Silence is Golden

I made a bet with Fix that went like this: the first person to cut his hair had to have his head completely shaven by the other guy in the store. We made it a couple of months, before coming to a gentlemanly agreement on Monday to go get it cut at the same time. I've always felt nostalgic for the old-school barber shops:

I'm not sure why. I used to go to the old barber shop in Sylva with my Grandpa when I was little. It really freaked me out more than anything. All these gossiping old men scared the crap out of me. This being my only real experience with vintage haircutting, I'm not quite sure where the nostalgia comes from. I just know that it is there. Alas, Fix and I were not headed to the barber shop, but to the local Smartcuts or Costcutters or Scissors Palace or whichever one of those is the one next to Harris Teeter. We sat patiently waiting our turn and discussing which "stylist" we would probably get. This is very important when you are like me and you don't have a "stylist" that you use every time. I always go to one of the cheap, cookie cutter places and I get someone different every time. And I always wonder what the conversation is going to be like. It usually begins awkwardly, peaks about the time the protective apron is wrapped around you, and finally staggers to the finish line right when my neck is being trimmed up. It always feels so forced. I consider myself a pretty friendly, outgoing person. I've had several stylists that have also seemed this way. Somehow, though, it's always awful. I wish you could just slip on some headphones and they would wake you when its over.

Fix and I had the field narrowed down to two choices: a young, chipper, alternative looking fellow and and older, slightly mean looking lady who we were pretty sure was whispering to another stylist about us repeatedly when we first came in. I got the guy. He turned out to be okay. As my hair is very simple and difficult to screw up, the conversation is all I'm ever worried about. This guy was definitely a talker. In the first 30 seconds we had talked about cosmetology school, the apple festival, the fair, his hometown, and his girlfriend. I later learned that he was part of a band that was attempting to draw influence from both

Johnny Cash

AND

I'm not sure if he got this idea after hearing Johnny Cash cover a Trent Reznor song or if that's just the best example he had, but I'd be interested in hearing the result. After all, Cash's cover of "Hurt" is one of the best songs I have ever heard. Definitely up there with "All Along the Watchtower" as one of the best covers of all time. Anyway, as interesting as this was, I'd still take the headphones. I don't think it makes me a bad person. People should never engage in forced conversation. He was a human chatterbox, so it may not have been forced for him. It definitely was for me. This is not to say that I would prefer silence (this is what happend to Fix, who did get stuck with the mean old lady). A polite greeting and quick discussion about the upcoming job is all you need. It's just like when you run into a guy you had a class with in high school. You stop for a sec, say hi, and go on your merry way. It's better for everybody, especially those of us who have never committed to a "stylist."