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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

MissMerrynder · 21/12/2011 23:31

To be fair, though, I come off as a right stand offish cow to people who don't know me. I tend to warm up after a couple of encounters though.

OTOH, "that'll do" is a quite dismissive though, so YAmaybeNBU.

YonderRevoltingPeasantWhoIsHe · 21/12/2011 23:34

Me too, Lesser!

This is totally going to make me sound like a snotty cow, but.... I don't do 18-30 hell fun in the sun holidays or own a telly. This pretty much rules out 80% of most conversation most hairdressers try to start.

I am not especially shy but when people start with tantithsister 's gambits, I just don't know what to say. Would much rather talk about something going on in the news/ their job than Tunisia

ouryve · 21/12/2011 23:36

I have a lovely hairdresser who doesn't chatter lots. Bliss!

A1980 · 21/12/2011 23:36

I don't get it? What are you mad about?

When I pay a quite frankly extortionate amount of money to have my hair trimmed I wasn't aware I was also epxected to make conversation with the hair dresser and gush over the amazing result at the risk of being called rude. FFS sake what is wrong with you? She wasn't rude just not very communicative and she didn't criticize your cut either.

JollyJinglyJoo · 21/12/2011 23:48

I don't think YABU. Sounds like you put in a lot of effort to make sure your customer got a good cut, and listened to what she wanted. That puts you streets ahead of many hairdressers in my book!

I love my hairdresser. I've been going to her for over 10 years now, and I have gotten to the point that I am really reluctant to go to anyone else. She has known me since before I was married (she did my wedding hair), known me over the time that I had my 3 dc, her wedding, my new business. We chat lots. She is now on maternity leave, and I haven't had my hair cut for 7 months

Bit of a ramble, but before I went to her I hated the hairdresser more than the dentist. I have difficult hair, and noone ever seemed to listen to me before!! Many was the time I left the hairdresser holding back the tears.

So I would have appreciated the time you took to talk to me. I would probably have appreciated your chat too (nothing worse than a hairdresser who looks like he/she is bored out of his/ her mind while they absent-mindedly chop huge chunks out of your hair) I'm not stupid- I know that lots of the chat/ compliments/ interest is put on for the sake of customer relations, but I don't care- I still appreciate the effort. Getting my hair cut is a big deal for me- it costs a lot, it takes valuable time, and it can be nerve-wracking. But in the right hands it can turn into a treat, and you sound like you made the effort to give your client a good experience, OP.

It's true, however, that you can't please all the people all the time, so don't take it personally. I have had customers like this and often, although I think they haven't been happy, they come back again and again, and I realise that it is just the way they are, and relax a bit.

A1980 · 21/12/2011 23:54

I love my hairdresser. I've been going to her for over 10 years now

That might be why you have such a rapport with her. Sounds as if the OP had never seen this person before. Do you somehow expect a similar rapport that exists between you and your hair dresser. What a daft compariosn to make.

NoOnesGoingToEatYourMincePies · 22/12/2011 00:16

I struggle with hair dresser chats because I am partially deaf and it's sometimes hard to hear if the salon is noisy or they have the hairdryer going on my good side.

There's always this moment where I nod and say "Yes! Lovely!" and they look at me with the fisheye stare (through the mirror) and go quiet and I think about it for a few minutes and work out that they said something along the lines of their cat having just died or their boyfriend having left them for their next door neighbour.

Then I spend the rest of the visit worrying that my highlights will be red and green instead of blonde and caramel.

theincredibequeenofwands · 22/12/2011 01:05

Hello to the lady who would rather go to the dentist than the hairdresser!!

Me too!! Thought I was the only person who felt that way!

Hairdresser chat is awkward- is none of their business where my child goes to school or where I work.

My SIL cuts my hair, I just can't bear the hairdressers......!

JollyJinglyJoo · 22/12/2011 01:09

A1980- yes, I appreciate that it is a relationship developed over time, but it had to start somewhere! My hairdresser was always friendly and listened to what I was saying re my hair, which is why I continued to go to her! I tried out lots of hairdressers before going to mine- that initial consultation/ haircut is all important

NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 22/12/2011 01:11

Maybe she was just in a very bad mood for some reason unrelated to you.

Mspontipine · 22/12/2011 01:33

Though I have very fine hair, if mine is thinned on the ends it lies beautifully and I don't have to use straightners and the cut lasts for ages. If ends aren't thinned they sit in a vile blob and need squashing flat with straighteners and cut doesn't last 5 minutes. Maybe you thought you did a fab job but she was upset cuz you didn't do what she asked and didn't make the very most of her hair when she has seen it looking even better and she's way happier with it(so knows what she wants is physically possible). You also mention layers - I have a nightmare sure it's a double crown and my hair springs off like crazy if they're not attended to so also a worrying issue. Maybe the chatting distracted her till the end so she only looked when you'd finished, felt disappointed but unable to explain why as us mere mortals really struggle to explain to you hair-technical types how we would like our hair, and just wanted to get out of there, as she knows damn well she'll struggle to do it herself without your finely honed blow-drying expertise.

confuddledDOTcom · 22/12/2011 01:38

Ha mincepies that sounds so familiar! Glasses off so I can't lip read (people forget I have hearing problems - even I do tbf - because at 30 I've learnt to work around it but take my glasses off and I'm stuck) noise around so I can't distinguish so well and I could be agreeing to anything!

I used to do long hair modelling when I was at college (I have proper long hair so they used to fight over me) it'd take 3 hours just to wash and dry my hair, I'd be falling asleep and the student would keep waking me up to ask if I was OK...

NorkyPiesWithJingleBellsOn · 22/12/2011 01:47

I'm with you, YonderRevoltingPeasantWhoIsHe! I usually forestall by getting my questions in first: 'How are your guinea pigs?' for example, or starting a weather discussion.

two4one · 22/12/2011 01:50

Sorry, but you are being paid to perform a task, the customer does not need to praise or flatter you at the end of it. I'm sure it's nicer when they do but everyone's different. She didn't need to say anything at all so long as the job was adequate. Maybe she didn't love it but didn't hate it either, just thought it would do.

Too much fawning over hairdressers if you ask me.

two4one · 22/12/2011 01:53

Oh, and as a busy mum who gets barely any time on my own, I see a trip to the hairdressers as a blissful opportunity to read trashy mags and be alone with my thoughts. Love the ones that sense this and leave you be.

sashh · 22/12/2011 02:31

Er - did she have a Yorkshire accent? If o you have just been given the highest complement and she loves her hair do.

IslaDoit · 22/12/2011 02:46

That could be me. I hate going to the hairdresser and find the experience excruciating. I have had some awful experiences in the past and I don't like making chit chat when I'm uncomfortable any way.

If you has young dc she may have been running out of time for nursery pick up or something, particularly if you were taking longer to explain things.

IME, when customers are off it's rarely, if ever to do with you personally.

BaublesandCuntingCarolSingers · 22/12/2011 09:34

YANBU

Unfortunately, christmas brings out the worst in these people. Their time/custom is more important than anyone else's apparently. I had a similar twat on tuesday being very, very rude to me. Thankfully, she did realise that she was being an entitled arsehole and apologised but still. No need to be an arsehole in the first place.

Karma will get all of you.

vincettenoir · 22/12/2011 09:45

You havnt given any objective evidence to suggest that she was rude other than your impression that she thought hairdressers were lowly. Of course you might be right but I think it's more likely she was having a shit day. You never know what might be happening in someones life when they walk into your salon

1973magpie · 22/12/2011 09:57

Dawn The Cutting Corner in Harleston (South Norfolk) is very good if you're anywhere near there?

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