Nightmare at Walmart...

I had a nightmarish experience this weekend at Walmart, and I need to vent, LOL. I have to give a little history first...

I am what my hubby calls a "low maintenance" woman. It don't require a lot of "upkeep", lol. No fancy hair styles, expensive perms or dyes, no visits to the nail salons, I hardly ever buy clothes and if they aren't cheap I won't buy them, lol. That said, I am pretty basic in the way I wear my hair. I have worn my hair long and straight for pretty much my whole life and because of that, I have a pretty good idea of the "proper" way to trim/cut long straight hair. I won't go into too much detail, or we will be here all day, but basically, it should be thoroughly wet and taken up in layers so that each layer is trimmed exactly the length of the next for a smooth edge on the bottom. I don't like to spend a lot of money on having my hair trimmed, but I do want it done right.

Since Walmart opened a hair cutting place inside, I thought "Well, that would be convenient, I can just get my hair trimmed when I go to get groceries". So a couple of months ago I went. A nice lady named Flo trimmed my hair - she did everything she should have done, I was very happy with the job, and went home.

Saturday, I decided that it was time for another trim, so I headed out to Walmart. I popped into the salon and Flo was not there. There was only one gal on duty and she said she'd be happy to do my hair. MY FIRST MISTAKE: In my mind, she looked about 12. I was a little unsure about this, but certainly if she worked there, and Flo did a good job....

Since I had just showered, she didn't need to wash my hair, so she sprayed it to get it damp on the ends. She asked me how much I wanted taken off, I replied "1 inch" (that part is important, so keep it in mind). Then she had me stand up (my hair is long, but I have never had to stand for a haircut before). She combed my hair straight down all the way around my head and proceeded to trim all the way around, took off the apron and said I was done. MY SECOND MISTAKE: I should have questioned her while she was trimming, but I have a fear of telling someone how to do their job, especially when they have scissors in their hand and are cutting my hair!!!! She never offered me a mirror to see the back, and I didn't even think to ask (3rd MISTAKE).

The next day I took a shower and stood in front of my mirror to comb out my hair. As I combed it straight, I saw a LOT of long strands sticking out below where she cut (BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T DO LAYERS!). I thought I would just clip them off with my own hair scissors. Hubby assured me that since I had paid for this job, I needed to go back and have THEM fix it. The day got busy, soI planned to go the next day.

Monday, I took a shower and headed to Walmart. I figured I would pop in there, they would fix it up, then I could do my little bit of grocery shopping and be home in no time. My 4th MISTAKE - I should have clipped the hair myself.

I went into the salon and an older woman was there, I told her my problem and she went to get the manager....the manager was the 12 year old who cut my hair in the first place!!! Oh my!
The older woman said she would handle it as the 12 yr old was dying someones hair.

I sat in the chair and she put on the apron and turned me away from the mirror while we began to chat. MY 5th MISTAKE - I was not paying attention to the fact that A) she never wet my hair and B) she had been clipping away for almost 25 minutes to do something that should have taken less than 5!!!!
She asked me to stand and face the mirror so she could finish up and when I looked in the mirror I almost couldn't speak, I was literally shocked at what I saw.

(Now, I must insert here that I am a CALM person, I never get angry, I don't yell at people, I like people and I understand that we all make mistakes, but I was feeling a bit upset at this moment.)

I saw that my hair was about 4 inches shorter than it had been on Saturday morning!!! I also noticed that the hair was jagged, there was NO straight line to speak of AND the left side was a good 1 1/2 inches shorter than the right. It truly looked like a 5 year old had cut my hair with her round tipped school scissors!!!

My eyes got really big as she started to come toward me with her little scissors. I told her I was starting to get concerned and that I was "done". She again tried to cut more of my hair and I had to back away from her and tell her that I was "done", and that I would fix it myself at home. She argued with me saying there was a long piece she needed to get. I took off the little aprong, said thank you, and walked quickly toward the exit.

The 12 year old asked me if it was all better, LOL. Um, NO, LOL. I left so quickly that I forgot my sunglasses and I was in no mood to buy groceries, so I went home squinting (not wanting to go back in there for my sunglasses lest they chop more of my hair off, lol). So, after I vented at home, I wet my hair and did my best to make my new shorter doo look "evenish". By most standards, I still have long hair, but 4, almost 5 inches is a LOT when I only wanted 1 inch trimmed!!! :)
So that is my vent, I'm going to look a little funny for a couple of weeks because I need to let my hair grow back out a little before I can face the scissors again. :)

Have a blessed day - and stay away from the Walmart Salon!!!