Tipped

December 07, 2008

Scored a big victory over Vidal Sassoon by getting around a rule.

I had an appointment one Thursday evening at 6:45 p.m. to get a haircut done in a place I had never been to before.

I left work late so I rang the salon out of courtesy to let them know that I would not arrive on time.

The receptionist was trying to pin me down to an exact ETA. I said that I thought I would be about 10 minutes late.

She said that the salon has a "20 minute" rule, meaning that if a patron is more than 20 minutes late Sassoon will not keep the appointment.

I said: "Well, what if I just drop by and see if you can cut it because you are on my way home anyway?"

She said: "Well. See. We have the 20-minute rule."

Meaning: "NO. Don't drop by because there's a rule and I must not break it."

So I said: "Well, I wouldn't want to break any rules." I hung up.

Of course, I really did want to break the rules, so I decided to outsmart her by showing up regardless of her warning.

I hopped on the tube and arrived at the salon by 6:55 p.m. -- only 10 minutes late.

I entered and asked her (the receptionist): "Do you take walk-in appointments?"

She said: "We do, but it's too late in the day."

However, several hairstylists and the manager were standing around and/or cutting hair.

The manager overrode her and said: "Yes, we can do it."

A pleasant stylist cut it while describing everything that he was doing.

At the end, I thanked him for doing it "even though I was late."

I tipped 5 quid and kept chuckling as I walked home.

If they'd known I was late they would never have done it, but since I walked in off the street, apparently it was OK to do a cut 5 minutes before the place closed.

They didn't break a rule.

In terms of the cut itself, not sure about it. The stylist kept talking about what we will do next time and how modern it's going to look.

I will return and see what happens next.

Keywords: hair salon, rules