One of my favourite sitcoms in the nineties was Seinfeld. The setting for the sitcom was simple. But what made it fabulous were the simplicity of the plots, the definitions of the characters and most of all the script. The script writers would take mundane ordinary things and create an extraordinary plot with sharp punch line. The characters would deliver the lines almost perfectly.
One of the things that stood out in the show were the usage of catch phrases that themselves had a cult following. In fact Jerry Seinfeld later wrote a best selling book called 'Seinlanguage' that included all the catch phrases.
A few memorable examples -
're-gifter' - a person who receives as a gift, has no use for it and gifts the item to someone else
'close talker' - someone who stands embarrassingly close to you during a conversation
'soup Nazi' - this was the nickname of one character who ran a soup shop. The soup was very tasty but the owner was a very strict and mean person. If he did not like the way the patron behaved, he would shout 'no soup for you'. This last statement became a buzz word in itself.
Why I am writing all this here and why now? Well, earlier this week I got a haircut at my regular place and the barber's demeanour and behaviour reminded me of the 'soup Nazi' and of Seinfeld.
I have been frequenting this barber shop for nearly 25 years now. In the past whenever I have been in Trivandrum, I have gone to his place for a haircut. For the past four years that I have stayed here, I have not gone anywhere else in Trivandrum (for a haircut that is !).
While he always goes about his work diligently and sincerely, he is very much against change. Also, he is a very strict person and extremely sensitive to comments - especially on the subject of cutting hair!
The shop is located strategically at a major intersection. The mushrooming of apartments in the area and upward mobility of his potential clientele might have prodded a slightly more proactive person to modernise his saloon, spruce up the place, hire staff to expand operations and start charging a premium. Not so our hero. He is still the same old person working in the same old fashion. The only time change impacted him was when the authorities had to demolish his shop to make way for road widening. He moved to a better and bigger place next door and proceeded to quickly make it look as messy as his old shop!
Why do his clients patronise him? Simple - he does an excellent job of what he does: that is cut hair!
Now back to the soup Nazi business, I was waiting in line and thinking about the fact that I ought to tell the barber this time to crop more hair in the area above the right part of the forehead. Otherwise in a month's time it could get messy. Just as I was thinking about this, the customer whom he was attending to asked him to do that very thing! 'Cheta, can you please cut here' he said indicating the area above the right forehead.
Our friend stopped the clip-clipping of the scissors, took a step back and let loose on the customer - 'Are you the barber or am I?. I will cut hair as I please. If I listen to you now, you will come back later saying it looks bad' he was getting more animated with each statement he made. ' If you cannot be silent when I am cutting hair, you can go someplace else'
Needless to say, when my turn came, I hopped on to the chair and did not utter a single word till he finished, then I quietly paid up and left!
Next time I need a haircut, I am sure I will go back to same old saloon. Some habits die hard - even if the barber is a 'soup Nazi'!
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