Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

to be really pissed with this customer

45 replies

Scissors · 21/12/2011 21:14

have name changed and am prepared for flaming.

I'm a hairdresser, I own the shop, and had a new customer in today. I discussed and listened carefully to what she wanted. I got the distinct feeling from her that hairdresser=lowly person, never usually sense this and have been doing this job for 28 years.

Did exactly as she asked, except for thinning ends as this would have made them frizzy which she was trying to avoid. She had lovely thick hair and I finished it by massaging essential oil serum through the ends to make it glossy. It looked lovely.

conversation throughout the entire cut was hard work

Then she said ' That'll do' -wtf? tell me you don't like it, you do like it whatever but 'that'll do'!!

I wanted to scream.

She paid , I said thankyou and she walked out without so much as a goodbye

OP posts:

Thankgodforcaffeine · 21/12/2011 21:16

what a rude cow!

over30sdisco · 21/12/2011 21:16

she could have said owt - sounds like she didn't like it though and was trying to be nice

TheElvesSawBatgirlKissingSanta · 21/12/2011 21:17

Yanbu manners cost nothing!!

Kayano · 21/12/2011 21:18

Could it have been 'that'll do nicely' but distracted mid sentence?

hopeful

Winkly · 21/12/2011 21:19

YABU. Some people (me) don't like making conversation with the hairdresser, nothing to do with any misplaced sense of superiority, everything to do with being uncomfortable with chit-chatting with strangers. You loved the end result, sometimes people (me) need to go outside and play with it to see how it sits before having a firm opinion. OK, she was a little rude to not say goodbye but if that's the worst thing that normally happens to you - and if you are 'really pissed' - I imagine it is, then things are pretty good for you.

Not meant to be a flaming! But I prefer the dentist to the hairdresser and I can't be the only one!

Original poster

Scissors · 21/12/2011 21:23

No, definately 'that'll do'. It was long hair, she wanted about 4 inches off length and fringe cut back in, which I always do after blowdrying so it doesn't go too short. So quite standard simple cut, framing face.

at The beginning she said don't cut layers too short on crown and I said crown layering must always be longer than ocipital bone, and showed her where that was, otherwise balance in the cut will be incorrect.

OP posts:

Original poster

Scissors · 21/12/2011 21:25

years of experience have taught me when to shut up, she talked but it was hard work

OP posts:

Ismeyes · 21/12/2011 21:34

Just hope she doesn't come back, problem solved. You sound like a lovely hairdresser, I'm so confuddled by my hair that I am eternally grateful for anyone that tries their best with it.

In short. Sod her.

ChippingInLovesChristmasLights · 21/12/2011 21:40

Perhaphs she really can't stand looking in the mirror and it was more of a 'it'll do' meaning 'no matter how good the cut I still look fat/old/tired/dull' :(

Only you were there to know the tone - so if it was a 'that'll do'

Dawndonnathatchristmasiscoming · 21/12/2011 21:41

I hate my hair, and I bet you're nowhere near me, and you sound lovely.

Original poster

Scissors · 21/12/2011 21:57

She was very attractive and her hair was lovely. I thought that maybe shes had a bad experience in the past so consulted even more carefully than I would usually and explained fully why I didn't thin out the ends of her hair. If a haircut is good It will last longer as it will grow out better and I have a lot of clients who comment on this.

It will be interesting if she does come back and I won't be affraid to say that I felt she wasn't happy for some reason if she books again

Where do you live Dawn?

OP posts:

Winkly · 21/12/2011 22:06

Being very attractive is not equivalent to feeling very attractive. Also she may be socially awkward or have had bad experiences in the past.

Can I ask why one slightly distant/rude customer seems to bother you so much? (Genuinely - as in my line of work approximately 50% of my 'customers' despise me for what I do so this is miles out of my frame of reference.)

LordOfTheFlies · 21/12/2011 22:10

HaHa Winkly are you a traffic warden?

Dawndonnathatchristmasiscoming · 21/12/2011 22:12

The wilds of the Suffolk/Norfolk borders! It's cold and the only hairdressers tells me how I'm going to have my hair. It's straight, course and horrid. It hasn't looked good since I moved here! I'm over 50 so apparently I have to have an over 50s hairdo. Harrumph!

Original poster

Scissors · 21/12/2011 22:12

Don't know Winkly, get rude customers from time to time but i'm never usually bothered I just carry on in a professional manner. This one though exuded a sort of 'you are but a mere hairdresser and therefore beneath me' attitude which I just couldn't get past for some reason. Maybe she hates hairdressers and its a necessary evil

OP posts:

Tanith · 21/12/2011 22:14

She does sound a bit rude and off-hand. Maybe she was shy (and rude!)?

My sister is a hairdresser and she once told me her chat-lines:
If a customer is going on holiday, she's either been there, lived there or has a brother or sister living there.
She asks if the customer is doing anything tonight/on Saturday. If so, my sister has been there, knows someone who has been there, has a brother or sister who has been there.
She asks after customer's children and/or husband/partner if middle aged, a boyfriend if younger.
Telly is a "getting slightly desperate here" topic and The Weather is a "God this one's hard work!" topic.

I find myself mentally ticking them all off whenever I go to the hairdressers:
"Holiday: check! Saturday: check! Now she'll ask if I've got kids - yep!"

She did once come unstuck once, when she was training. She was washing a man's hair and hadn't really noticed his face. Chatting away a load of rubbish about her brother in Tunisia or some such place when he said clearly "Tanithsister, it's ME!"
It was one of our cousins that we only ever used to see once a year at Christmas, but he did at least know how many brothers and sisters she had and where they all lived

LRDtheFeministDragon · 21/12/2011 22:18

TBH, I wonder if maybe she hated it but didn't want to say so?

I've been in a hairdressers when I've felt like bursting into tears at what they do - it is very much personal taste, isn't it? Once a bloke straightened mine and he raved about it but I thought I looked like a bad Morticia Adams and just couldn't wait to pay and leave - I didn't dare ask him to sort it out as there was nothing wrong, just I hated it once he'd done it!

Otherwise ... yes, rude!

Original poster

Scissors · 21/12/2011 22:21

Dawn get Kerastase oleo relax shampoo and conditioner, that will be a start

OP posts:

Original poster

Scissors · 21/12/2011 22:31

Tanith.

I actually discussed with this woman, local schooling ( shes just moved here with a young DC ), complimented her hair.

I usually avoid out tonight/holiday chat and ask people about their work and can talk about a massive variety of subjects when I have ascertained what someone is interested in. Love the job

OP posts:

Dawndonnathatchristmasiscoming · 21/12/2011 22:41

Ooo, thank you scissors I shall try.

Winkly · 21/12/2011 22:41

Lord - goodness no - surely if I were a traffic warden the percentage of people who despised me would be closer to 100%??

Confuseddd · 21/12/2011 22:47

Did you set out to prove her wrong in her opinion of hairdressers by deliberately pandering to her - going into extra depth about the cut and making effort in conversation? Because that might be why this is bothering you still. You may have compromised yourself in this situation and that can be painful. You can be confident in yourself and your abilities. If you have to work with someone with a poor attitude, just engage minimally, don't try to change them - waste of time.

ubercat · 21/12/2011 23:25

Fricking hate hairdressers small talk.

I wish I could just sit and read a mag or stare out of the window without coming across as rude.
I always end up wittering on about allsorts and as I've had the same hairdresser for years now, she knows everything about my family I have no social skills

WorraLiberty · 21/12/2011 23:28

It sounds to me as though she wasn't over keen on it, so it's a fair enough reply.

If she'd been blown away by the cut you gave her, I'm sure she wouldn't have been able to hide the fact she was really pleased.

I wouldn't worry about it.

LesserOfTwoWeevils · 21/12/2011 23:31

I dread having to make small talk with hairdressers and probably come across as rude and unfriendly.
You sound like a lovely person and a great hairdresser, though.

Flip

1 2