Published on 12, July, 2020
I would guess that there are a few others here who don't like getting their hair cut! I'm fairly certain that I haven't visited a barber in 20+ years. My grandfather boasted that he only had his hair cut twice in his life: for his wedding and his mother's funeral. I didn't have mine cut for either of those occasions. I always justified not doing it because of the expense, but in truth it's more to do with having someone get so close and having to make small talk. I didn't go to the dentist for 20+ years either, which I called dental phobia, though having someone "man handle" me was probably more of a problem than the dental phobia, to be honest.I imagine people may relate to this experience...
I remember one comical experience.
It was about 20 years ago, so I was in my early 30s.
One of my masking/avoidance techniques was that I'd learned to answer the most likely answer that would shut down the conversation. I was very good at it like some kind of automated heuristic A.I. But the lady cutting my hair was very chirpy and happy and genuinely interested in what her customers had to say - so my automated answers went badly downhill and I was constructing the biggest web of lies that I have ever produced. All due to me trying to end the conversation.
Like most of you, I am rubbish at lying, but this was avoidance so was a bit different (a bit like when autistics falsely cop to crimes to the police just so that the interrogation will end). She just really liked chatting. I can't remember what I'd actually ended up saying, but it was the biggest load of unlikely porkies and I was so stressed by the end of it.
My wife (girlfriend at the time) though the whole episode hysterical.
You made me laugh. Well done! And thank you.