I didn't like to critize people. Who am I to criticize people? Anyway, it's not about their look or their personality. It's about their service. Last December (2006) was my first time doing a perm. It was an accident. I never thought of doing a perm until I'd entered a hair saloon, somewhere in Penang Island. Jane, Ting and Hui were with me at that time. We were planning to get a new look together after a stressful exam.
As we were strolling around, we passed by a hair salon. We got to know that the owner of the shop was a famous hair designer and he'd appeared in a newspaper before. (they cut out the article and pasted it in a book to be presented to the customers) Because of his achievement, we were attracted and decided to have a cut. We wished to ask for the prices but the boss didn't want to answer until we had a sit in the salon. We waited for almost an hour and finally it was our turns.
Junior cut : RM 15
Senior cut : RM 30
Senior cut : RM 30
I took the senior cut (the boss). I thought RM 30 was fine and I still can effort it. Anyway, I was wrong. It turned up to be RM207.00 instead! I should blame myself for this. He was not only a hairstylist but a salesman too. He offered me a good hair shampoo at first. Then Japanese perm (oxygenated chemical) , and finally hair treatment.
- Shampoo = RM3
- Japaness perm (oxygenated) = RM130+20
- Senior Cut = RM 30
- Treatment = RM 20
I was totally trapped. He kept on saying that "This is good for your hair. You don't want to have a damage hair after the perm right?". "Curly style is suitable for your face shape miss. I'm honest!". I didn't know how to resist all those offers as I was too innocent. I just accepted. *Blame myself* :(
At first, he promised me everything will be finished within 30 minutes but he lied. He took 1 hours and 15 minutes. In these 75 minutes, I could see how he serve other customers. My friends and I had witnessed it.
-------------------------- The boss and a lady conversation ------------------------
"Hello, may I ask what is Japanese perm and how much does it cost?", a lady who passed by his shop asked him at the counter.
"Miss, are you going to do a perm in our salon?", the so-called-famous hairstylist asked.
"I just want to ask for details", the lady replied politely.
"Miss, we're very busy here. We've so many customers in a day and everyone is waiting for me to serve them. I'm leaving them just to answer your question? I'm not a fortune teller. I can't answer every question from anyone. I don't have time, miss. Did you see my achievement in the newspaper?", he answered impatiently.
And the conversation went on. They started to quarrel and not long after that, the lady strode out the shop angrily with her friend.
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I looked at my friends. I knew they heard it too. The boss was so rude to his customer. He was so proud with his achievement. I didn't think that the lady was wrong. We have the right to ask. Anyhow, we are the people who pay for his salary. I knew, he was busy but couldn't he just answered politely to his customers or asked his staff to do the answering job? He will turn his customers off and did he realise this? There are hundreds of talented hairstylists out there who provide better service.
Since then, I swear that I will not enter the shop anymore. First, they were rude and secondly, they were dishonest. They hide the real cost to trap people. The feeling was so pain when it was the time to pay the bill. I was shocked at that moment with my eyes opened widely. "RM207??!!", my heart was shouting at that moment. I was not the only victim. My friends too. They'd given RM30 each one of them as deposit for the next hair straightening appointment. Anyway, they didn't go there anymore.
My receiptI've learned my lesson and will be wiser now. I'll not be tricked again. I hope you've learned from my mistake too. Don't be trapped like me! I wonder am I the only person who faced this kind of problem or did you too? I hope we can discuss about this together.