I went to get a haircut yesterday at my usual hair stylist. John is an old man probably in his late 60s. He’s a Turkish who resided in Bulgaria and often tells me how it was when he was living there.

This time when I went, an old man dressed ever-so nicely in his black suite sat beside my chair. He didn’t have much hair on him as he was balding in the middle. He talked loudly and everyone in the room spoke with him as if he was a favourite customer.

John event went as far as stopping to cut my hair, going over to the other guy’s chair and talking to him in Bulgaria. I didn’t know what he was saying but all I knew was that he was quite excited about what he was talking about.

He later explained to me that this guy sitting next to him was a native Bulgarian, and that he was in fact Mr. Kaneff. I thought to myself, the Mr. Kaneff? John continued and said that he owned the entire strip plaza the hair salon is in, and that he is a multi-millionaire. Mr. Kaneff escaped Bulgaria during its communist times and came to Canada with next to no money. With his smarts, he built his empire and now enjoys giving his hair stylists $20 tips for a 10 minute cut. As it turns out, March 3 was the anniversary for Bulgaria’s independence day from the Turkish Ottoman empire. Mr. Kaneff was going to a party to celebrate this event. John told me jokingly that he has never cut Mr. Kaneff’s hair because John was a Turkish living in Bulgaria while Mr. Kaneff was a native Bulgarian.

My haircut was brief, but the entire 30 minutes was an enjoyable one, as are all my visits to that hair salon. Even though John’s hands are quite shaky at times, I still like his cut more than others’. In this day and age, it’s nice to be able to go to a familiar place where they recognize you as soon as you come in. Even though John doesn’t know my name, I’ll always know that he’ll recognize me as soon as I step foot into that place.

And that’s reason enough to keep going back.