Hairstylists Hazards

OK gals, I'm just needing some validation here, so pardon me whilst I vent a bit.  I had to cancel a hair appointment that I had on Saturday because Stan had to leave to go to the GA Dome for a highschool playoff game.  Major bummer.  I needed the haircut pretty seriously, and my hair today looks like a loud proclamation of that truth.  I won't go into explaining every detail, but I wound up cancelling the appointment on the morning of the set appointment date.  I know this is very unhelpful to the gal doing my hair, but sometimes these things happen.  I really can relate to the struggle of cancellations with my MK biz, and I always appreciate when people can give me 24 hours notice, but sometimes life just happens.  When I called to cancel, there was the noted dropping in her vocal tone as she said, "OK."  I apologized profusely for the short notice, and I immediately asked what she had available for next week.  She seemed to almost enjoy telling me that, "Oh, I don't have a single appointment available until the day after Christmas!" My appointment was originally on December 8th, and she doesn't have anywhere she might could work me in within the next 22 days?  I can't even take her "earliest available appointment" on the 26th, and when I told her that, she said, "Well, then the next appointment I have open would be January 3rd."  This is the gal who used to cut my hair when we first moved here five years ago, and you know why I quit going to her?  Because if I had to ever reschedule, I'd better be ready to look like Thing from the Adaams Family by the time she'd be able to see me for an appointment.  Why did I go back?  Let me tell you of my journey back to Trish.  (I have changed all of these names to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent)

When I left Trish I went to a gal named Holly who was at an "award winning salon" in our community.  I liked her personality, but she charged $35 and would barely trim my hair.  I would leave feeling like I'd paid someone $35 to have pleasant conversation.  Holly moved, so I saw Stephanie in that same salon and had a mediocre haircut, so I said bye-bye to the award-winning salon.  My hair grew and grew and grew, and eventually I was in a desperate feeling spot, so, ladies brace yourself, I went to the Wal-Mart salon.  Why do we do these things to ourselves?  A nice guy cut my hair and talked at length about his momma, his Harley, and his new trailer during the course of my appointment, and as you can imagine, I left with a fairly poor haircut.  After Wal-Mart, I decided it was time for some pampering, so I went to a very nice salon where I found the girl of my hair's dreams.  Emily was such a skilled hairstylist, and other than the fact that it took the first two times for her to realize that I wasn't quite as cool as the haircut she tried to give me, I had very little to complain about with her.  But Emily was good, and her rising prices showed that she knew it, too, so eventually I felt like I couldn't justify paying $40+ for a haircut, and I had to say goodbye to her.  After asking around a little I found another gal, Cris, and while she did a fair job for a more reasonable price, it didn't break my heart when she told me she was getting married and moving to Connecticut.  After Cris, I went back to the salon Emily was at, hoping to rekindle some of the magic with one of her colleagues, (and although I was tempted, I couldn't go back to Emily, because she had a personal melt-down and left the hair-biz) but after two cuts with Haley, I had to put her out to pasture.  She was young and too green.  So I asked a friend, "Who cuts your hair?" and she said, "This girl named Trish, you know that place over behind so-and-so, " and  I thought to myself, "Adrienne, you probably were unfair about leaving her so hastily.  Give her another shot."  So here I sit, 7 1/2 weeks out from my last haircut with her, and no chance of getting a cleaned up "do" anytime before January 3rd.  Arrrrrrrrr!  So the question now is, will I  wait for that appointment?  Absolutely not.  I realize she was likely frustrated that I had cancelled, but at the very least I thought she could've said, "Alright now honey, I need you to give me a ring 24 hours in advance if you need to reschedule, but let me see if I can work you in somewhere, and if I can't, I'll put you on my list of folks to call if I have cancellations this week."  So I know the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy, but I've reworked that one--twice bitten, twice as bitter! :)  As I sit here with my mop of hair, messy, unruly, flipping up in ways I'd rather it not, I almost wish I could take on the spirit of Flo--you remember Flo from that old show Alice?  She was one of the waitresses in Mel's Diner.  Anyway, my fleshly self would love to utter a Flo-like phrase to Trish, "Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!"

I'll appreciate your prayers for my quest to find a new stylist.  :)