He was an older man, who had been in the business for many years. He often showed up early to work and diligently cut hair. However, for his level of experience, he still seemed to jump from shop to shop. This was the first sign of trouble, but I shrugged it off because he did great haircuts and shaves, plus the customers seemed to really like him.

It all started (and ended) one beautiful Saturday afternoon. Just like any ordinary day, after a few hours of cutting hair, he approached me and asked me if it was okay for him to take a short break. It was during a slower time of the day, so of course I obliged.

A half hour goes by and the traffic begins to pick up and thank goodness here comes my barber to help with the craze! He immediately takes a walk-in and gets right into the groove of things.

Next thing I know, I turn around and there’s my barber struggling to keep his balance while cutting his customer’s hair.

If this isn’t a clear enough sign that something is wrong, he then calls me over, in the middle of both of our haircuts to ask me how to do a particular haircut and to see if the back of the cut he was giving is even.

Now, I’m thinking to myself, how do I play this off so I don’t alarm the customer? I begin to take a couple steps towards my barber and that’s when he trips and almost falls to the ground. I immediately asked the client to come to my chair and corrected the haircut.

I apologized numerous times, gave him his haircut for free, and gave him a certificate for another free haircut. Not surprisingly, I never saw that guy again.

Now, it’s time to deal with the barber. Turns out my reliable barber chose to drink a bottle of whiskey for lunch, rather than the traditional sandwich or pizza.

I was completely outraged and had no other choice but to fire him, but he didn’t want to leave.

I did everything but physically throw him out the door myself to get him out, but once he walks out I realize, wait, this guy is wasted I can’t let him drive now and endanger himself and everyone else who crosses his path today. I run out the door and try to convince him to stay until he found a ride, but he hops into his car and takes off anyway.

A little while later, my phone rings and who do you think it is?

My drunken barber, asking ME to bail him out of jail after he smashed into a car in front of him a few miles up the road from my barbershop! Thank God no one was hurt.

I was so angry, it isn’t hard to figure out what I did next: laughed at him hung up the phone.

The moral of the story is: try and keep your barbershop as far away as possible from the local bar.

Haha! Just kidding of course. Truth is, there are plenty of barbers and stylists to choose from, so choose wisely, because your employees are a reflection of you and your shop. Sometimes, a sign of an employee’s troubled history, no matter how unassuming it may be at first, can rear its ugly head at the worst possible time.

After all, your barbers (or stylists) are your business. Make sure you do your due diligence to choose the right ones. It could cost you if you don’t.