50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

149

Case 31

A Wet Pain in the Neck

Background Information

About a week before Christmas, Tom Brown and his family made their annual trip

to stay with his parents for the holidays. The weeks prior to the trip had been very

busy for Tom and, despite his wife’s good-natured scolding, he had not been able to

find the time to get his hair cut. When they arrived at his parents’ house, it was clear

he needed a haircut. Tom’s sister recommended a hair-cutting salon in a nearby

shopping plaza.

Tom walked into Hair Locks about 10:00 a.m. on the day before Christmas.

Much to his relief, it was not crowded. One of the two haircutters who were work-

ing on customers near the front of the salon looked at Tom and asked in a straight-

forward manner what he needed.

Tom snipped at the back of his head with his fingers and said, “Just a haircut.”

She motioned toward the rear of the shop and told him to go on back for a wash.

About that time, a person who apparently was the receptionist came walking up and

suggested that Tom hang his coat on the coat rack near the entrance. Tom did so,

then walked to the back, not quite sure exactly where he should go, whom he should

see, or what was going to happen once he got there. A diagram of the floor plan is

shown below.

Haircutting

Sinks

Front

Door

Cashier

Office

Chairs

This work area included a haircutting section with a few chairs and a hair wash-

ing section with a row of sinks and chairs along the back wall. A few people were

milling about. A young woman was sitting in one of the haircutting chairs, reading

a magazine.