communication

It has been over a week since my last post. As you know, I am a manager of a glorious salon/shop, a mother of a girl on the verge of 16, a wife, a blogger (hey I missed a week…ease up), and a gal who is slowly but surely embarking on yet another path – retail/salon consultant….oh, and I love to bake tasty treats. Some people see that as busy or over loaded, I see it as life, my life. The past week has been overloaded. I am not getting into details because quite honestly, what’s done is done and there is nothing I can do to change it, I can just deal with the here and now. Nope…you can keep asking…not gonna get into it.

I realized this morning as I told my hairspray to “screw off” because it wasn’t spraying properly, that I had to take a step back and take a moment for me. A moment that didn’t include cooking, cleaning or looking after anyone else. I have written of this before and will continue to write about it, as women, we forget about ourselves. We put everyone else first, put ourselves last and then blame everyone else. Yeah, I said it. You know it’s true. Think about it…how many times have you looked at the kitchen floor at the end of the day and thought “I am the ONLY one who will sweep this floor!”, you don’t ask for someone else to help, you sweep the floor and then proceed to tell everyone in your household “Nothing” when they ask what is the matter. Then your poor hubby asks if you picked up the dry cleaning and you answer with a sarcastic tone, an argument ensues, you end up crying with mascara running down your face and snot hanging from your nose stammering out “I…never…get…any…help!” as your family waits for your head to spin around. Trust me, in the past (month)I have been that woman and am trying with all my might to not be her. It isn’t fair to your family. Most importantly, it isn’t fair to you. To save your family and yourself some grief and to save a call to your local Archdiocese, check out the following little list;

– If you want to go out for dinner – tell your hubby that you want to out for dinner. He is not Timmy and you are not Lassie “what’s that girl? You want to go out for dinner?”

– If you want to change your hair color to a certain shade of red, tell your stylist. Bring a picture of the exact color you want. Sitting in their chair hoping they remember the shade of the red M&M but a little deeper red ain’t gonna cut it.

– If you are not happy with the cut your stylist is giving you, tell them. If you sit there and smile and say you love it, they are going to keep giving you the same style. I am all for positive thinking but sitting in the chair and using “the Secret” to attract the style you want won’t work. It won’t.

– If you want to go out with your girlfriend for coffee, call her up and ask. Sitting around complaining that no one ever calls you makes you, well 13 years old.

– If you need help around the house, ask for it. Chanting “Cinderella, Cinderella…all day long it’s Cinderella” may not insure aid.

– If you want your gent to bring you flowers, tell him. NICELY. Having Diamond & Streisand playing “you don’t bring me flowers” on repeat every time he crosses the threshold is a little over the top.

No one can help you if you don’t tell them you need help. No one knows what you need unless you tell them what you need. A baby will cry at everything you give them until you give them the thing they want for Christ’s sake, so I think you can ask for someone to sweep the floor. Home and family should be one of the most beautiful things in your life, why ugly it up with shoulda’s, coulda’s and woulda’s?

The sun was shining, a cool breeze was in the air, I was enjoying a moment of my life with my flavored coffee when I heard the chirp of the door chime. The customer makes a b – line to the front counter, I smile, greet her “good morning!” to which she replies “uh huh – sure it is.” I bid adieu to my french vanilla daydream and focus on the moment at hand. “What can I help you with?” I ask (still smiling). “This P.O.S. flat iron stopped working! It’s not heating up! I couldn’t leave my house because of my hair!”. I look at the receipt, the date is under the year expiry of in store exchange, so I look up at her, smiling and tell her “no worries, the flat iron is still under warranty, please go choose a new one.”. This is where it gets good. You would think that service with a smile and getting a new product would be a good thing. Guess not. She was looking for a fight, and she was mad she wasn’t getting one. She proceeded to pout, tug at her hair, all the while exclaiming “Look at it! Look at my hair! What am I gonna do?”. Which I responded, smiling of course (that really drives ’em crazy) “You can choose a new one, a different model if you like, if there is a price difference you just pay the difference owing.”. Then the staring contest began. Ladies and gents – tell your friends…staring contests are meant for the schoolyard, they will not get you a better deal or a free product. Anyways, it is rude to stare. In the end, she stomped over to the shelf, chose her flat iron and refused to speak to me from there on out. Funny thing was – she thought she had one over on me – I was happy it was quiet.

From time to time, you may come into a store and the product you are looking for is out of stock. I know how irritating that is, I am a consumer too. A word of advice – unless you are under the age of five, you should not start to cry because the product is not there. Nor should you yell or stomp or pout. Ladies, please, I know how important hair spray is and I know how much we love our products and we all have our favorites – keep it together ok? At least once a week I have a women over the age of thirty pitching a fit over missing product. Even when I reassure her it is coming the next day and show them the order to prove it – tearfest 2012 ensues.

In my years in this biz, I have come to realize and am in total agreement with Tabatha Coffey – It’s not really about the hair. The anger, the pouts, the tears….always something else going on and the only power the client feels they have that day is being able to pick a fight with a salesperson. So for all you out there in customer service – try not to take it personally. For those of you that are the consumer – try be polite and mind your manners…and quit staring.