Am I An Intolerant Victoria Meldrew?

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.

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

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.

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 🤔

Good result! 👏👏👏

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!

Wyllow3

I read the update, miss!

Glad you have found what you needed.

It's Mrs, actually .

I read the update, miss!

Glad you have found what you needed.

Great result!

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

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?!

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

Theexwife

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

Yep.

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?

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'm getting to be more of a "Grumpy old lady" by the day. My patience level sinks by the week...😉

Just ask for a spray cut and wash your hair before you go.

I feel both for you, LRavenscroft and for the poor woman forced to answer a phone when her English is not up to it!

You are the customer and have an arrangement, so you are fully justified in expecting your hairdresser to know that you come as usual with newly washed hair. I would not bother going in the day before to confirm this, but I might phone and ask to speak to my usual hairdresser.

As to the receptionist: I changed language and country at the age of 16 and spent two horribly embarrassing years gradually improving my language skills in my new language, and dreading having to use a phone.

Face to face conversations are far easier, as the person you are talking to can see when you are at a loss and usually help you out.

The phone is the devil's invention at this linguistic stage as the person on the line cannot see whether the receptionist is genuinely at a loss or just being difficult.

Someone has to answer the phone, and her language skills will only improve through use, but honestly whoever runs the business should try and help the receptionist, or simply take her off the reception desk until her English is up to answering the phone.

I've been having a dry cut for years. Why is it a problem?

No, you are not intolerant! If people want to work with the public they should speak clearly! That goes for native English speakers too who gabble and mumble! My Czech daughter in law speaks better than a lot of English do.

Calendargirl

^As it’s bothering you, I would phone back to clarify^

And if the same person answers the phone….?

Ask for your hairdresser by name.
If unavailable leave your number for a call-back.

I’d rather go to the dentist than a hairdressing salon. My current hairdresser come to the house, she’s in and out in about 30 minutes, dry cut ie sprayed with a bottle of water. But I can see OP’s point - I’ve had as many disasters as anybody and have wanted to hide indoors till it grew out - as she just wants what she’s used to, for good reasons. Let us know how it goes OP!