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Original poster

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

372 replies

ChocolateDoll · 22/08/2018 20:52

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

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.

OP posts:
hmcAsWas · 22/08/2018 22:17

Well sure Diana - but do we really expect an 18 year old to have watched Schindlers List or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (etc)?

hmcAsWas · 22/08/2018 22:17

Grin Perfectly !

AndhowcouldIeverrefuse · 22/08/2018 22:18

She was probably not listening... also remember these were two English speakers trying to twist their tongues / get their ears round a German word.

I think it's quite acceptable to do a double take (say what now?) when you half hear an unexpected foreign word in the middle of a conversation, especially when you are trying to work at the same time!

derxa · 22/08/2018 22:20

I love my hairdresser. We cover Trump, Brexit, the Champions League and sport in general in 2 hours flat. I love him. Did I say I love him Grin

MorrisDancingViv · 22/08/2018 22:23

Hmm I have an 'A' grade at A level history - World War history isn't my forte (it wasn't part of the a level curriculum and personally I didn't find it hugely interesting) and I didn't study it that much in the years leading up to my a level, in fact it was more a part of the English syllabus with WW poetry. It's 20 years since I was at school so I have no idea what the history syllabus contains these days.

Whilst I find it sad someone doesn't know about Auschwitz, as a pp has pointed out there are a number of historical incidences that people should know about and don't because we aren't taught about it and some people just aren't interested in history. I don't think many of my friends know who Pol Pot is for example

mummytoc · 22/08/2018 22:23

I’m with mudcity, taught history gcse, never learnt about world wars despite being at a good school. Mainly industrial revolution, suffragettes etc. It’s a shame.

Graphista · 22/08/2018 22:23

Cigars - my sort of adopted home town is very very old, lots of listed buildings old churches etc attracts a lot of American (and other) tourists. I once overheard a pair of Americans bemoaning the width of the roads "well even with their small cars they can't possibly get 2 cars down these roads...why didn't they make them wider for the cars?" That would be because when the town was built, cars weren't even thought of! Let alone commonplace. Most people were getting about either walking or riding horses - even carriages wouldn't have been very common/only for the very wealthy. When this was pointed out to them they then responded "well why don't you just knock down these old buildings and widen the roads and build nice new buildings" 🙄 there as tourists precisely BECAUSE of these old buildings especially the churches but completely oblivious to the irony.

I had 3 grandparents who served in WWII so it was something very much in my consciousness. One granda was part of the relieving the prisoners at Belsen - by sheer coincidence I ended up working with someone who's parent had been incarcerated at Belsen, unfortunately this was after my granda had passed. It was a weirdly emotional realisation.

"similar to this, is the amount of grown adults who couldn’t point to the location of any of their vital organs if asked, nor could they name the function of said organs. i find that INSANE. it’s your body, how can you not know?!" As an ex nurse I agree I find this shocking too. Basic biology that I had been taught pre gcse, also the basics of the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems.

Grimtimes - I'm 46 were you educated in Britain?

Hmc - I would like it if people would know about those too - and various other events but unfortunately we can't learn everything. Personally I would include the rise (and fall?) of communism.

Timefortea99 · 22/08/2018 22:24

My hairdresser doesn’t shut up. She doesn’t listen because she is too busy talking, I could say I was going holiday to Mars and she wouldn’t miss a beat . I come out of there exhausted.

EstuaryBird · 22/08/2018 22:25

Junior: Going anywhere nice
Me: Oslo
Jnr: Where's that
Me: Norway
Jnr: where's that
Me: Scandinavia
Jnr: I never heard of that, how long does it take to fly there
Me: Around 2 hours
Jnr: (happy) Oh, it's like Spain then
Me: Yes. Yes, it's just like Spain........

She's a sweet girl though and I gave her a good tip.....but she did say she failed Geography..

Duck90 · 22/08/2018 22:26

As others have said there is a good chance she wasn’t listening and on full throw of her normal patter at work.

AdoraBell · 22/08/2018 22:26

We were living in Chile when a sever earthquake struck. Talking to a teacher at DD’s school afterwards DH compared it to the San Fransisco quake.

The teacher wasn’t aware there had ever been an earthquake in the city she grew up in.

MipMipMip · 22/08/2018 22:28

I asked if they had it in stock and the young lad serving said is that a fiction book or something that actually happened?

I would imagine they meant was it pure history or a novelization? There are a lot of fictional stories set in world war ii, The Book Thief for example.

Grimtimes · 22/08/2018 22:28

Graphista Yes...in The Midlands!

Lalliella · 22/08/2018 22:28

do we really expect an 18 year old to have watched Schindlers List or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (etc)? DS 15 and DD 12 have both read and watched the latter. We took them to the Anne Frank house when DD was 8. Their choice, we didn’t foist it upon them. They want to learn about these things and we think it’s important that they do.

TheOrigRightsofwomen · 22/08/2018 22:32

What did the hairdresser mean by Elgar Marbles?

Yoksha · 22/08/2018 22:34

I've known about the Holocaust since I was 9. It has haunted me ever since. I'm not morbid about it. I just can't get my head around 'man's inhumanity to man's. My Dh of 43yrs feels the same. We've gone through our life educating ourselves individually about it. Holidays each year to Europe must include museums, WW2 battle sites etc. I've spent 7hrs one day absorbed in the Military museum in Dresden. There's a huge section on the Holocaust. Berlin. I've discovered German translations on Himmler. A book of historical documents from history covering how the western world knew the Holocaust was coming. Only this week I've discovered the Wannsee Conference. Watched some documentaries on YouTube. Never knew about this subject. I've spent my whole adult life gathering knowledge. I just know we should never let this happen again to any group. It takes time. The more you find out, the more you discover what you don't know.

mumsastudent · 22/08/2018 22:35

I am a bit (!!)older than you lot :) my high school education was in oz the last year of school (gcse equivalent)we did do modern history ww1 & ww2 Korean War & the start of the Vietnam War, but I remember my dad when I left school telling me that education doesn't stop when you leave school he encouraged me to keep reading serious books & we always discussed current affairs at our dinner/ kitchen ! table we certainly weren't rich but he valued education

Aneurin · 22/08/2018 22:38

I teach History and we have had to move the Holocaust into Y8 to accommodate the 3 year GCSE. We are a beacon school for Holocaust teaching and spend a whole half-term on it, but the Y8s are not really mature enough to grasp the significance. We used to teach it at the end of Y9, and it was much better. Trying to get Y8s to grasp the nuances, the willingness to accept anti-Semitism, the involvement of the census bureau, the scientific community etc. when they just want to tell you that they would have stolen a gun and escaped, is more than a little challenging.

Motherhood101Fail · 22/08/2018 22:38

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

MrsEricBana · 22/08/2018 22:39

It really isn't at all great that she apparently hadn't heard of Auschwitz from parents, school etc. Let's hope she misheard or was just trotting out bog standard questions as she concentrated on the haircut.
On my wedding day the hairdresser doing my wedding hair said to me "So, doing anything nice later?" (and no she wasn't being funny)

Herja · 22/08/2018 22:40

My absolute favorite was convincing a friend that beavers were a real animal. I also explaimed to the same friend how the chirch of England came about, but beavers was definitely the best one.

Ohyesiam · 22/08/2018 22:40

Elgin marbles

GinandGingerBeer · 22/08/2018 22:40

My DS's are 16 and 17. They've both seen boy in the striped pyjamas, Schindler's list,the pianist, downfall, Dunkirk....and more I can't think of right now DS 1 most definitely read boy in striped pjs at junior school.
Then again ask ds 2 where Cardiff, Leicester, Edinburgh and many more I can't think of right now Wink are on the map and he's utterly clueless.

Herja · 22/08/2018 22:41

Bah. Church*

Theimpossiblegirl · 22/08/2018 22:43

Herja- do you mean that your friend didn't think beavers were real, or you think they are fictional creatures and had fun 'tricking' her?
:)
Narwhals are also real.