I am sure almost all of you must have waited inside barber-shop ( ok beauty parlor for ladies ) for your turn on a weekend unless off course you were born bald. Have you ever thought while waiting inside a barber-shop that the profession of barber is unique in the sense that here one works maximum over the weekend ? Ironical ! And a barber never complains about working on a weekend. In fact barber earns most of his monthly income on 8-10 days ( Assuming people count Saturday and Sunday as weekend ). It is also true that while a barber uses his time most efficiently over the weekend, his customers waste most of their time waiting for their turn.
To wait is one activity which i finds challenging & demands considerable effort from me. It irritates. I usually gets this irritation once a month unless my hairs decides to grow too slow or too fast. It is very unlikely that you immediately get your turn when you walk inside the barber-shop. You would generally wait and leaf through several Bollywood magazines. Suddenly you would sense that one seat is about to get unoccupied as barber is finished with hair-cut. But the irritation gets aggravated when you realize that person sitting on the chair has gone into hibernation because on a weekend you are expected to sleep long. It doesn't matter that this come on a barber couch. This is the opportunity for which the barber was waiting. He is a smart professional service provider who works on basic fundamental of extracting maximum out of his customer by keeping him engage for as much time as possible. The barber keeps on working over his client, whispering something into his ears & getting a nod in response. When the barber is about to complete the hair cut, he will slowly whispers into the ear of his client to ask, "Shall I shave you ?" The client nods. When the barber is halfway shaving and the blade is exactly on customer's throat, he will whisper, "Would you like to go for a facial, you have some dark spots on your nose ?" Try saying no or shake head in denial in this position. A nod is the only gesture customer can afford to make. Soon the client will be turned into a ghost with yellow paste all over his face. The customer would even enjoy the few slaps on his cheeks barber would give him while doing face massage. In about half an hour more the barber would be done and would adjust the chair to give his client a jolt to wake him up.
So much of irritation! You lose your hairs. You lose your money. You lose your time. It makes me nostalgic too by reminding me of my days in our village when a barber will come home to offer his services to make heads of whole family a bit lighter for a fraction of money we pay today.
