Things overheard in the hairdressers. Couldn’t believe my ears this afternoon.

[ChocolateDoll]

Sat with dye on my hair listening to this conversation taking place next to me. Didn’t know whether to laugh or cry

HAIRDRESSER: What you going to do on your holidays, then?

CLIENT: Well, we’re planning to visit Auschwitz.

HAIRDRESSER: Oh, right. What you gonna do there then? Just chill out for a bit?

CLIENT: Umm...well uhhh....it’s a concentration camp, you know?

HAIRDRESSER: oh right....sorry.....thought it was like a resort or something.

A friend of my parents went on holiday to Italy and was most disappointed on a visit to Pompeii because it was 'all ruins' and she thought it was going to be 'hotels, beaches and bars and stuff'.

Sad they were unaware of Auschwitz. I would have intervened and butted in at that point about three of my family dying there, not to get sympathy, but so the hairdresser had more awareness.

Hairdresser looked very young.

But I don’t even want to think that there’s a new generation who wouldn’t know what Auschwitz is.

I’m going to assume she was a one off. Too depressing otherwise.

That's sad, Chocolate.

My favourite overheard conversation in the - London - hairdressers I was in went thus :

American client : well, we're here for a few weeks, so we're trying to get around all the good sight-seeing in London. We've done X, Y and Z, but know there's lots more to see.

Australian hairdresser : Oh, you must go to see the Elgar Marbles

I don't think hair-cutters concentrate very well on the chitchat, they often mishear things I find.

My dh overheard gossip about us 😂
My friend carried our baby - surrogacy - and he heard all about it. Completely wrongly but hey!

I actually don't know whether to laugh or cry at that.

It came to light recently that one of my friends didn’t know what the Holocaust was. She’s a 27 year old woman educated to degree level who has worked in an office environment since she was 21-ish.

It wasn’t just that she was unaware of the word, but she was completely oblivious as to what occurred, and when. She knew the Second World War happened, but was unable to pin it down to a particular century.

She saw how baffled we all were and defensively reminded us that she didn’t take History GCSE.

I blame love island 😆
She might have misheard? Hopefully.

What an air head.
Youth is no excuse.

Even without taking history GCSE she should have done 3 years of history at secondary school plus all of primary...

I have a hairdresser who started out like this. At 18 sge would come out with absolute howlers.

Ten years on she is one of the most wonderful human beings I know. She is slowly taking herself off to different places around the world to educate herself too.

It is shocking that some people haven't heard of Auschwitz but not everyone will have by any means

I think it’s quite funny. “Just chill out for a bit?” Ha ha.

I know I know...but I bet if we dug around enough, we’d find something important and glaringly obvious that you’re completely ignorant of. We’ve all got gaps in our knowledge.
Chill out...but maybe not at Auschwitz.

There's something really snobby about this thread.

I’m in my twenties and never had any history lessons about the world wars even at primary school. Obviously I read about it and my family talked about it, so I know all about it! Think it’s so bad I never got taught about it at school though! But might explain some people’s ignorance

I once was buying veg at Tesco. The checkout girl (she was v young) picked up an aubergine and brightly said 'What's this then?' I said 'An aubergine'. Her finger hovered over the 'O' on the screen. I got embarrassed then and said it started with an A. She was completely unbothered, in contrast!

My favourite overheard conversation: 2 girls late teens approached a man and woman on bench (assuming their parents).
Parents seeing two girls approach loaded down with *many^ bags from designer shops -
Mother: "Oh my gawd! How much money did you spend?"
Girl: "Money? We didn't spend any money. We charged it all."

There was every chance the hairdresser was in automatic mode, I've come out with some stupid stuff just because I wasn't really listening and was just going through a little script in my head.

Sad they were unaware of Auschwitz. I would have intervened and butted in at that point about three of my family dying there, not to get sympathy, but so the hairdresser had more awareness

Really?

I'm surprised, pinkpopcorn. My children are in their 20s and there was quite a lot of teaching about WW2, although much of it was about evacuees and at secondary school watching Schindler's List in class. I think they both also spent time studying WW1 poetry at secondary school.

My own generation didn't need to be taught about WW2. It was the background to our parents' childhoods and there were endless war films on the TV, Dad's Army, The World at War (brilliant documentary series narrated by Laurence Olivier) on for months at a time, etc etc.

Odd to think that's all dying out now.

Some people are just very very naive. I overheard a group of American tourists whilst having breakfast in a hotel. They were on their way to London and were pleased to be going on a Sunday as, according to them, it would be very quiet as everyone would be at church.
I nearly choked on my food.
I couldn't help but wonder what other crazy ideas they had about the UK.

There's something really snobby about this thread.

I don’t think it’s snobby to be shocked that someone didnt know about Auschwitz, or that someone didn’t know about the Holocaust. It’s not like people are clutching pearls that their hairdresser can’t speak Latin - millions and millions of people died and it wasn’t that long ago. The same people, and more, are being increasingly persecuted.

I feel sorry for people who have such little knowledge of the world around them. I clearly remember in my first secondary school history lesson the teacher asking us why history was important, then making us write the answer in the front of our exercise books “history is important because if you don’t understand the past you can’t understand the present”.

My general knowledge at 18 was no doubt quite patchy. I think we educate ourselves as we go along?

Lest we forget etc ... but some won't be on that wavelength to be honest because it doesn't cross their world .. sad but true

Best it's still historical and most remember - don't be harsh on everyone else

Gmcq

There's something really snobby about this thread.

No there isn’t. Everyone should know about Auschwitz and if they don’t there is something seriously lacking in their education.