Me and Mr L’s. Today was a haircut day. It’s Monday. Growing up in Lodi NJ Barbershops would be closed Sunday and Monday. In Hoboken, the barbershops are closed on Wednesday unless there is a holiday approaching and rules are bent.

For quite a number of years I’ve been going to Mr. L’s which is in my neighborhood. Presently there are four barbershops in my area with a few more on the main drag, Washington Street. There is no shortage of tonsorial artists.

I thought about learning the trade about 15 years ago and talked out of it from Tony and his son Nick as well as Lou, Mr. L himself. ‘It’s a boring life and you’re on your feet all day’, was their advice to not become a barber.

I looked into going to school for it which is out of character for me since my educational experiences were found to be lacking. I went to a beauty school on 34th Street by the Empire State Building and was given an oversized book to lug around. I also went to a beauty school in North Bergen.

Both advised me that I would have to learn to cut women’s hair and do makeup, two areas I did not want to know about. And student loans would have to be acquired. I looked into a barber school in the Village which offered free or reduced fees if one was a veteran and since I was not a veteran I dropped the idea.

My sister-in-law offered to loan me the money but instead, I got a job at the cigar shack which if you have been reading this here blog back then, you would know what happened there. Now there are Help Wanted signs in the window of Mr L’s.

I have tried all the barbers or stylists in the shop. Tony, Nick’s father was my main guy. He’s retired after some health issues and the pandemic really set him back. Lou, Mr L himself also retired but makes an occasional appearance since he owns the building.

I tried the women as well. One cut me when she was looking at her Blackberry and tried to cover it up so she was released from the list. There was one woman I did trust to cut my shoulder-length pony tail and she did well. But Nick inherited the ‘go-to’ title from his father.

I do like the haircut I got yesterday. Close-cropped and low maintenance. Mike said that it makes me look a few years younger and Bill just loves it outright. Today is Tuesday and it is 45°. The job search goes on and on. I am going to have to lower my aim for a job that pays close to what I was making at Bratty McGrotty.

I wrote this whole post last night. I write on Google Drive and then I copy and paste into WordPress. Last night I hit the wrong keys and didn’t notice and copied the title. When I did notice what had happened I hit CTRL Z but it would only go so far. So here I am, 12 hours later trying to recoup what it was that I wrote on this here blog.