The Most Amazing Barber

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I got a haircut last week, and it marked the second consecutive Colombian (oops, check that, South American, the last one was in Peru) haircut that I've really liked. I wasn't a fan of the first one I got here, but 2/3 is pretty good, especially considering I can't remember the last one I liked in Canada - it's been years. (Aside from Mom haircuts.)

I think part of the reason I can't get a good haircut in Canada is that I don't know how to describe what I want, which is a problem because North American barbers just do exactly what you tell them. That's not really the way things work here - in many ways the culture is more about taking care of the customer. I noticed this particularly when I was on vacation in Peru and travel agents did basically everything for me, including picking me up in cabs from my hotel to take me to whatever tour I had booked, and then reserving me a bus ticket for the next day, etc etc.... And of course, there's the fact that everybody has a maid. This isn't necessarily better - in some cases, people might prefer having control over these sorts of things - but sometimes it's nice to be taken care of, to walk into a barbershop and respond to the question "so, what'll it be?" with "a haircut, please".

That was the right choice, in this case. Now, the "amazing" mentioned in the title didn't refer to the haircut itself. It's good, but not earth-shattering. Rather, I'm referring to a couple of observations the barber (Gati) made while doing his thing.

First, he figured out fairly accurately how long it had been since I had had my hair cut. He actually underestimated by a couple weeks, but as a matter of fact he left my hair longer than the last cut, so an underestimate makes sense. I wouldn't be at all surprised, given what's coming next, if he in fact left it two weeks longer than the last one.

A few minutes later, he said something which I didn't quite understand. When he saw the confused look on my face, he dug into his little knowledge of English and came up with a word that I sort of understood, but I couldn't figure out if he was saying "blonde" or "born". Turns out, he was saying both, and was asking if I was blonde when I was younger.

Well, I was. When I was about 5. How in the world did he know that?

I love when people in the service industry appear to truly be experts in their field, and this was the most impressive example of that I've ever seen. Comparable incidents which I hope to experience someday:

• supermarket cashier remembering that last time I bought tortilla chips, tomatoes, cheese, peppers, onions, refried beans, and jalapeno peppers, and asking how my nachos were
• bartender using my skin complexion to serve me the beer my mom drank when she was pregnant
• bus driver studying my pattern of eye movements to determine where I was headed, and taking me door to door even if it isn't on the route
• same as the last one but on the subway