Hey! There's a Person Sitting Here.

Last week I attended a meeting of the advisory board at a local career center. Following the meeting I was going to visit my barber, but it occurred to me I should try the school's beautician training program if I really wanted first hand knowledge of the kind of training that the students are getting (and what the hell, it's only hair...it'll grow back...and I don't have that much of it to begin with).

The little girl assigned to me told me I was the first "real human" she had been assigned (Oh joy!). After a few minutes she asked if I would mind having a senior student observe and assist her. I said that would be fine.

The two of them went to work on me and things were going well...until I stopped them after they had referred to me, for the third time, as "the head." "Hey! There's a person sitting here," I said, "You may call me Mr. Sharp, sir, the client...anything but "the head." You need to remember that when working with the public."

Then the instructor came over and asked how things were going. We all said things were fine, and the instructor proceeded to tell the younger lady to all keep her non-dominant hand on the top of "the head" to better control the process. Ah ha! I knew from where the girls had picked-up the habit.

Remembering our clients are complete, complex and deserving human beings is something of value for everyone to remember. I know how often we are thought of as merely a disembodied voice...but how often do I so objectify those with whom I work? It's a lesson we all learned from a simple hair cut.

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