Barber left ‘mortified’ after asking awkward question to blind customer about haircut

A hairdresser says they were left feeling “mortified” by an interaction with a client – but other people told them not to beat themselves up over the “common” error.

The unnamed barber says they were giving a cut to a blind man, who was very specific about what he wanted, adding that he clearly had issues with his sight and walked with a cane.

Feeling “horrified” by their interaction at the end of the cut, the hairdresser turned to Reddit for support, writing: “I’m a barber and our customer base is mainly older men, a couple weeks ago a blind man came in to get his hair cut.

“He had a stick and his eyes were very foggy, I’m not very informed about the specific types of blindness, but he definitely couldn’t see himself in the mirror.

“He was quite specific about how he wanted it done, so I asked him to feel it every so often to make sure he was happy with it so far. It was all going well and we were making good conversation.

“But typical me – I got to the end of his haircut and blew all the excess hair off before asking him, ‘alright, all done, does it all look short enough for you?’

“Then I realised what I had done. I didn’t know what to say, I was horrified at what had just happened. He sat there awkwardly for a few seconds before feeling around and stating that his haircut was fine.

“I’m still mortified, but I’m feeling more comfort in sharing my experience. Won’t be making that mistake again, bless him.”

After sharing the story online, two users rushed to the barber’s defence.

One said: “He is blind, he lost his sight, not his sense of humour. You should’ve just said, ‘I am so sorry’ and laughed it off.”

And another spoke from personal experience to say the barber had nothing to worry about, adding: “This happens. There are so many visual terms so commonly used by most people that trying to stop using them is more of a pain than it’s worth.

“You’d never say hear you later, for example. It’s just odd. I am blind, I promise for the most part we don’t mind.”