Ireland

Ireland

Monday, May 10, 2010

Undercover

With the controversial Arizona Immigration Law and the bailout of Greece by the EU stealing all the headlines here in the U.S., I'd like to voice my concern about a little known but very dangerous situation that takes place behind close doors, on a daily basis, in large cities and small towns alike.

Yes, you guessed it, the "Man Bashing" that permeates every hair salon that's open for business.
Ladies, I can see you nodding your heads, you know what I'm talking about.
I'm here to tell you, the party is over!
This injustice has been gong on for too long.
I'm getting the word out, starting today.

I stumbled upon this phenomenon during my recent visit to get my hair cut.
I like to look sharp on Mothers Day, what can I say?

Haircuts for me during the first half of my life meant a trip to the local barber.
No fuss-no muss. A TV was always on in the corner and well read newspapers piled on a chair.
I'd sit in the barbers chair for 10 minutes while he would run the electric clippers over my head while we discussed the latest sports stories. We may have ventured into politics if my hair was unusually long.

The barber shop was basically a place to have a friendly discussion about the public figures in the news at that particular time.
It never got personal.

Sometime about 20 years ago I made the transition from the barber pole to the Day Spa.
It probably had something to do with the fact that with 3 girls, I was making many trips to the beauty salon, so I figured, what the heck, while I'm here give me a trim.

My pre-Mothers day trim last Saturday was eye opening, and frightening.
The rules have definitely changed.
It started innocently enough.
The 5 chairs in the room were occupied with women in various states of their personal makeovers.
The subject turned to Mothers day cards and how meaningful they are.
One woman mentioned she spends a half hour in the card isle reading all the cards until she finds just the perfect card.
Another woman mentioned how "my damn husband" walks down the isle, grabs the first one he sees, and heads for the checkout line.
A murmur went through the room.
I started getting scared at this point. The woman who was doing my hair put a comforting hand on my shoulder, as if to say, don't worry, I'll protect you.
A woman with purple rollers in her hair chimed in, "My freakin husband hasn't bought me a card in 18 years. He just doesn't get it."

"My husband wouldn't know a........
" 14 years, and he cares more about.....
"My idiot husband gave me a sympathy card........

The mob mentality was showing it's ugly head. I now know how peaceful demonstrations can turn into ugly riots. One guy throws a rock through the window and all hell breaks lose.
It was contagious.
Another 5 minutes and I was going to start man bashing myself!

I was beginning to think, jeez, maybe they're right.
Maybe woman are just more caring and compassionate than those damn men.
Maybe women are just kinder and gentler, until my hairdresser said,

" I just want to give my husband a card that says, Get these damn kids out of my face!"

Wasn't that sweet?
I left there and headed directly for the card shop.

5 comments:

Formerly known as Frau said...

Hee Hee for the record I'm not a man basher...but I like a card doesn't have to be Hallmark I prefer homemade...just some thoughtful words on some paper easy peasy! I bet that barber chair lookin pretty good!

beth said...

you ended up in the eye of the storm....
good thing you were strong enough to get out of there without a flying cow or a school house hitting you !

and i bet the card you found was perfect....

i got a card and a new camera lens....but that's the kind of thing that can make other women get mad, so i just say we had steak for dinner in order to remain neutral...

dcpeg said...

LOL!! Loved reading your take on "man-bashing." Must have been hard keeping your mouth shut!

Now, if you had continued visiting the barber shop into adulthood instead of switching to the spa, I'm sure you would have heard plenty of "woman-bashing." Yeah, Yeah! No, no - men are as gossipy as women are!

Janney said...

damn women!! LOL!

Sueann said...

Ha! So what card did you end up with?
Glad they didn't take to standing on their chairs and shooting. It may have gotten ugly and your life could have been in jeopardy!!
Glad you left unscathed!!
I received wonderful jewelry findings and a PMC kit complete with torch!! What a lovely man I have married. My son texted me...sigh!!!
LOL!
Hugs
SueAnn