Other Forms of Employment

In addition to my new part time job with Centura Health, I have also been able to supplement my income by working for a friend.

I have been introduced to the world of the high end Cherry Creek North salon, as another form of employment. I get what’s left of my hair cut at Hot Head’s Salon of Cherry Creek (http://www.hotheadsofcherrycreek.com/main.html). I have been going there for the past few years, and have become great friends with the owner Terri Russo. A few months ago, Terri contacted me, and asked me to fill in as the receptionist at her salon for a day, as their primary receptionist was unavailable. Their first, second, and third choice were also unavailable. Not to say that I was her last hope, but I had absolutely zero experience for such work (and I think she was a little desperate).

Anyway, I agreed, and began the very interesting journey into the world of high end beauty. The way I looked at it was, “How hard could it be to answer the phones and greet customers of a salon?” I swear to God, it was so much harder than I thought it would be.

Throughout my career, I have managed people and projects. I have done research, prepared reports, and created new procedures and protocols. I have done everything from answering the phones to taking part in creating new company departments. None of that prepared me to man the reception desk of a busy beauty salon.

The easy part was greeting the guests, finding out who they where there to see, and offering them a beverage. The hard part was trying to hold at bay, the constant threat of anarchy.

Answering the Phones:
Now you would think that answering the phone at a salon would be a simple task, but you would be wrong. When you answer the phone, you must be able to schedule an appointment for one of the stylists, quote pricing that vary depending on the stylist in question, and communicate the stylist’s availability. Then there are the appointment books. There is one main schedule book that is used for all of the employees of the salon, and then there are the individual appointment books for those people that rent booths. These individuals don’t work directly for the salon, but rather rent booth space on a monthly basis.

Every stylist (employee or renter) has their own set times for completing a task (hair cuts, styling, coloring, extensions, nails, waxing, etc.) and you must know those times in order to schedule appointments correctly. In addition to that, some of the stylists will manage numerous clients at once. For those stylists, you must be able to schedule the overlapping appointments correctly. Even one scheduling mistake and all hell can break loose, and let me tell you, these people take mistakes very seriously. It is, after all, their livelihood. I rapidly learned the true meaning of the word “diva” that day.

The Money:
The clients will come to you to pay for the services they received. You must make sure that their information is entered into the database, correctly identify the services they received, which stylist performed the work, if they purchased any “product” (an industry term used to identify shampoos, and other such items), and set up a future appointment for service. You must also do this in a timely fashion, without showing any signs of trepidation. Some of the guests are not very willing to wait, and they can smell fear, like dogs and bees.

Receiving payment via credit card involves another multi-step and tedious process. After that, all payment processes require that you make note of the payment and then the tip in the scheduling book, except for the booth rental staff. They are supposed to manage their own transactions, although this task can frequently falls to the receptionist as well.

The receptionist must also keep track of “the drawer”. That would be the cash drawer. At the end of the day, all stylists will ask to receive their tips. In addition to that, they will frequently borrow money from the drawer, in order to pay for lunch, or what have you. As the receptionist, you must keep track of all of this as well. The drawer must balance at the end of the day, or you have to stay as long as it takes until it does.

The Staff:
The staff is an entirely different animal that you must deal with. The number of different personalities can be overwhelming. Everyone has their own agenda, and nearly everyone has a story to tell, although most of them are very nice. Suffice it to say that a high end salon is an extremely interesting place to work. A television producer could make their career by turning the day to day activities of Hot Heads into a sit-com, although it would need to be aired on cable, due to the content. To say that sexual content is a part of the regular conversation would be putting it mildly (the girls can be very graphic!). Even the most innocent activity can be charged with adult innuendo.

To illustrate this point, I will recount a particular situation: I was sitting at the front desk when one of the employees came to educate me on some of the day to day routines. As I sat at the front desk, I had the facility’s computer to my left. The former receptionist was there, attempting to help me do my job. She wished to gain access to the internet, and I obliged. In order for her to look at the computer screen, she needed to lean over my lap. She would look at the screen and then look at the front door as customers came in (or when anyone walked by). She did this repeatedly, her head bobbing up and down until one of the other stylists came to the front desk, and started to laugh. I then suggested that the young lady helping me might want to try sitting while showing me how the database worked.

Terri Russo (the owner) maintains a very open a friendly work environment, although she will crack the proverbial whip when necessary. There is a very familial sense amongst everyone that works their. While Terri is the owner and the brains of Hot Heads, the receptionist is definitely at the heart of the operation. It’s the receptionist’s role to maintain order and keep the ever present threat of utter chaos at an arms length. Again, let me mention that all the tasks I have mentioned in this post, must all be performed simultaneously.

While my job performance was passable, I certainly didn’t hold a candle to Ashley, the person who set the standard for the position.