05.04.07
Day 2: Exhausted
It’s been two days on the job now and it already feels like months. I have worked 2 eleven hour days in a row, and because of personal circumstances which you probably do not want to read about in this blog, done it on 2 hours sleep (no I wasn’t drinking). Although the work itself is not so tiring, never in my life have I been on the clock for such a long shift, and it is mentally exhausting. I still can’t imagine how my co-workers do this 27 days a month all year long.
Most of the workers live in a dorm provided by the barbershop. This is also where we eat our meals. Everybody works everyday, so my 17 colleagues all work together, live together, and eat together, all but 3 days of the month. It’s like one big family which never gets away from one another.
The barbershop itself is more like what we would think of as a salon. In China, a haircut always comes with a hair wash both before and after the cut, so there are a lot of heads which require washing. Usually 学徒 (trainees) start out by doing odd jobs, and are then to trained to wash hair, which becomes their full time responsibility. Most barbers start out as hair washers, and then move up to learning to cut themselves. This is also how my boss began, and worked his way up to barber, manager, and finally opened his own shop.
In addition to haircuts, customers often come in merely for a hair wash which includes a face cleaning and a simple massage. The shop also does a lot of dyes and perms and the like, which are only done by the staff higher up on the totem pole.
I apologize for the lack of form and style in this update, but let it at very least be a testmnent to my exhaustion…for that very reason I’m not even going to spell check. I work the late shift today which goes from noon to close, which is about 11:30. I’ll post another update as soon as I can catch up on my sleep.
Ray
said,
May 5, 2007 at 4:30 am
Apparently,u r really drained.I still hope u can get enough sleep after work.I’ve get 15 days off each month,and 12hrs per day.when I first took this work,I also felt exhausted after 12hrs’ work,but now,I ‘ve been used to it,and get a lot of funs out of it. keep it up,dude!
Jeremy
said,
May 5, 2007 at 12:15 pm
which barbersalon u r workin at?
vivi
said,
May 6, 2007 at 7:42 pm
用夏日的第一缕阳光问候如微风般可爱的你~~
Caroline Hsu
said,
May 6, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Hello,I am a new comer through http://www.foreignercn.com to visit your blog.
You are working at a barbershop to learn hair-cutting.Why do you choose this job?Are you getting used to the life?Any intresting stories?
barbershops are more and more popular in Shanghai ,The severce is just like what you write.
Have a good day in China
Arlene
said,
May 6, 2007 at 11:31 pm
being a journalist will be of fun and a completely different life
Rick
said,
May 7, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Dude,
very impressive.
I’m sure there will be lots of people watching to see how things go.
Any photos?
The Humanaught
said,
May 8, 2007 at 9:26 am
Ben, just when I got to thinking the sinosphere was running out of things to talk/write about you go and pull this crazy stunt… good on ya. Really looking forward to seeing what happens next!
Benjamin Ross
said,
May 9, 2007 at 10:31 am
Jeremy-
I can tell you what barbershop I am at, but I’d rather not publish that info on the blog…send me an e-mail to bensinchina /at/ yahoo.com and I can give you the address. You should come in for a hair wash.
Rick-
I am going to try to put some photos up, but it might take a few days. I want to make sure the boss and my colleagues are all comfortable enough with be before I start taking random snapshots of them. This can make Chinese people (and Americans I suppose too) kind of nervous sometimes.
Barber Shop Antics | Sinosplice: Life in China
said,
May 21, 2007 at 12:16 am
[...] Day 2: Exhausted [...]