And now the exciting conclusion to....
You Make The Call: The Barbershop Battle!
When we left our story, Brian was squaring off with a man who had to walk past him into a barbershop where Brian thought he had already established his place in line.
Oh, Brian was on the phone.
(Yes, but I was talking to my mom.)
And hadn't actually gone inside yet.
(But I was there five minutes before him.)
When it came time for one of us to get into the chair, the fellow looked at me and asked (rather bluntly) "Did you set foot inside this barbershop before I did?"
I said I didn't come inside because I was on the phone, but that I was clearly there before him.
He said "Then logically, I should go first."
He took off his hat and sat in the chair.
By then, I had already decided that if the guy wanted to go first so badly it wasn't worth a fight.
I had already let it go.
So when he got done and paid and left (without another word to me or the barber) the fun really began.
It was fine that I wasn't ahead of the guy anymore, but this whole episode begs the question:
What did I have to do to establish my place in line to get a haircut?
Sit in the place and talk to my mom?
Walk in, check in with the barber and then step outside?
Hang up and not talk on my phone or take a call while I waited? (There were four guys waiting ahead of me)
I was clearly living in a Barbershop Etiquitte 101 class.
I expected Cosmo Kramer to appear at any moment.
He didn't.
But a couple more guys came in and sat down.
One was an older fella. The other was the deputy and is appearing in People magazine in a weight loss challenge.
Because I wanted to know what I did wrong, I presented the (fascinating) story to them.
The old timer said I was right not to have pushed it with the guy and the deputy said the other guy should have gone first. The older man agreed.
I was 0-for-2.
Since then, every single person has said he should have gone first.
Well, next time I'm in that situation, I'll do things differently.
I'll tackle anyone who walks past me while I'm on the phone.
When we left our story, Brian was squaring off with a man who had to walk past him into a barbershop where Brian thought he had already established his place in line.
Oh, Brian was on the phone.
(Yes, but I was talking to my mom.)
And hadn't actually gone inside yet.
(But I was there five minutes before him.)
When it came time for one of us to get into the chair, the fellow looked at me and asked (rather bluntly) "Did you set foot inside this barbershop before I did?"
I said I didn't come inside because I was on the phone, but that I was clearly there before him.
He said "Then logically, I should go first."
He took off his hat and sat in the chair.
By then, I had already decided that if the guy wanted to go first so badly it wasn't worth a fight.
I had already let it go.
So when he got done and paid and left (without another word to me or the barber) the fun really began.
It was fine that I wasn't ahead of the guy anymore, but this whole episode begs the question:
What did I have to do to establish my place in line to get a haircut?
Sit in the place and talk to my mom?
Walk in, check in with the barber and then step outside?
Hang up and not talk on my phone or take a call while I waited? (There were four guys waiting ahead of me)
I was clearly living in a Barbershop Etiquitte 101 class.
I expected Cosmo Kramer to appear at any moment.
He didn't.
But a couple more guys came in and sat down.
One was an older fella. The other was the deputy and is appearing in People magazine in a weight loss challenge.
Because I wanted to know what I did wrong, I presented the (fascinating) story to them.
The old timer said I was right not to have pushed it with the guy and the deputy said the other guy should have gone first. The older man agreed.
I was 0-for-2.
Since then, every single person has said he should have gone first.
Well, next time I'm in that situation, I'll do things differently.
I'll tackle anyone who walks past me while I'm on the phone.
posted by Brian at 4:01 PM
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