So, Becky came in Wednesday, not later today. I got to observe her doing schedules, a titch of training. So, now I get to do schedules. Becky tried to talk to me Thursday, however, there were too many co-workers around for me to talk to her about all the issues that are going on right now. She's supposed to be calling me back, sometime over the weekend, trying to catch me at an opportune moment...hasn't happened as of yet.
Doing the schedules isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've noticed, with my co-workers, that they all want to learn the manager stuff as long as it's "fun"...when it comes to the accountability and responsibility, they ALL back away, asking "Beth???? Can you help???" And, some, are unwilling to educate themselves any further, unless it's fun. Example: Rita had a client's mother asking questions about her hair color yesterday. She got it done in another salon, had it lightened, in fact. She was quite dark to start off with (has the dark brown eyes to prove it), and colored her hair dark to boot. Ideally, what happened is the hairdresser took her too far into blond. And it was a startling change for her. It's also on the warm side of things, and multi-tonal. Which bothers her because her hair, previously, was all one color. Ideally, what should have happened is that they should have started highlighting her, a light to medium highlight, instead of a heavy highlight, to break her in gently to the lighter color. Rita had called me over to consult with her, then walked away from the consultation, instead of staying and learning how to handle the whole thing.
Rita came in yesterday, looking like she got dressed out of the rag bag...Lindsey came in the other day wearing a tank top.....can you tell they haven't read the dress code??
On the upside: I gained yet another new client yesterday....very exciting. Stephie got a couple of requests based on people watching her cut hair from the doorway (happens sometimes)...for a new hairdresser, she's got it all going on...poise, confidence, skill and god-given talent. Over all, we were fairly busy yesterday. And, with Stella and Tina not there (Stella had a long weekend, Tina is out, having had her wisdom teeth pulled the other day.), we only had maybe a 15 minute wait for most people. Actually, I gained a second client yesterday...she had been in last month and had Rita. When she came in yesterday, she was quite glad that I wound up with her, and said so. Therefore, I gave her the hair cut she asked for, which was nice, for the both of us.
I'm hoping that Becky stops in the salon, SOON. I need her to check over the schedule I did, just to ease my mind, really, as well as have a private chat with her about what I see. Tina, once she's back, Stephie, Lindsay, and myself will do just fine. It's Rita and Stella I'm concerned about...lots of training needed there....and how she wants to handle it, too.
One of the things Becky made a point of stating when everyone was hovering over her, watching her do the schedules, is that the people who aren't consistently busy will get the crappier schedules...the productive ones will get the premium schedules. Which is something I need to find out exactly what a "premium schedule" is, and what a crappy schedule is. Is premium day shifts, consecutive days off, only one night a week?? And is the crappy side of things lots of evenings, shorter shifts, reduced schedule?? Because, as it stands, we're one hairdresser over the schedule. Should be interesting how it all plays out.
Believe it or not, over all, I enjoy the people I work with. Never a dull moment in there, even when it's slow. But, I have to have that talk with Becky about the manager position before I get all involved (more than I already am) in figuring out how to positively motivate those that need the most help.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday....this Sunday...
So, according to the "girls", Becky will be in the salon, for a brief moment, this very Sunday. Sigh....I'm both looking forward to it and not looking forward to it. We've had so many complaints of late, it's no longer a laughing matter (not that it ever was in the first place). And there are things that MUST be done.
First: Someone needs to be made manager and trainer. A thankless task, mind you, but it needs to be done if every one's reputations are going to be salvaged. There are far too many services being messed up for this to get swept under the rug any longer. I hate like anything to be the tattletale, but it's coming to that point. I have been documenting everything, as I hear of it, and not just here. It seems like the count is climbing, daily....and that needs to STOP, a.s.a.p.
Second: The manager/trainer needs to be checking all hair cuts before they leave the building. Period. No one, except for myself, had that kind of training when they started working in a salon. I'm not saying I'm perfect....far from it. However, my clients don't leave with an incomplete hair cut, either.
Third: Becky needs to make regular appearances in our store much more often than she does. I get that she's got a hot mess down in Providence,RI...apparently, all her stylists but one walked out of that store. And she's having a difficult time hiring more to replace the ones that left.
We're all getting lost in the shuffle, and it's not looking very good right now....
First: Someone needs to be made manager and trainer. A thankless task, mind you, but it needs to be done if every one's reputations are going to be salvaged. There are far too many services being messed up for this to get swept under the rug any longer. I hate like anything to be the tattletale, but it's coming to that point. I have been documenting everything, as I hear of it, and not just here. It seems like the count is climbing, daily....and that needs to STOP, a.s.a.p.
Second: The manager/trainer needs to be checking all hair cuts before they leave the building. Period. No one, except for myself, had that kind of training when they started working in a salon. I'm not saying I'm perfect....far from it. However, my clients don't leave with an incomplete hair cut, either.
Third: Becky needs to make regular appearances in our store much more often than she does. I get that she's got a hot mess down in Providence,RI...apparently, all her stylists but one walked out of that store. And she's having a difficult time hiring more to replace the ones that left.
We're all getting lost in the shuffle, and it's not looking very good right now....
Friday, May 20, 2011
Oh, boy.....
So, lately, it seems, all I've done or talked about is fixing someone's mistakes. The ladies I work with that have actually worked in a salon before didn't have a training program where they previously worked, so they were never taught the nuances of a hair cut. For example...when you take someone down to the skin on the bottom, and leave some hair on the top, the line around their head must be PRECISE. You have nothing to hid the mistakes with. Also, listening to the client and giving them what they ask for is a good idea...the clipper cut Stella did last night, not only did she mess up the line, not show him what his hair cut looks like, she also cut off his bangs that he expressly asked not to be cut OFF....trimmed up, but not cut off. Also, when someone comes in with a stacked bob they're trying to grow out, not only do you tread carefully with this haircut, you also need to explain, oh so carefully, what parts of the hair cut you're not going to touch and why, since the goal is to grow the stack out.
This particular client was almost in tears by the time she came in to talk to me about her hair cut. Another one that Stella cut...except she had Rita check it....the wrong person to have check a hair cut,as her only experience with cutting women's hair has been since she started working with us. At any rate, the client went home, dried her hair and discovered that it was, well, a hot mess. One side was longer than the other, and the back wasn't cooperating. She called the salon about getting a full refund (including the tip), to which Lindsay took her name and number down, but didn't pass it on to Becky, as she told the client she would. Mistake number 1. So, the client called back, wondering why Becky hadn't called, and was given the 1-800 complaint number to call, which she did. And was told by person she talked to there that she had to come back in and get the hair cut verified before they'd do anything like that. I talked to her, extensively, about how I wanted to make it right, this is what I'd have to do to fix the hair cut, that sort of thing. She was quite upset and didn't want to A) have to re-build the stack (which is what would have to happen, to a lesser degree, to fix the cut) or lose any more length over all (which would also have to happen to correct the uneven sides). She didn't come back last night, and I truly didn't expect her to.
What I need to do is call Becky and leave her a message, asking her what she wants me to do about all of this that I'm seeing, especially since I'm NOT the salon manager. I care about what goes on, and I don't want everyone thinking we're all a bunch of hack artists, which is what is going to happen if something isn't done pretty soon!!
This particular client was almost in tears by the time she came in to talk to me about her hair cut. Another one that Stella cut...except she had Rita check it....the wrong person to have check a hair cut,as her only experience with cutting women's hair has been since she started working with us. At any rate, the client went home, dried her hair and discovered that it was, well, a hot mess. One side was longer than the other, and the back wasn't cooperating. She called the salon about getting a full refund (including the tip), to which Lindsay took her name and number down, but didn't pass it on to Becky, as she told the client she would. Mistake number 1. So, the client called back, wondering why Becky hadn't called, and was given the 1-800 complaint number to call, which she did. And was told by person she talked to there that she had to come back in and get the hair cut verified before they'd do anything like that. I talked to her, extensively, about how I wanted to make it right, this is what I'd have to do to fix the hair cut, that sort of thing. She was quite upset and didn't want to A) have to re-build the stack (which is what would have to happen, to a lesser degree, to fix the cut) or lose any more length over all (which would also have to happen to correct the uneven sides). She didn't come back last night, and I truly didn't expect her to.
What I need to do is call Becky and leave her a message, asking her what she wants me to do about all of this that I'm seeing, especially since I'm NOT the salon manager. I care about what goes on, and I don't want everyone thinking we're all a bunch of hack artists, which is what is going to happen if something isn't done pretty soon!!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Work, work, work
Lately, it seems, all I do is work....not a bad thing, necessarily, just an observation.
I did finally put Rita the Manager in her place. I was okay about it, didn't slam her (verbally) against the wall, but I let her know how I felt. One of her friends (did I mention she lives in a low income housing project in the next town??) came in one night last week to have her little guy's hair cut...Tina and I were finishing up on two colors, which were taking some considerable time (mine has POROUS hair which was taking forever to dry), and being 8:40 in the evening (we close at 9), we both turned down the hair cut, however emphasizing that we're open 9-9 Mon - Sat, Sun 10-6. Here comes the "fun" part:
Now it's Tuesday, and I'm cutting the little guy's hair...Rita comes in with her friend...didn't think a whole lot of it, at the time. Then, I was off on Wednesday, came back on Thursday. Rita approaches me in the break room with a cockamamie story about the whole approach about cutting the little boy's hair on Monday night. Something about how the customer (mom) felt Tina was being snotty to me (what happened is I was blow drying my client's hair and didn't hear Tina speak to me, so she raised her voice (which she shouldn't have done, she should have walked over to me) and that's when I heard her), and copped an attitude herself. So, Rita took it upon herself to "deal" with the "issue" which wasn't there in the first place. During the course of her "discussing" it with me (I was on my lunch break, mind you) I wound up just shutting her down by reminding her that there were clients to take care of and I was on my lunch. Her reply was "Well, you think about it and get back to me"...WHAT??
After I got done with my lunch, I was stewing about the whole thing. Who, exactly, does Rita think she is to handle something like that?? No one, and I mean NO ONE is the manager in that place. The closest thing we have to a manager is Becky, who is only available by voice mail. I eventually took the deposit to the bank because I needed to get OUT of there before I said something I was definitely going to regret.
Right before I left for the day, home office called, wanting to guide someone through fixing some of the problems we've been having with the computer. So, since I was leaving, I passed the phone to Rita, stating to her, "Since you're on tonight, and you want to be manager so bad, go ahead and handle this installation" . She said "I don't want to be manager...you do this...you're good at it" "Rita, I have to go home now...and if you don't want to be manager, don't act like you are one." To which she back pedaled and said "I didn't mean to come across like that" , hollering it across the salon.
Was my reaction to her done in a professional manner?? Nope. It was a better response than what I was originally thinking about doing, but still not the right thing to do. She made me angry and she knew it. From when she "spoke" to me about her friend until I left for the day, she was trying hard to suck up to me because she knew she'd stepped on my toes. And the whole rest of the week, she was pussy-footing it around me, because she knew she'd messed up. It was mildly entertaining to experience.
What is really happening with Rita is her personal life is falling apart and it's spilling over into her job. Her boyfriend is being a jerk, and the ensuing drama is entering the salon. I had to fix two of her haircuts this past week, as well as take a phone call from a very angry client who referred to Rita as a "butcher" in no uncertain terms. I wound up taking his name and number and passing it along to Becky to handle. Who happened to call yesterday , and I answered the phone, so I got to talk (or listen, really) to her about it. She did handle it personally, but also directed me to the 1-800 complaint number to give to clients when that happens. I forget that number is there and have a slight panic when I get phone calls like that. It's all in the learning, I guess....
I also talked to Tina about the whole "thing" that was perceived between the two of us. She was pretty irked with the way Rita chose to handle it, too. So, the rest of us (now I get to tell both Rita and Stella) have agreed that when we see something like that, or a client mentions that they witnessed something like that, we are to call Becky and let her handle it as she sees fit, since none of us are managers. Can't wait to see how that goes over with Rita..Stella should be fine.
I did finally put Rita the Manager in her place. I was okay about it, didn't slam her (verbally) against the wall, but I let her know how I felt. One of her friends (did I mention she lives in a low income housing project in the next town??) came in one night last week to have her little guy's hair cut...Tina and I were finishing up on two colors, which were taking some considerable time (mine has POROUS hair which was taking forever to dry), and being 8:40 in the evening (we close at 9), we both turned down the hair cut, however emphasizing that we're open 9-9 Mon - Sat, Sun 10-6. Here comes the "fun" part:
Now it's Tuesday, and I'm cutting the little guy's hair...Rita comes in with her friend...didn't think a whole lot of it, at the time. Then, I was off on Wednesday, came back on Thursday. Rita approaches me in the break room with a cockamamie story about the whole approach about cutting the little boy's hair on Monday night. Something about how the customer (mom) felt Tina was being snotty to me (what happened is I was blow drying my client's hair and didn't hear Tina speak to me, so she raised her voice (which she shouldn't have done, she should have walked over to me) and that's when I heard her), and copped an attitude herself. So, Rita took it upon herself to "deal" with the "issue" which wasn't there in the first place. During the course of her "discussing" it with me (I was on my lunch break, mind you) I wound up just shutting her down by reminding her that there were clients to take care of and I was on my lunch. Her reply was "Well, you think about it and get back to me"...WHAT??
After I got done with my lunch, I was stewing about the whole thing. Who, exactly, does Rita think she is to handle something like that?? No one, and I mean NO ONE is the manager in that place. The closest thing we have to a manager is Becky, who is only available by voice mail. I eventually took the deposit to the bank because I needed to get OUT of there before I said something I was definitely going to regret.
Right before I left for the day, home office called, wanting to guide someone through fixing some of the problems we've been having with the computer. So, since I was leaving, I passed the phone to Rita, stating to her, "Since you're on tonight, and you want to be manager so bad, go ahead and handle this installation" . She said "I don't want to be manager...you do this...you're good at it" "Rita, I have to go home now...and if you don't want to be manager, don't act like you are one." To which she back pedaled and said "I didn't mean to come across like that" , hollering it across the salon.
Was my reaction to her done in a professional manner?? Nope. It was a better response than what I was originally thinking about doing, but still not the right thing to do. She made me angry and she knew it. From when she "spoke" to me about her friend until I left for the day, she was trying hard to suck up to me because she knew she'd stepped on my toes. And the whole rest of the week, she was pussy-footing it around me, because she knew she'd messed up. It was mildly entertaining to experience.
What is really happening with Rita is her personal life is falling apart and it's spilling over into her job. Her boyfriend is being a jerk, and the ensuing drama is entering the salon. I had to fix two of her haircuts this past week, as well as take a phone call from a very angry client who referred to Rita as a "butcher" in no uncertain terms. I wound up taking his name and number and passing it along to Becky to handle. Who happened to call yesterday , and I answered the phone, so I got to talk (or listen, really) to her about it. She did handle it personally, but also directed me to the 1-800 complaint number to give to clients when that happens. I forget that number is there and have a slight panic when I get phone calls like that. It's all in the learning, I guess....
I also talked to Tina about the whole "thing" that was perceived between the two of us. She was pretty irked with the way Rita chose to handle it, too. So, the rest of us (now I get to tell both Rita and Stella) have agreed that when we see something like that, or a client mentions that they witnessed something like that, we are to call Becky and let her handle it as she sees fit, since none of us are managers. Can't wait to see how that goes over with Rita..Stella should be fine.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Rita, the manager....
So, Rita is still trying hard to become the manager. She's decided to take the new person, Stella, under her wing. Which should prove to be interesting, since there's a lot of hair education Rita is lacking, purely because she worked in a barber shop for a while when she first got out of school, not a hair salon.
Speaking of which, Rita did a haircut on a lady and managed to mess it up. Not badly, but she clearly had NO idea what she was doing. I wound up fixing the haircut. Here's what happened (I got this from the client later on, when she brought her 8 year old back in for a hair cut): Nice lady has been growing her hair out for older daughter's wedding. She's had long layers. However, it's been at least 2 months, if not longer, since her last cut, so her lines are pretty much gone. Rita mentioned to her that she couldn't see her layers. Therefore, what happened, instead of stopping, re-discussing what happened, then continue to cut her hair, she just cut her hair, and didn't put any layers in the client's hair.
Now, let's jump ahead to when mom brings daughter back in to get her hair cut and she gets me for a stylist. We talk about the haircut, little one decides what she wants, I verify it, because she wants a significant amount of hair cut off, and commence to cutting. Mom watches me the whole time, then brings up the missing layers and could I at least look at her hair and determine what happened.
The end result is that I wound up re-cutting mom's hair, for free, fixing Rita's mistake. It wasn't truly bad, but she wanted layers and didn't get them. She has them now.
This is the second time in as many weeks that something like this has happened, although not to Rita. The other one was Tina, giving this elderly lady who had a hard time deciding to get her hair cut, a 3 minute hair cut. Granted, she only had a "0" haircut---meaning all the hair was cut to the same length, right to her chin. However, gathering her hair, and, effectively, hacking it to one length, in 3 minutes, is not what this lady had in mind for a haircut. Consequently, she has stated she won't come back, either to get it fixed,(which she said she had to do at home) or to have someone else cut her hair. When this was mentioned to Tina, she got a tad defensive, but I don't see her changing her methods when she has an elderly person in her chair. What I've also seen is that she cuts very BLUNT, which shows every mistake you make.
I know that this makes me sound like I'm a perfect hairdresser and everyone else isn't. So not the case. I'm far from perfect. But, here it is, a month into this, and I'm already fixing my co-workers mistakes. Some of us are getting very full of themselves....
Speaking of which, Rita did a haircut on a lady and managed to mess it up. Not badly, but she clearly had NO idea what she was doing. I wound up fixing the haircut. Here's what happened (I got this from the client later on, when she brought her 8 year old back in for a hair cut): Nice lady has been growing her hair out for older daughter's wedding. She's had long layers. However, it's been at least 2 months, if not longer, since her last cut, so her lines are pretty much gone. Rita mentioned to her that she couldn't see her layers. Therefore, what happened, instead of stopping, re-discussing what happened, then continue to cut her hair, she just cut her hair, and didn't put any layers in the client's hair.
Now, let's jump ahead to when mom brings daughter back in to get her hair cut and she gets me for a stylist. We talk about the haircut, little one decides what she wants, I verify it, because she wants a significant amount of hair cut off, and commence to cutting. Mom watches me the whole time, then brings up the missing layers and could I at least look at her hair and determine what happened.
The end result is that I wound up re-cutting mom's hair, for free, fixing Rita's mistake. It wasn't truly bad, but she wanted layers and didn't get them. She has them now.
This is the second time in as many weeks that something like this has happened, although not to Rita. The other one was Tina, giving this elderly lady who had a hard time deciding to get her hair cut, a 3 minute hair cut. Granted, she only had a "0" haircut---meaning all the hair was cut to the same length, right to her chin. However, gathering her hair, and, effectively, hacking it to one length, in 3 minutes, is not what this lady had in mind for a haircut. Consequently, she has stated she won't come back, either to get it fixed,(which she said she had to do at home) or to have someone else cut her hair. When this was mentioned to Tina, she got a tad defensive, but I don't see her changing her methods when she has an elderly person in her chair. What I've also seen is that she cuts very BLUNT, which shows every mistake you make.
I know that this makes me sound like I'm a perfect hairdresser and everyone else isn't. So not the case. I'm far from perfect. But, here it is, a month into this, and I'm already fixing my co-workers mistakes. Some of us are getting very full of themselves....
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Two new people
So, we've finally hired the last two people...well, not "We", Becky has hired the last two people. All of us went to the same cosmetology school, all at different times, some of them overlapping. I'm still the one with the most "salon" experience....should prove to be interesting, since none of us are truly trained in the way things are supposed to be done. Sigh.....
Rita, I've discovered, is quite the kiss ass. She wants the manager position, BAD. I could rightly care less, really. The longer I work there, the less I want that job, especially if it means training myself and not getting a whole lot of guidance from my supervisor. Becky was in the salon for exactly half the day yesterday, barely spoke to anyone, then left. Seriously?? I guess, since she feels we all get along so well, she doesn't need to be there. Well, guess what, sister?? You do need to be there....we all have a lot of questions that aren't being answered. In a timely manner, or otherwise.
What's funny about Rita is she wants the leadership position, but has no idea how to lead. She doesn't have enough experience in hairdressing to be able to judge when to do "X" to someones hair and when not to. Here's an example. This nice lady came in the first week or so that we were open, wanting a perm. Rita cut quite a bit off her hair, noticed it didn't feel right, but went ahead and permed her hair, anyway. After the perm was done, she noticed the condition of the hair, which wasn't very good. So, I got the warning that this nice lady had called and wanted her perm checked out, because it has no curl in it.
A few days later, she came in and I looked at her hair, talking to her about her hair the entire time. Asking all the questions we're supposed to: Do you have well water or town water?? Do you take a lot of medications, specifically a high dosage of blood thinners?? Are you brushing your hair instead of picking it?? Did you wait 48 hours before washing your hair?? No, she didn't brush her hair (although you could clearly tell it had been brushed), yes, she's on medications, although no high blood thinners, she has town water. Okay. Let's go wash your hair and see what happens.
So, I washed her hair....once I got it wet, I could feel the permanent color in her hair. Saw it first and asked how long it had been since she colored it, which was quite a while, based on her regrowth. It was professionally done, by the very ladies I used to work with. So, that told me, right there, before I even felt her hair, what condition her hair was in prior to perming her hair. Trashed. Rita had even commented to me about how her hair felt trashed. I told her "If the hair feels that bad, refuse the service and explain why." So, I wound up showing this nice lady (who is around my mother's age---70) the curl that is still in her hair, and instructing her, even though she's already heard this, again, in how to take care of her hair. And the fact that she had pre-existing permanent color in her hair made the two chemicals not get along very well, so her hair feels pretty awful. And it will stay that way until the hair color is all cut out of her hair.
What people (including my co-workers) don't understand is that once you color your hair, even if it's been years, if the ends of the hair are a different color than the root of the hair, the color is STILL IN THE HAIR. And, just because a "professional" colored your hair, doesn't mean it was done correctly.
Whether or not we keep this nice lady as a client remains to be seen. However, I was professional, honest, and nice to her about her hair. It's all I can do.
What my co-workers need to learn is if the hair is in horrible condition, don't do the service. Quit thinking about making your paycheck bigger and think about the CLIENT. If their hair can't take it, don't do it. While we're all here to make money, we're not here to ruin hair.
I did also get the opportunity, finally, to tell Lindsay that when you have a child/teenager in your chair, you need to speak to the parent about what you'd like to do to the kid's hair, not the kid themselves. The kid isn't paying for the appointment, the parent is. Which means the kid shouldn't be making any decisions regarding their hair and what extra services they can get. Talk to the wallet. She understood what I said, but I'll be interested if she actually follows through with it. Oh, and Lindsay also broke our security gate...she struggles with the dumb thing (we all do, really) and instead of taking a deep breath, calming down, and figuring out how to operate the thing, she kicked the crap out of it and jammed the knob so we can't get it open. Sigh...don't know if Becky did anything about that issue or not...
Rita, I've discovered, is quite the kiss ass. She wants the manager position, BAD. I could rightly care less, really. The longer I work there, the less I want that job, especially if it means training myself and not getting a whole lot of guidance from my supervisor. Becky was in the salon for exactly half the day yesterday, barely spoke to anyone, then left. Seriously?? I guess, since she feels we all get along so well, she doesn't need to be there. Well, guess what, sister?? You do need to be there....we all have a lot of questions that aren't being answered. In a timely manner, or otherwise.
What's funny about Rita is she wants the leadership position, but has no idea how to lead. She doesn't have enough experience in hairdressing to be able to judge when to do "X" to someones hair and when not to. Here's an example. This nice lady came in the first week or so that we were open, wanting a perm. Rita cut quite a bit off her hair, noticed it didn't feel right, but went ahead and permed her hair, anyway. After the perm was done, she noticed the condition of the hair, which wasn't very good. So, I got the warning that this nice lady had called and wanted her perm checked out, because it has no curl in it.
A few days later, she came in and I looked at her hair, talking to her about her hair the entire time. Asking all the questions we're supposed to: Do you have well water or town water?? Do you take a lot of medications, specifically a high dosage of blood thinners?? Are you brushing your hair instead of picking it?? Did you wait 48 hours before washing your hair?? No, she didn't brush her hair (although you could clearly tell it had been brushed), yes, she's on medications, although no high blood thinners, she has town water. Okay. Let's go wash your hair and see what happens.
So, I washed her hair....once I got it wet, I could feel the permanent color in her hair. Saw it first and asked how long it had been since she colored it, which was quite a while, based on her regrowth. It was professionally done, by the very ladies I used to work with. So, that told me, right there, before I even felt her hair, what condition her hair was in prior to perming her hair. Trashed. Rita had even commented to me about how her hair felt trashed. I told her "If the hair feels that bad, refuse the service and explain why." So, I wound up showing this nice lady (who is around my mother's age---70) the curl that is still in her hair, and instructing her, even though she's already heard this, again, in how to take care of her hair. And the fact that she had pre-existing permanent color in her hair made the two chemicals not get along very well, so her hair feels pretty awful. And it will stay that way until the hair color is all cut out of her hair.
What people (including my co-workers) don't understand is that once you color your hair, even if it's been years, if the ends of the hair are a different color than the root of the hair, the color is STILL IN THE HAIR. And, just because a "professional" colored your hair, doesn't mean it was done correctly.
Whether or not we keep this nice lady as a client remains to be seen. However, I was professional, honest, and nice to her about her hair. It's all I can do.
What my co-workers need to learn is if the hair is in horrible condition, don't do the service. Quit thinking about making your paycheck bigger and think about the CLIENT. If their hair can't take it, don't do it. While we're all here to make money, we're not here to ruin hair.
I did also get the opportunity, finally, to tell Lindsay that when you have a child/teenager in your chair, you need to speak to the parent about what you'd like to do to the kid's hair, not the kid themselves. The kid isn't paying for the appointment, the parent is. Which means the kid shouldn't be making any decisions regarding their hair and what extra services they can get. Talk to the wallet. She understood what I said, but I'll be interested if she actually follows through with it. Oh, and Lindsay also broke our security gate...she struggles with the dumb thing (we all do, really) and instead of taking a deep breath, calming down, and figuring out how to operate the thing, she kicked the crap out of it and jammed the knob so we can't get it open. Sigh...don't know if Becky did anything about that issue or not...
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