all in a day's job

He cut, and he cut, not taking a break. Apart from time he spent dividing and pinning the hair into smaller, more manageable clumps, he took no break in cutting her hair. Snip, snip, snip went the scissors. He used the comb to straighten and even out tangled hair, taking in the details that he required to create the style to suit his picky customer.

Occasionally, his momentum was interrupted when the customer, who never had her eyes close through out the entire period and wanting to look dazzling but not willing to spend more than the amount charged for haircut, asked him questions, which in his mind only showed how truly she was trying to build her confidence with his skill. It did not help that she spoke haltingly in his language, which he, as much as he was grateful as he did not speak her language well, found it amusing, as both she and him mostly like share and follow similar cultural and religious understanding.

She had fair skin and while he had thought she looked like a working lady, with her way of speaking and her body language, confident but yet, not over commanding, he was surprised when she said she was not working. He must improve on his observation skill, he thought.

He continued to cut, taking little handfuls of hair at a time. With such thick hair, he tried to cut as fast as he could, but always when he looked back, to gauge his progress, seemed like it was still a long way to the style he was heading for. He had cut off the long hair to the desired length, it was just the matter putting them all together to create the style. He had thought it would be breeze, since she had described a fairly simple and straightforward style, a style he had practise uncountable times.

After slightly over an hour of cutting, he stepped back, looking at his handiwork. This should do. They went over the sink area for a quick rinse before settling down on the hairdresser chair. The shop assistant had already swept the unwanted hair away, filling the whole of the dustpan. He had thought it was hair from 2 persons’ head.

He quickly blow dried the customer’s hair, wondering why she still did not close her eyes. Most customers that he knew would love to take a shut eye now, with the warm air swirling on their head and hands running, as though massaging the head, someone had told him before. She had been looking at the way he worked, the way her hair was cut, the length, the style. Is she observing for something, his mind wondered.

Left hand running through the hair, right hand expertly manoeuvring the hairdryer all over the head, he wanted to finish the job as quickly as he could. Once the hair was almost half dried, he quickly gave it comb through, looking for any spots that he might have missed during the first session and spotted some. Automatically he took his trusty scissors and comb, and snipped away, again. It was not as tedious as the first time. He only had to do a little trimming and layering here and there. He was done after about 15minutes.

Now, she doesn’t look that bad, he had thought. Another satisfied customer, he thought congratulating himself. The customer was evidently satisfied with the outcome, as she couldn’t help looking and smiling. Luckily, he let out a sigh of relief under his breath, and headed straight towards the restroom.