Am I An Intolerant Victoria Meldrew?

I have a lovely male hairdresser.
He always washes my hair as need cut and blow dry.
He also gives me a lovely scalp massage at the same time.
It’s absolute bliss and I could quite easily nod off.

Most hairdressers seem to have dispensed with the young girls who did the shampooing. Cutbacks, I wonder ?

I am so tired of phoning places and speaking to people who do not have a good command of the English language so yes, I probably am intolerant. Try ringing a bank with a problem and speaking to someone who you can't understand and who doesn't understand you - very frustrating and how can you ask to speak to someone who speaks better English without being rude or seeming racist?

Theexwife

You are complaining about her understanding of English, so yes I would say you are being intolerant.

Yep.

Hair salons are tricky places. I used to go to one where I was patronised, ignored when it suited the stylist’s book and charged a fortune when I have such thin hair it took about 5 minutes to cut. The stylist couldn’t be bothered to use a styling wand to give it some body. I hated going there but looked a hag if I didn’t. Then the salon was sold and the staff changed. The present owner & staff pleasant and respectful. The whole atmosphere has changed and when I congratulated the proprietor she told me that many of her clients had said the same thing. In my opinion the customer should always be right. The poster was right to feel miffed.

You are complaining about her understanding of English, so yes I would say you are being intolerant.
NO.
If someone is employed to answer the telephone and take messages they should be able to understand and to speak clear English. That is the nature of the work and this incompetence will lose the employers business.

I wonder if answering the phone was really her job?
In the tiny salon I use the trainee answers the phone if my hairdresser is mid-customer and can't leave them for a minute. The trainee always tries to be helpful and offers things or dates or whatever but rarely can sort the problem so I usually just ask for a call-back. It is quite possible that a trainee might not have good English.

I wonder if this is the case here?

Just wash your hair as usual, keep the appointment and sort it out when you arrive. If it's your usual hairdresser they'll be familiar with the arrangement anyway.

If the trainee hairdresser can't understand a simple request for an appointment without a hair wash then she certainly won't be able to understand the rather more complex processes such as cutting, treatments and dyes involving chemical applications and strict time limits. Why do so many rush to excuse poor performance?

Yay! Thank you for all your very interesting replies. The upshot is that I am not going back to my old hairdresser as they have had to pass me onto a stylist I don't know as my usual hairdresser is away. So, I will be going to a new salon nearby which will charge me £32.50 for a dry cut with a senior stylist. No hair washing, no difficult telephone messages, and great new salon. What's not to like?!

Great result!

Now let's see how many people read your update and how many just respond to the OP regardless

I read the update, miss!

Glad you have found what you needed.

Wyllow3

I read the update, miss!

Glad you have found what you needed.

It's Mrs, actually .

This made me laugh! I have a very well off neighbour who washes her hair, wraps it in a towel and drives to the hairdresser about 5 miles away just to save a couple of quid by washing it herself!

Good result! 👏👏👏

LRavenscroft

Yay! Thank you for all your very interesting replies. The upshot is that I am not going back to my old hairdresser as they have had to pass me onto a stylist I don't know as my usual hairdresser is away. So, I will be going to a new salon nearby which will charge me £32.50 for a dry cut with a senior stylist. No hair washing, no difficult telephone messages, and great new salon. What's not to like?!

What's not to like?!

Well, I'm being grumpy here 😁 but why do they charge women so much more than men for a cut?

DH is charged £8 and he grumbled about the price increase! Mind you, he doesn't have a lot to cut any more 🤔

Callistemon21

LRavenscroft

Yay! Thank you for all your very interesting replies. The upshot is that I am not going back to my old hairdresser as they have had to pass me onto a stylist I don't know as my usual hairdresser is away. So, I will be going to a new salon nearby which will charge me £32.50 for a dry cut with a senior stylist. No hair washing, no difficult telephone messages, and great new salon. What's not to like?!

What's not to like?!

Well, I'm being grumpy here 😁 but why do they charge women so much more than men for a cut?

DH is charged £8 and he grumbled about the price increase! Mind you, he doesn't have a lot to cut any more 🤔

I totally agree with you. The other salon I went to charged me fifty quid and I was washing my own hair! More fool me.

I have read your update and am pleased you found a solution. I do feel though that you were unnecessarily concerned about this.

LRavenscroft

Yay! Thank you for all your very interesting replies. The upshot is that I am not going back to my old hairdresser as they have had to pass me onto a stylist I don't know as my usual hairdresser is away. So, I will be going to a new salon nearby which will charge me £32.50 for a dry cut with a senior stylist. No hair washing, no difficult telephone messages, and great new salon. What's not to like?!

... one door closes, another one opens!
RESULT!

Hope the new salon and stylist is what you want - price seems reasonable.