Ethnography Shitty first Draft!

Its 9 a.m. Saturday morning. I walk into work; Broadway Cuts, on 138 in Taunton. I’m immediately showered with hellos and good morning’s from a bunch of smiling faces. The walls are light pink with white shelves. There is a small reception desk that always has a small bowl of candies sitting on it. Two benches, some plants, and a candy machine sit nicely in the corner. There is a tall display of Paul Mitchell products of all kinds. In the middle of the salon there are two more benches that face each other separated by a small coffee table filled with magazines. Three stations line each of the two walls, on the left are Rosa, Terra and Linda and on the right are Carole, Charlene, and I.

All of the stations are filled with hair products of all types; Matrix Biolage, Paul Mitchell, Redken and more. Everyone has there usual Saturday morning clients, except Charlene’s not in today because she only works on Thursdays. I’m just sitting in my chair watching and waiting for some one to walk in. I have only been working here since July and it’s very hard to get started, so whenever there is a walk-in I usually get them. I usually just clean up around the salon and sweep up hair when I’m not busy. I do hair and eyebrows, along with manicures and pedicures. I’m the only one who does the mani’s and pedi’s, so I get all the clients who want those services.

All of the women I work with are really nice and helpful. Carole is the owner. She is hilarious! Her laugh alone can put a smile on anyone’s face. Carole has short blonde hair and is kind of short herself. She supplies me with all the products and other things I need and sometimes gives me a client here or there if she doesn’t have time to squeeze them in to her schedule.

Rosa is a small Portuguese woman who also has blonde hair. She is always helping everyone out whether it’s cleaning up for someone or bringing in goodies for everyone; like Portuguese bread or some kind of soup. Rosa has a very thick accent and has a tendency to call me Kayla or Kaylin, but its ok I don’t mind; she means well. She’s always giving everyone some kind of tip or recipe on how to lose weight or what’s good for your skin. She helps me out with a lot of things.

Charlene only works one Thursdays because she has another job at a bank. She is very tan with short dark brown hair. She is always telling us these crazy stories about the bank; like how when she greets a customer she has to address them by their name three different times. Terra is tall with brownish red hair that falls just a few inches shy of her shoulders. She really likes cats and the Dave Mathew’s Band. Linda is tall and skinny with short reddish brown hair and glasses. She knows just about everything that is going on. She’s always “Did you hear this or did you see that!” She is very loud; along with everyone else. Each of them has their own clients and style of doing hair. I feel like everyone knows everyone in the salon.

Their clients aren’t just clients, they’re friends or family. They’re always exchanging crazy stories like the cross-dresser who always goes into the liquor store right down the way. That’s also where we get out scratch tickets. When we get REALLY bored someone will send usually me to go get some tickets. Then we SCRATCH! We never really win anything good, but hey it passes the time.

Today is the day Kit comes in for Linda. Kit has Alzheimer’s, its very sad, but you can’t help but laugh at some of the things she says. She’s always talking about her dogs and cats, and the pots and tots. She will talk till she is out of breath. Kit comes every Saturday and gets a wash and blow dry. I just sit in my chair, smile and shake my head at the things she says.

It’s Saturday and I’m working until 3 o’clock, or should I say sitting. I’m laughing at the subjects of some of the conversations going on while I sit in my chair and read the newspaper. Around 2-230 we will start cleaning. Everyone contributes, one person will do the dryers, and another person does the bathroom. Then there’s the back bar, trash, towels and vacuuming. We all do our own little “jobs.” It’s been a long day at the salon, sitting around seems great, but it makes me tired and it is very boring. I’m hoping to get more clients next week. Awhh, another day at the salon.