Snip Snip Snip

I went to the haircutters this morning for a haircut. When I say "morning", it was shortly after I got up, so I think it must count as morning regardless of the actual time (approx 12.50pm). The thing I don't much like about the haircutting profession is that they try and talk to you. Maybe some people like this, but I don't much. I am of the opinion that if I am paying somebody eight pounds to do a job, they should do that job and nothing more. They should concentrate on the important thing: Making my hair look great.

Today Mr Haircutter asked if I had anything planned for the day, to which I responded that I didn't have much on, and was just going to Sainsburys. I did not really need to know that Sainsburys is Mr Haircutter's favourite supermarket, that he doesn't like Asda much because it is busy and that he used to live near Sainsburys and now he doesn't but he still goes and gets a taxi home etc etc. This knowledge has not enhanced my day.

It's also annoying if the "conversation" ever gets round to what I do for a living - Haircutters have in my experience no idea what an actuary is or does. And I'm always really bad at explaining it. I can't just whip out the card from my wallet, because my arms are constrained by the snip-shawl they put round me. Maybe this problem, at least, is something I should just deal with on my own.

I don't generally give tips to haircutters (ie "Use sharp scissors" -*ahem*-) but on some past occasions if I have found a particularly quiet hairdcutter I have sometimes given them an extra pound. I don't tell them why.

Taxi drivers are as bad, but I'll save them for another day.

Staying on the subject of hair, isn't it about time that somebody invented a small, not too powerful vacuum cleaner that could be used to remove all the small unatatched bits of hair that are the inevitable consequence of haircutting? I am aware that a shower at home can do this for me, but there has to be a gap in the market for a product like this. If you're reading this Mr Dyson, I'd be happy to work on a collaborative project with you - we could call it Super Mini Sucky Hair. This time next year we'll be millionaires.