Procrastinating Great Stories - Part 3/4

My Tale for Seven

It's been shown in marketing studies that if someone has a good experience they tell three people about it. Likewise, if someone has a bad experience, the average retell of the story is seven times. I've already told 9 people my story, and this blog post will make many times more that number.

On Wednesday night a couple weeks ago, I decided it was time to take my scraggly head in for a cut. I decided I would stop by the Paul Mitchell beauty school to see if they could fit a walk-in to their schedule.

When I was finally seated, the student asked me what I was hoping to have done that evening. "Well I would like to have about two inches off the bottom and I'd like to fix my bangs," I said. And since I was there, I asked for her opinion. I had my hair colored at the school in November and was starting to see my roots and was tired of the color. I wanted to move back to my natural color for the summer. The student stylist responded that a PM Shine would be the perfect anecdote for my problem. She informed me that my natural color was a 7N, so they would color it a 6N and that would take out my highlights and red coloring. They warned me that it may be a little darker than my natural color, but it would fade over a period of weeks.

I had done PM Shines before and loved the results. So I agreed and we started, along with the girl next to me who was going to a 4N (dark, dark brown), on the three hour journey to color my hair.

Around 8:00 PM, I was in the wash area and my stylist was finishing her story about her home town as she washed out the dye in my locks. As she blow dried my hair, she would stretch out her curling brush, straightening my hair to the side under the intense heat. The more she did this, the more I noticed that my roots were very much still visable... all over. "I love the color! What do you think?" She asked.

"I'm actually not seeing much difference. I can still see my roots as you pull my hair to the side. And it seems like there is red in my bangs as well," I replied.

"PM Shines usually just blend in the previous colors," she stated. That certainly wasn't what had happened when I had PM Shines done in Rexburg and was not what I had initially asked for when I walked in to the school that day. The Learning Leader came over and also commented on the FABULOUS color I had found. Right... I found that color in November. I exaplined the situation to her, and she was obviously perturbed. "Well what do you want?! A shade darker?! I suppose we could go to a 6N!" Actually, we did do a 6N, a fact I confirmed with my hairstylist in training. "Well!" with an exasperated huff, "any darker than that and you would look like the girl next to you who did a 4!" the learning leader exclaimed. In my mind I'm thinking about how the girl next to me with naturally black/brown hair had yellow streaks when she came in and now did not.

We negotiated that I could come back within two weeks to have my hair redone at a $5 cost. The Learning Leader clarrified that she was Writing DOWN on my ticket that We AGREED on a five dollar cost. Okkay, lady. It's not like I'm going to come back and demand I get it for free. I understand that this is a school, and the supplies cost something. I signed a paper saying that I understood that I would not sue if any damage happened to my hair or belongings. I'm fully aware that I also paid for something that didn't happen.The learning leader stared me in the eyes and said, "YOU have a good evening." Right, you too.

Mostly I was disgruntled that no one was teaching these students how to own a mistake. I understand that the students need to be optomistic about their work. Their still learning. It doesn't sound good when your student hair stylist says, "Uh, oh" whilest cutting your locks. However, I think the teacher should have demonstrated a little more professionalism in helping me resolve the situation. What kind of example are they giving these students?

...

One week and two days later I called Paul Mitchell Beauty School to schedule my appointment. "Our policy has changed." The front desk receptionist told me. "Redos must be completed within one week of the previous appointment." "That's not what I was told when I had my appointment." Long, unfulfilled pause on the other end. "Well... I don't know what to say to that." And I ended my call.

I was more shocked when I hung up the phone, that I really didn't know how to handle the situation. Hours later when things started to connect I decided that I needed to call back or go in to reschedule the appointment, and if they wouldn't reschedule I would ask for the name of the learning leader and an address where I could write a nasty letter. (I've been really into writing blunt letters lately.)

Luckily, for their sake (I was planning a great speech), when I called again and was able to speak with someone, that person didn't even hesitate to reschedule my appointment. I had my hair done the next day, just on my two week mark, and my hair is now brown.

Despite the now brown beauty of my hair, my faith has been lost in the ethics of Paul Mitchell and said beauty school. They will not find me visiting their establishment again.