girl named "Kortni" did a fantastic job lopping off my locks while chatting about her old parents (her mother is 49- gasp!) and her lack of boyfriend. She was blond, pretty and rich. Her daddy had sent her to design school, but when that didn't work out, he sprang for cosmetology school so that she could find her way in life. As I exited the chair, I was informed that my haircut would be $60, before tip. Yep, it bothered me that prepubescent Kortni was making more in an hour than I did to watch a crying baby all day. Nevertheless, I dipped into my skinny wallet and handed Kortni her money for that evening's bar bill.

Fast forward to today. I had decided that I would scrimp and save, and suffer for 8 weeks of a grown-out cut, to visit Kortni again. My hair looks THAT good. I called the salon this morning, and was told that I had to call Kortni on her cell phone to make an appointment. After a couple of missed calls, Kortni left a message on my answering machine that said SHE would be available to cut my hair on Thursday at 10:30. THAT'S IT. No elaboration on which Thursday, no, "Hi Toni", no, "Will this work for you, Toni?". I couldn't believe someone would leave a message for a customer without some genial greeting, some salutation, some serious ass-kissing that would shore up the deal of the next $60 haircut. When I got in touch with Kortni, she repeated her offer of "Thursday, at 10:30". I thought that meant tomorrow. But, NO, NO, NO. Next Thursday. Because young Kortni is so busy snipping, that this is the only time she is willing to dole out to mother-of-two, hard working me. For some reason, this enrages me. If I wanted repeat business, I think I would say "WHAT WORKS FOR YOU HARDWORKING, OVERPAYING CUSTOMER?" But I wasn't asked that. I wasn't given any options. I was only told what I had to take.

Guess what? I'm not going back to Kortni. I'll be seeing ol' Fred again. Fred asks when I'm available and what works around my schedule. I usually am asked how I am, and what's going on in my life. I realize that Fred probably doesn't give a shit that my kids are sick and the roof is leaking. But he understands customer service. His $17 haircut isn't going to pay for his bar tab, but it will pay his bills.