It doesn’t pay to be late to an appointment.  Usually a hurried, late entry makes a bad impression.  I tend to spout apologies, layering them around me to cushion the slight annoyance that tardiness brings to most people.  Sometimes there can be graver consequences to being late, as I discovered Thursday night.

I was running late to get my hair cut.  To make matters worse, I was the last appointment of the day.  On top of that, there was nobody there before me, and as I pull up I see the hair guy sitting in the chair, clearly waiting for me to get my ass over there.  Even better, his receptionist is also waiting with a girlfriend, apparently they all drive together.  Oh great, so now I show up 13 minutes late and look like a huge jerk, making 3 people late to get home.  I apologized profusely and my extremely competent hair dresser starts to whack away at my rapidly thinning mop as usual.  Small talk ensues.  I think things are just fine, and they probably are, until he’s done his usual very thorough cut and starts to blow-dry my hair.  He’s at it for quite a while.  I never do this at home, and he knows this but always insists on it.  It’s probably a professional pride thing, which I can understand completely, the guy is really very good.  The only slight difference this time is by the time I leave I have a very different hair style from what I normally wear.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, until I got home and Nikki got a look at me.

She was very tactful, if by tactful you mean explosive snorting and laughter.  

 

“Honey, David Hasselhoff called and he wants his hairdo back.”

“Did you and Kitt run into any traffic?”

“I washed your new trunks for you.”

That sort of thing went on for quite a while until I scrubbed some water through my hair and managed to reduce the volume a bit.

So the moral of the story is to not be late, it can have a detrimental effect on your home life, esteem, and relationships.  I solemnly swear to never be late to another hair cut again, my marriage depends on it.