Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Salon de Kali: Part Deux

Monetary extortion is something I have gotten used to as a foreigner here. Vendors will charge me 3 yuan for a bottle of water and a Chinese person 1.5 yuan. This foreign gratuity extends to bigger items like clothes, bags, fans, etc. I am looking to remedy this situation soon by learning some handy phrases like, “You must be out of your mind asking 3 kuai for a bottle of water!” and, “Just because I’m foreign doesn’t mean I don’t know how much a shirt should cost!”

Tom has needed a haircut for a while. The weekend was pretty relaxed since we had the previous three days off, so yesterday afternoon he went out to pick up some drinks and get his haircut while I made lunch. I found canned tuna, mayo, mustard, and Tabasco in the grocery store on Saturday, so I made tuna salad for lunch and let it chill in the fridge while I waited for Tom.

When he got back, his hair looked exactly the same. He said the place he got his hair cut last time was closed (remember how things close for an hour and a half to two hours during lunch here?) so he went next door and they told him they would cut his hair – for 50 yuan. That’s only about $6.50, pretty cheap, except that at the other place it cost only 5 yuan, or 65 cents. Tom was very put off by this and walked away.

Over dinner that evening Tom convinced me to cut his hair. I have only cut hair on a person one other time and that was my own hair. At the time, my hair was curly and out of control and I justified my hacking away with the theory that it couldn’t get worse. It turned out okay, but I probably wouldn’t do it again.

After making Tom promise he wouldn’t tell anyone who cut his hair if it looked awful I agreed to try it. I put Walk the Line on to distract him while I snipped away with the giant scissors, punctuating my scissoring every now and then with an, “Uht oh,” or an, “Oops.” I stood in front of him and furrowed my brow, looking worried. It was not just for effect, I really was worried.

Surprisingly, his hair ended up looking quite good. I am thinking of staying in China and becoming a hairdresser. Maybe I missed my calling.

A satisfied customer.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where's Part Uno? Hey, if you check the Chinese Stock Market (Hang Seng), you'll see that it also closes for hour and half every day. The line is just flat. Dad

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah. Nice doo for Tom. Dad

Ruchi! said...

HHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man. You should become a celebrity hair stylist and charge 1000 for a "trim."