Barber shop pricing structure...lets explore this...

[unit]

OK, so I took my sons to a "barber" shop on Sunday for haircuts. This place was full of noisy big screen TVs and had a bunch of silent people sitting around staring at them and was nothing like a conventional barber shop...but that is not the point.

I would like to discuss the pricing structure they had and criticize it a bit. Why? Why not?

First off, they charge $2 less for kids under 10. Huh? Do kids have less hair than balding men? Do men squirm around and generally be a pain in the strop for barbers? Do adults demand one style while mom stands over them and demands something else?

My point is, to cut a kids hair, there are added challenges, not least of which, dealing with pleasing the kid, and the mom. I think if anything kids ought to cost MORE...there, I said it.

Now let me rant a bit further...

This place also offered other services.

For 5 bucks extra you could get the "special treatment" this was the same as a regular hair cut, but it started out with a "hot towel treatment"...humm, this sounds enticing. I watched a guy get it. He sat down, they leaned him back and handed him a hot towel. I wondered if this was a gift that he cold then pocket and take home...I thought, "hey, I could use an extra shave towel, perhaps that would be a nice way to get a quality towel for only 5 bucks?"...but no, the barber eventually asked for it back before beginning the hair cut. WHAT?!?

For another 5 bucks a patron could indulge in the top treatment (actually, they could stack treatments up, as in if you desired multiple hot towels you could pay 10 bucks for two, 15 for three, and so forth...but I digress). The top package included with the hair cut, one hot towel, AND a massage after the cut! OK now we are getting somewhere!!!

Then I looked over and saw another gent having his cut finished, and his barber (a female) was talking him into the massage...so I watched. He agreed, and she reached down to the hook where the hair dryer was hanging and pulled a device off the same hook that looked like a child's dart gun (you know the ones from the early 70s that fired a 4 inch long hard plastic rod with a rubber suction cup on the end...those things were awesome...but again, I digress) and proceeded to hold it on his shoulder and swish it around like she was dusting a lampshade. 30 seconds later she was done.

When all was done, they processed your credit card and handed you a stub to fill out (equipped with a line for gratuity) and sign before they typed in the final amount.

This country has really lost something I am afraid...

Thanks for listening.