Cutting Ties: Hair - Raising Visits
Michael stands facing the entrance for every customer who walks in during business hours. Scheduling each haircut with 10 minutes to spare - five minutes to dust off hair and clean up, 1 minute to suck down a Newport, and 4 minutes to position himself correctly so the customer is greeted with an ice-cold stare right when they walk in. Once he hears the door open an inch, Michael immediately shifts his attention to the TV to act like he is watching Sportcenter. Everyone knows the reruns of the live 8AM Broadcast start at 10AM. The time is now 11AM. A loyal customer, Ben, walks in and greets Michael the way he has for the last 3 years.
Ben- Hey, how are you doing, man?
Michael - Not much the same old
Then he plops in the chair for 15 minutes and feels like Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta.
But on this Tuesday, Ben had enough of the regular routine. He walks in and waits for Michael to say hello first. A change in pace is needed to see if Michael has overheard and collapsed.
Michael - How are you doing?
Ben - Not much, same old
The mission had failed, and down Ben went in the chair to stare at himself in the mirror and think of every bad thing that had ever happened to him. Usually, by this time, his Adderall kicks in, so any silence, the chemical somehow turns into a mild form of DMT. Like an Armageddon oil tank ready to burst, Ben starts to itch and bring his mind back to reality, almost having his eyes roll back in his head trying to look up at the mounted TV, which is inconvenient for the customer in chair experience. No music, not even Michaels's breath, can be heard. The whistle of the main road somehow turns to nothing. Only the sound of instruments and the smelly fingers of Newport smoke hit.
But man does this guy know how to cut Ben's hair. Leading up to the end of the cut, Ben constantly contemplates whether or not to shake Michael's hand after the Job has been finished—another trap he got himself into aside from stumbling into this barbershop.
And just once in a while, every two weeks, does Ben think Michael is going to slit his throat with a razor blade the moment he asks him to take a little more off the top.
In three years of going to see Michael, Ben saw only one person come in after him for a cut. Never again has he seen that man. Michael probably snapped because he goes from cutting Ben's chia pet of a hairdo to trimming up what's left of someone with three hairs on their head.
