Being an African female living in Paris one of the first things I identified upon moving here was where I could get my hair taken care of. I had settled on a Dominican Republican hair salon that costs what I assume is more than what my left lung is worth but they do an amazing job and have impeccable customer service. On account of being professional I have no problem with paying however, upon informing a friend of mine she told me that her mother owned a hair salon in the African Market and assured me that I would pay less than a quarter of the price I was paying at the Dominican republican place. I was skeptical truth be told but at the same time I wanted to support an African business as Africans often are accused of not supporting each other’s business initiative and preferring to put our money back into the hands of “the oppressor’s/ competition”. So my friend called the hair salon and made an appointment for me.
When I arrived on the street of the hair salon in the African market I was accosted by several people all biding for me to come to their salon. When I mentioned the name of the salon I had the appointment at, a tall friendly man declared “Yes, that is me. Come with me.” He walked me the short distance to the salon and announced our arrival upon entering “I have brought the customer for you, the friend of the patron”. I am not entirely sure but from what I understood the patron refers to the boss or owner. I was ushered into a chair and the lady went right to work. Midway I heard someone calling “Eh, eh, you girl, Sarkozy wife” I looked back because that last name was bizarre. Sure enough the calls were for me “Are you the friend of the patron’s daughter?” I replied and said I was. This infuriated the woman who began cussing in pigeon English at how she should never be called again to do someone’s hair and then an argument broke out between the lady doing my hair and her. The argument was all in pigeon what I did get however, was that the lady doing my hair was being accused of having stolen a customer… me.
The woman doing my hair was taken aback and tried to defend herself but all protests were vehemently quelled by this other woman who was now shouting. The woman doing my hair then said that she would leave and the other lady could do my hair and get all the remunerations. At which point the shouting woman refused and yelled some more. The lady doing my hair packed up her things and left. So I assumed now that the shouting lady would proceed doing the hair of the client she fought so ferociously for. I was wrong continued shouting this time in regular English saying she would not touch my head and that the lady (who had left) would finish it and that I should follow her. I was seething, and worried and in disbelief. This stupid woman was taking her feud with her co worker out on me and I was genuinely concerned for my scalp which was chemicalized and was now beginning to feel an uncomfortable sting burn sensation.
I picked up my phone and called my friend and told her to get her mother in the shop immediately as this was unacceptable. The patron arrived and took a hundred years to start enquiring on the situation, I explained with the loud woman continuously chiming in. In the end I shouted with tears in my eyes and said I would pay whatever amount but someone needed to wash out my hair. Eventually the barber came through and washed my hair. The problem was that he was inexperienced and botched up the conditioning and rinsing order so that when the time came to blow dry my hair it began braking of in large tangled clumps. I was livid and just wanted to leave. My hair was dry and needed a final blow drying which the patron timorously asked the shouting lady to do. The shouting lady screeched declaring that she would not touch my head. It baffled me how it was possible for her to refuse to do what her boss told her to do and how the boss had so little authoritative power in her business. At this point I got up and spoke as to everyone in the salon loudly that this was the worst customer service and that the employee feuds were not my problem and that it was highly stupid to punish the person paying. I might as well have been talking to a brick wall because I was ignored. Finally, the shouting lady decided to grace me with doing the final brush blow technique though reluctantly she even tried being friendly but by this time I was beyond sour and kept quiet. I had a good mind not to pay because their service was more damaging than anything else.
After I left the salon I told my mother who reminded me of the British Nigerian comedian Joycelin Jee once joked about how in African hair salons in England the ladies doing hair often act like they are doing you a favor by doing what they are meant to be doing and basically the service you are paying for. She said they would mess up your hair and then tell you “Don’t worry it will grow back.” It is funny to watch Joycelin but she is not kidding, sadly that is the reality.
Dr. Chika Onyeani, author of acclaimed book ‘The Capitalist Nigger’ hits the nail on the head when he describes what the African person’s problem is. Onyeani says “I am tired of hearing Blacks always blaming others for their lack of progress in this world; I am tired of the whining and victim-mentality. I am tired of listening to the same complaint, day in day out - racism this, racism that. It's getting us nowhere." Africans will be the first to stand up and blame other Africans for not supporting their business and conspiring with Westerners to maintain the unequal status quo, but when given a chance to provide a service and be supported they abuse you by not providing the service or doing so very poorly. I think it goes without saying that I will never return to that hair salon so long as I love and I will certainly discourage anyone I know from going there too. These kinds of experiences are what lead us to put our money elsewhere even if it means paying abundantly more money. Can Africans stop blaming others and start doing the right things in order to challenge power relations? It is not impossible and by raising business practice standards Africans create lucrative businesses that both uplift their economies as well as themselves hence leaving lasting legacies of excellence.
So what have we learnt?
1. Punishing the customer to prove a point to another employee you dislike is not the way forward in a business.
2. Having a full on row in front of customers also a non starter.
3. Not enforcing authority on your employees and having them openly defy you as a boss… what kind of business are you running?
