The American Dream

 Got me a haircut on Tuesday.

It was painful but had to be done. Haven't had one since before I got furloughed. Over four months.

Now you need to understand - I have no great desire to cut my hair. I like my hair long, flowing and unruly. Even if it looks ridiculous these days. I mean, I have a bald spot in the back, which sabotages the whole deal. But I really don't care how I look - I like the way it feels.

I am a child of the sixties. That's all you need to know. Go listen to "Almost Cut My Hair" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and you will understand. Go ahead. I'll still be here when you get back.

Here's the deal. I went to a woman who has been cutting my hair for a long time. Used to be here in Henniker, now she's in Concord.

She got fucked by this coronavirus bullshit. She is the perfect example of how innocent people get destroyed by a corrupt, inefficient, cold-hearted government.

Had to close her shop for two months. She had zero income for two months. Zero. I have no idea how she survived that.

She applied for financial assistance from the government and was told she didn't qualify. Are you fucking kidding me?

She called all her creditors up front - mortgage, insurance, electric, cable etc -  and explained her situation and they all said they would cut her some slack. Not to worry.

Now they are coming after her. Mortgage company says she owes $4500 on her home and they need it ASAP. Cold-hearted pricks.

She applied for unemployment compensation from NH and was told her situation was difficult because she owns her own business. She continues to work with them and has still received no money from them. None. 

Since she re-opened her shop she has had to deal with a lot of assholes who complain about having to wear a mask. Actually having heated arguments with these pricks.

She is doing what the law requires her to do. Barbershops are required to demand that all customers wear masks and to make appointments. No walk-ins, no more than one person in the shop at a time.

She was always a walk-in business. No appointments. Now she has arguments with people who feel they shouldn't have to make an appointment. How fucking selfish and pig-headed do you have to be?

She told me there was a fistfight in her parking lot one day between two guys who were waiting their turn - one mask guy and one anti-mask guy.

She had a guy walk in without a mask - she gave him one and made him wear it - and then had to listen to the jerk shit on mask wearers for the entire haircut. Including the following intelligent comment - "When I see a guy wearing a mask I want to call him a pussy and punch him in the face".

Her stress level is through the roof.

On top of that she used to have a solid business. Now she has days with no customers, days with only one or two customers. She is behind on her rent payments for the shop.

She kept saying "I did everything I was told to do and this is my reward?" I felt so bad.

She spent most of my haircut venting and I don't blame her. Then she asked me how I am doing.

I felt like a shit. What was I supposed to say? I fattened up my savings account substantially and enjoyed a four month paid vacation? I downplayed it as much as I could, but compared to what she has endured and what she is still going through, I felt pretty bad.

She is a snapshot of what many Americans are going through. Especially small business owners. And it's not their fucking fault. They are being victimized by a deadly virus, and by an inept, unfeeling bureaucracy that does not give a damn about the lives of small people.

This is what I hate most about this situation. Your government is supposed to protect you when you cannot protect yourself. But trump and his spineless, ass-licking cronies do not care if people die or are financially ruined. They don't fucking care.

There should be a law that automatically kicks in when a president and his ball-lickers are causing Americans financial harm and/or death. A law that allows for forcibly removing them from office and replacing them with competent, empathetic human beings.

Americans are helpless in this situation. HELPLESS.

I gave her $40 for a $17 haircut. Big fucking deal. She really appreciated it but I still felt like I was being condescending.