Certainly some of it is on me: I don’t like to plan ahead enough for an appointment but also don’t want to wait. I prefer a place that does walk-ins and I learn when they’re unlikely to have a line.

Supercuts is a great example. My town had two of them so I went to each several times before learning that one was consistently better, so I started going there regularly. Then they closed. So now I’m going to the other but they’re a mess: employees consistently do noticeably worse job and are not attentive to incoming customers. I don’t think I set a high bar but they’re not achieving it. And specifically they insist on giving me a combover even when I say no: I know my hair is thinning but it’s past the point where a combover is anything but sad. I also don’t comb my hair to the side so a combover just looks uneven and sad. Why can’t they just accept when I say no?

My town has been going through a generational and demographic shift so all the old places are being replaced with shiny new ones. While I’m sure those new ones will do a basic haircut, they put so much effort into being shiny and modern with modern hairstyles for young adults or hairstyles traditionally associated with various demographics. Great but why can’t we keep it simple? Why can’t I walk in, ask for a haircut, give my preferences And just get it done?