Wary

Daughter L baked us a lovely cake for my birthday and for Father's Day on the 21st of June.  She is so thoughtful.

The following Tuesday, my hairdresser called to say he would be opening up the next day so I could now set up an appointment.  I thanked him and said I would call.  However I am not ready to go back too soon.  Hopefully, his business can get started  up again, despite wary customers like me. 

Humour at the Hairdresser

silk flowers at the liquor store

Daughter L and I were sharing humour that we experienced at our respective hairdressers recently. At my hairdresser last week, an older male customer walked in and greeted the older esthetician, 'everytime I see you, you look ten years younger!'. The assistant and I looked at each other and smiled, that was a good one!

Daughter L said her hairdresser, he has an adult daughter if we are to guess his age, was discussing artificial intelligence with her. He said he was in Walmart one day and lined up to cash out with his regular cashier. He heard a voice 'young man, come this way, I can take you here'. 'Young man!' she repeated trying to get his attention. He said he looked left, he looked right, there was no other man there. 'She must mean me!' he realized. He continued, 'I was so flattered and happy, that really made my day! That is one thing artificial intelligence cannot do, it cannot make you feel as good as I did that day!'

Is the customer always right

Last visit, my hairdresser recommended that I go to a darker shade of hair colouring, that it might do a better job of covering my advancing grey hair.  He was right, this shade lasted a lot longer.  The problem was that at this latest visit,  I couldn't remember what shade it was.  They keep records but it didn't indicate a recent change.  So I went with dark brown and as I was leaving I noticed I had medium brown written on a sticky note next to the date I wanted for my next appointment.  I will decide next time what shade I will stick with.

There was some drama at the hairdresser this visit.  I asked the assistant how she was doing and she said the previous day was a nightmare.  These 2 sisters came in with their screaming babies, took an hour to decide what one of the sisters wanted to do with her hair and stayed for 4 hours.  One sister left midway but one baby was left behind with continued screaming.

Would you believe it, the sisters returned with one baby the next morning while I was there.  They complained that they couldn't see the highlights that were put into the sister's hair and wanted it redone.  The assistant refused, said there was no problem as far as she could see.  My hairdresser, always wanting to please the customer agreed they could come back the next morning to have it redone.  The assistant was very upset and said she would not be doing it. 

As I left I told the hairdresser that I understood how important it is to please the customer, but that he should make it clear that he would do it again this one time only, regardless of whether they were happy or not.  After all, they would not be paying again.  He is my hairdresser for the past 30 years, so more of a friend, as is the assistant.  I hope this made sense to him.

At some point, the customer is not always right, in my mind.  

Microgreen update

arugula microgreens

Well I planted our bag of arugula microgreens and am working on keeping the soil, which was included in the bag, wet.

I was at my hairdresser on a cold morning last week, thankfully no snow that day although it was grey out, with no sunshine.  The assistant told me that business has been dismal in January.  I hope they can stay in business.  

At the hairdresser

Thanks to our rainy summer, the local weeds as pictured above have never looked more beautiful!

I was at my hairdresser last week. He sometimes gives me his magazines as he knows I enjoy reading some of them. This time was no different and he assured me it was the latest issue of Canadian Living. Then the esthetician brought me a cup of coffee with 'no sugar' the way I like it. Then the assistant hairdresser said 'oh, you have your coffee, I just started making one for you!'   I'm trying to say I love the attention I get here sometimes, lol.

Now my hairdresser must be at least 65 by now, it's been a year since his wife passed away.  He told me he is thinking of retiring or perhaps getting a part time job.  The responsibility of running a business is getting to be too much for him these days.  At the same time it is important to have something purposeful to do.

Smelly

At my hairdresser's last week, I was talking to his assistant.  Somehow the topic went to older people. She started talking about this awful smell that was noticed on the same floor as her apartment.  It forced the residents to call 911, the emergency number so they could check on that apartment.  It seems the old lady who lived inside had passed away for about 5 days before the smell was noticed.  She was wheelchair bound, extremely overweight and lived with a number of cats.  She had fallen in the bathtub.  The awful thing is she had no one to check on her.  People would avoid her apartment because it was filthy and smelly with all the cats and never cleaned.  The cats managed to survive all those days without food.

At the Hairdresser's

I was at the hairdresser this week.  Being so close to Christmas, I brought him a bottle of wine.  I've been going there for what must be over 30 years  and going there is always like visiting old friends.  It is a 'warm' feeling, especially at Christmastime.  Someone always brings me a nice cup of coffee.  The hairdresser's wife died this year, so he eats out at restaurants now.  He has never cooked or wanted to.  I do know some women who also don't cook.  The esthetician had her eyebrows tattooed on.  It costs about $120.

 It was a bitterly cold day and the drive home was in white out conditions, the weather changed very quickly.  Shoveling snow that night was kind of fun, not to mention good exercise.  Fortunately it was light and powdery.

At the Hairdresser

I was at the hairdresser the other day. The assistant was telling me they offer Groupon discounts in an effort to attract new customers. Unfortunately they received a few groupon certificates from customers only to discover they were already used and now worthless. The profit margin on these Groupons is very low to begin with. It is the first that I am hearing about Groupon fraud.

At the Hairdresser

Deer family in cottage country

I went to the hairdresser last week, we were going to a special wedding a few days after that, and I wanted to get my hair cut and coloured to ensure I could look my best!  It is a calm and quiet place and I like to chat with everyone.  It was a hot day.

Mind you, this time a lady came in with her newborn baby in a stroller and with her little girl in tow.  I do remember those days.  The hairdresser told her it was not a good idea to bring the baby too close due to all the chemicals.  The lady said she had no other choice but to bring the kids with her.  It didn't take long before the baby started wailing at the top of its lungs.  Yes, I do remember those days.

The esthetician told me her husband had one of his legs amputated below the knee due to diabetes complications when he was 50 years old.  That was 21years ago, and she has been looking after him since then.  It means she has been tied down as a caregiver for a long time.  He is able to go to the washroom on his own and is not totally helpless compared to her friend's situation.  That friend rents a machine from the hospital for $130/month that will lift her husband in and out of bed as he is bedridden.  He has no control of his bowel movements and does not want to go to a long term care home.  He is a wealthy man and the family respects his wishes.  Some people seem to have to carry more burdens than others in this life, I thought.

There is a dollar store in the plaza and I am happy to report I bought my 2017 daily agenda!  It used to be a deal to get it there but the price keeps increasing.  And yes, it's a paper book, nothing online for me as yet.

At the Hairdresser

neighbourhood flowers

I was at my hairdresser last week, I've been seeing him for what must be over 30 years by now.  He told me his wife passed away last month, it was a bit of a shock.  She had been ill the past year from a lung ailment.  He took her to the hospital on a Saturday and she died the following Tuesday.  Fortunately she did not suffer.  I think they are in their mid-sixties.  He told me to take a couple of his Chatelaine magazines home, they were new issues and that his wife always told him to give them to me because I like that magazine.  I was touched and made sure to take them home this time.  When I got home I ordered a fruit basket to be delivered to his store as a token of my sympathy.  He called me as soon as the basket arrived to tell me it was much appreciated.

His Syrian assistant had been working that day.  She is a pretty young woman who left Syria with her young family about a year ago under a refugee intake program.  She was able to move in with her sister.  She told me she had 2 children when I asked, ages 6 and 9.  They love it in school and they have learned English very quickly.  In fact, she is worried they will forget their mother tongue.  Her mother in Syria is also concerned because soon they won't be able to communicate with her.  They just want to speak English now.

At the Hairdresser

My sister recently sent me this photo of sunset at the Florida Keys.


I was at my hairdresser's last week, a new magazine had just arrived. It's 'Fashion' magazine. Flipping through the pages I was shocked at the prices of some of the clothes the models were wearing. The dresses were well over $3,000 dollars and the shoes were over $800.

I heard that some people are  throwing their census forms in the garbage  in their apartment buildings. Hmm, this is not good.

A customer sitting beside me was telling the hairdresser that her friend was using molasses in her hair as a treatment to ward off grey hair.  Hmm, I don't know about this one!

At the hairdresser

I believe I have a wild raspberry plant growing in my garden! I can't wait to taste them if it comes to fruit this season. At first I thought it might be a wild rose plant because of the thorns it has.

I've started going to the hairdresser every 4 weeks now as my hair seems to get grey faster than ever. He had an interesting customer chatting to him this week. Hairdressers must hear all kinds of stories, sort of like being a therapist. Anyway this man would've been in his sixties and he was telling the hairdresser of his plans to move to England. They are off next week to find a house there. His wife is English, their kids are grown and live in places like Vancouver and Malaysia. It seems they have no close relatives in the Toronto area anymore. He spoke of the books he was reading, saying how history repeats itself. It made me think that we would learn from this wouldn't we?

As I waited my turn, I browsed some magazines. I saw this tube squeezer product in a catalogue. It seemed useful for those who make a mess of their toothpaste tubes, such as son K.