Where work and play intertwine

It may seem like I haven't posted much lately. That's probably because I haven't.

But I've been writing a ton, believe it or not. For some reason, though, my writing just seems... off. I've got a couple of complete blog posts saved in my computer right now, but they're not ready yet. So here's some lighter fare for tonight:

I got my haircut today -- it had been six weeks so I was looking pretty shaggy. As the lady did her thing with a trimmer and some scissors, a 60-year-old man walked in, wearing a blue apron and holding some sort of bag/case that looked just like those doctor's kits back in the day when they would do home visits.

He walked in, greeted all the ladies working, and went to the empty station right next to me. He opened his kit to reveal a plethora of cleaning, sharpening and straightening tools. He then selected a few specific tools and laid them out carefully on the counter. Then he began.

He started by grabbing the scissors at that station, and using the sharpening tool on them. Next he held the scissors up to the light and examined them from every angle, making sure they were perfectly straight. They didn't meet his expectation, so he got out some sort of wrench and worked on the scissors for a minute or two. Then he was happy.

Finally he cleaned and polished the scissors until they looked brand new. In less than 10 minutes he had taken a dull, dingy, heavily-used pair of scissors and turned them into his own little masterpiece. You could feel the pride and thrill emanating from his body language.

The next part was the only sad part. He looked around and asked each haircutter, "How's your kit?" Each one sweetly said, "Fine." He smiled, wiped his hands on his apron, and said, "Aw, you're making Ralph's job easy today. See you soon." Then he walked out with his doctor's kit.

I'm pretty sure he gets paid to do what he does. I'm absolutely sure he would do it whether he was paid or not.