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| This photo is from my lovely friend, Ryan Mayer. He is an extremely talented graphic designer and artist! You can check out his studio here:http://bluehaus.com/ |
Wanda stared at the chandeliers on the ceiling as she had her head in a sink at the hair salon, having it washed by her chatty hairdresser, Crystal.
“... and then she actually went out with the guy anyway!”, cried Crystal. Wanda wasn’t paying enough attention to Crystal to be certain who she was talking about, but guessed that it was likely the usual topic of Crystal’s rants: Crystal’s roommate, Tina. Fortunately, Crystal didn’t require her captive audience to provide any evidence that they were listening; she would continue to buzz away like a fridge until you interrupted her (and even then, an interruption was no guarantee to stop her from talking).
Unlike what you may expect a person with a name like Wanda to look like, Wanda was, in fact, gorgeous. She had the classic all-American looks of a cheerleader with a slim build, golden skin, and lovely blonde hair. However, due to Wanda’s particular tastes, her hair was cropped in an asymmetrical cut with pink tips. Her outfit was not cheerleader-like either; unless you considered that her skirt was about the same length as a cheerleaders uniform, made only slightly less risqué with jet-black opaque tights, and Mary Jane pumps with four inch heels.
Wanda relaxed as Crystal gave her one her world-famous scalp massages. She was only in for a cut today, so it was straight to the chair after this. Wanda savoured this time by closing her eyes and zoning into the music. Vampire Weekend’s, “Bryn”, happily chirped out of the speakers, “Oh Bryn! You see in the dark; Right past the fireflies that sleep in my heart...” Wanda smiled. She liked this album, and liked that the salon was playing a groovy remix of this song. Some people went shopping when they were tense; Wanda’s stress-reliever was chopping her hair off. She is Crystal’s best client.
Today’s stress-release haircut was the result of work. Wanda has a new boss. Wanda worked at a trendy clothing boutique, and has a great rapport with the clientele. Her success is partly to do with the fact that she has great taste (which frankly wasn’t difficult to have in her store), but mostly it is because she is honest (but tactful) with customers when they are trying on clothes. Her previous boss valued Wanda enough to let her cherry-pick her hours, take her breaks whenever she wanted, and even let her give input on possible clothing lines and items that the store purchased for selling. Wanda didn't consider herself high-maintenance, but she had grown used to the small perks that she had earned, and, her previous boss mentioned the possibility of creating a new position for her as the store’s fashion consultant, which would have meant a nice little raise and the opportunity for Wanda to get even more creative.
All that, however, has changed. The new store manager did not see any value in a fashion consultant position, “We should all be fashion consultants,” Sonja (her new boss) quipped. She also didn't think it was fair that Wanda got preferential treatment in regards to her shifts.
“Consider the optics,” Sonja said, “How does it look to have one person working whatever time she likes, while everyone else has to work around her schedule?” Wanda thought it looked pretty fucking-fantastic, from her point of view.
But this brought up a possible issue that she never considered before: did her co-workers felt slighted? No one said anything to her, and she got along well with everyone she worked with... or did she? If someone complained, she would have liked to know if only to have had the opportunity to speak with them privately and work it out. It hurt her feelings to think that her own co-workers with whom she worked so closely couldn't have confided in her.
Wanda asked Sonja if anyone complained about the scheduling, but got a non-answer, “The issue is not if someone complained, but the fact that there are circumstances that could potentially be complained about,” Sonja replied. Right.
So... into the chair we go! Wanda decided to go a little more radical and is having one side of her closely cropped - shaved actually, with longer bits on the top to dangle over it. Some of the pink tips would disappear, but that was okay - it would likely lead to a colour change at her next appointment in a few weeks. Wanda had absolutely no concerns about how the hairstyle would look when it was finished; Crystal was an unbelievable hairstylist... even if she did talk your ear off while making your hair into a masterpiece.
Wanda contemplated her predicament while watching Crystal get to work on her new coif. Clearly she had to prove herself all over again with her new boss. Ground zero. Zero is exactly what she felt like. Wanda knew that she didn’t have the best job in the world, but took immense pleasure in her work. She could have had loftier aspirations, but liked the perks of cheap clothing and getting to talk all day about fashion. Heck, they even had subscriptions to her favourite magazines at the store which they were encouraged to read as reference material for the season’s “must-haves” (How soon would it be before Sonja realized that the magazines were an unnecessary expense?). It irked her that she had to remind herself that she was good at her job.
Sadly, Wanda realized that this problem was going to take more than a new hairdo to work it out. In the meantime though, she tapped her toes to a remix of La Roux’s “Bulletproof”... “This time baby I’ll be bulletproof...”. Wanda hoped that would be the case in the weeks to come.
“... and then she actually went out with the guy anyway!”, cried Crystal. Wanda wasn’t paying enough attention to Crystal to be certain who she was talking about, but guessed that it was likely the usual topic of Crystal’s rants: Crystal’s roommate, Tina. Fortunately, Crystal didn’t require her captive audience to provide any evidence that they were listening; she would continue to buzz away like a fridge until you interrupted her (and even then, an interruption was no guarantee to stop her from talking).
Unlike what you may expect a person with a name like Wanda to look like, Wanda was, in fact, gorgeous. She had the classic all-American looks of a cheerleader with a slim build, golden skin, and lovely blonde hair. However, due to Wanda’s particular tastes, her hair was cropped in an asymmetrical cut with pink tips. Her outfit was not cheerleader-like either; unless you considered that her skirt was about the same length as a cheerleaders uniform, made only slightly less risqué with jet-black opaque tights, and Mary Jane pumps with four inch heels.
Wanda relaxed as Crystal gave her one her world-famous scalp massages. She was only in for a cut today, so it was straight to the chair after this. Wanda savoured this time by closing her eyes and zoning into the music. Vampire Weekend’s, “Bryn”, happily chirped out of the speakers, “Oh Bryn! You see in the dark; Right past the fireflies that sleep in my heart...” Wanda smiled. She liked this album, and liked that the salon was playing a groovy remix of this song. Some people went shopping when they were tense; Wanda’s stress-reliever was chopping her hair off. She is Crystal’s best client.
Today’s stress-release haircut was the result of work. Wanda has a new boss. Wanda worked at a trendy clothing boutique, and has a great rapport with the clientele. Her success is partly to do with the fact that she has great taste (which frankly wasn’t difficult to have in her store), but mostly it is because she is honest (but tactful) with customers when they are trying on clothes. Her previous boss valued Wanda enough to let her cherry-pick her hours, take her breaks whenever she wanted, and even let her give input on possible clothing lines and items that the store purchased for selling. Wanda didn't consider herself high-maintenance, but she had grown used to the small perks that she had earned, and, her previous boss mentioned the possibility of creating a new position for her as the store’s fashion consultant, which would have meant a nice little raise and the opportunity for Wanda to get even more creative.
All that, however, has changed. The new store manager did not see any value in a fashion consultant position, “We should all be fashion consultants,” Sonja (her new boss) quipped. She also didn't think it was fair that Wanda got preferential treatment in regards to her shifts.
“Consider the optics,” Sonja said, “How does it look to have one person working whatever time she likes, while everyone else has to work around her schedule?” Wanda thought it looked pretty fucking-fantastic, from her point of view.
But this brought up a possible issue that she never considered before: did her co-workers felt slighted? No one said anything to her, and she got along well with everyone she worked with... or did she? If someone complained, she would have liked to know if only to have had the opportunity to speak with them privately and work it out. It hurt her feelings to think that her own co-workers with whom she worked so closely couldn't have confided in her.
Wanda asked Sonja if anyone complained about the scheduling, but got a non-answer, “The issue is not if someone complained, but the fact that there are circumstances that could potentially be complained about,” Sonja replied. Right.
So... into the chair we go! Wanda decided to go a little more radical and is having one side of her closely cropped - shaved actually, with longer bits on the top to dangle over it. Some of the pink tips would disappear, but that was okay - it would likely lead to a colour change at her next appointment in a few weeks. Wanda had absolutely no concerns about how the hairstyle would look when it was finished; Crystal was an unbelievable hairstylist... even if she did talk your ear off while making your hair into a masterpiece.
Wanda contemplated her predicament while watching Crystal get to work on her new coif. Clearly she had to prove herself all over again with her new boss. Ground zero. Zero is exactly what she felt like. Wanda knew that she didn’t have the best job in the world, but took immense pleasure in her work. She could have had loftier aspirations, but liked the perks of cheap clothing and getting to talk all day about fashion. Heck, they even had subscriptions to her favourite magazines at the store which they were encouraged to read as reference material for the season’s “must-haves” (How soon would it be before Sonja realized that the magazines were an unnecessary expense?). It irked her that she had to remind herself that she was good at her job.
Sadly, Wanda realized that this problem was going to take more than a new hairdo to work it out. In the meantime though, she tapped her toes to a remix of La Roux’s “Bulletproof”... “This time baby I’ll be bulletproof...”. Wanda hoped that would be the case in the weeks to come.
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