I've hit my stride...

So, a funny thing happened at work yesterday. A client walked in the door, her hair hidden under a hat. I was at the desk, so I asked "may I help you??" Here's her story: She came in Tuesday afternoon to get her haircut. Evelyn is her stylist. The client's complaint is that her sides weren't right and she couldn't do anything with her hair. When Ginger heard that conversation, she came flying right over to emphasize that Evelyn would be in the next day, if she wanted to come in. Ginger didn't offer herself up, as she was either waiting for her next client or had a client processing (don't remember which, quite frankly). The client was politelly insistant that it get fixed right now. So, Ginger reluctantly offered me up. So, we walked over to my station, removed the hat, and had a chat. She talked about how her sides weren't right, couldn't do a thing to style them, and her bangs were too heavy. While my hands were in her hair, I could feel something on her hair (found out after the fact, she had colored her hair the night before), so I opted to wash her hair. Her hair was also THICK and slightly coarse...not hair I really want to cut dry. Back at my station, I start the recut...Ginger watching the entire time. (Now that I'm remembering things, her client didn't show) I checked the back first and discovered that Evelyn had razored her haircut...good information to know. The back looked fine...just a couple of teeny spots to fix. Then, I started going through the top..What a mess it turned out to be!! Her bangs were, in fact, very heavy...took another 1/2 inch off. Once the top was done, I carefully went through the sides, checking, blending the entire thing THOROUGHLY. In the end, I cut quite a bit off. I chatted with the client the entire time, about all kinds of stuff...she's a very nice person. She kept talking about how "dirty" she felt, "cheating" on Evelyn. I told her not to worry about it, we all fix each others mistakes from time to time...just not a big deal. Ginger kept watching everything I was doing and finally complemented me when I was done..."That came out really nice"...always with the tone of surprise. Later, I made a point of showing her the swept up hair and commenting that it really wasn't all that bad... The absolutely best part??? The client commented on how she didn't have any money to tip me with, while thanking me for fixing her hair. "I really like Evelyn, but you did a good job. Thank you so much! I don't even have a dollar on me, I'm soo sorry!" I just told her not to worry about it, no big deal. We continued to talk about her getting her kids in for haircuts. I offered up Evelyn (as she's her stylist) and she said, "Oh, no..I want to book them with you." I proceeded to book her son with me, then when it came time to book her daughter, I, again, offered up Evelyn's services...to which the client still wanted me to take care of her daughter. How funny is that??? :) Then, I had another client, that I recently inherited from Evelyn, tell me that why she stopped going to Evelyn is that she wouldn't do what the client wanted (which I had seen, first hand) and she liked how I did things better. Now, our salon has been hit by this recession...clients have dropped off, cancelled more often, etc. We're all feeling it right now. That's why, I feel, it's sooo important to treat our clients well, and give them what they ask for, unless it's something that will NOT work for their hair. What we're not supposed to be doing, in my humble opinion, is telling the client NO. And I hear it, alot. Part of it is because our prices are inclusive and Ginger doesn't want to split the commission on services by, say, booking the perm part with me and booking the haircut part with herself. What that does, in her mind (and she is right) is give me the higher of the two dollar amounts (I'm not even hitting commission yet, so it probably wouldn't make a difference in my paycheck), instead of giving it all to herself. So, what happens is she lets the client know that she could do her perm, but she'd have to hang around an hour before she could get to it. Effectively, she talked the client out of a perm, losing herself the money, anyway. So, the end result is that I'm starting to really build up a clientele and a reputation!! It's not just Evelyn or Ginger that isn't listening to their clients...Maude doesn't, either. I had a client on tuesday that used to be Maude's. When I looked this information up in the computer, I didn't pay attention to the dates. So, when she was in my chair, I asked why she left the salon. Her reply was simple...her stylist wouldn't listen to her and did what she wanted to with her hair. That's why she had been cutting her hair, herself. I just hope that when I have a few years under my belt that I don't stop listening to my clients!