When in doubt, don't shout it out!

I recently went for a hair trim and color at a new hair salon where – to my dismay, I was thoroughly disappointed on every level by the stylist … and I truly, truly, TRULY wanted to post a negative review about her, especially when she surreptitiously added a $5 tip to my bill AFTER I had signed it and given her a $20 tip in cash!

She did this by “chatting me up” which caused me to overlook that I was walking out of the salon without a copy of my receipt … but what she didn’t count on, is that I would return for it a couple days later. At first, she tried to tell me she would need supervisor approval to print a new receipt (and the salon owner conveniently wasn’t there that day), so I returned the next day – and the owner still wasn’t there, but the stylist had printed the receipt.

When I got home and entered the total into my spreadsheet, I noticed – quite to my surprise – that a $5 tip had been entered into the “tip” section! So, I called that stylist to ask her why she added that unauthorized amount, especially since I had given her a huge tip IN CASH. Her response? “I don’t know how that happened!”

Needless to say, I returned to retrieve my $5! Neither that particular stylist nor the owner were there, but a stylist who was there reached into the cash drawer and gave me my money – because she could see by the determined look on my face that I was NOT leaving without it! (She said she had the owner’s permission.) She, like her co-worker who had ruined my hair, also tried to tell me, “I don’t know how that happened”….

Yeah, right. I guess the computer added the money all by itself….

Anyway, it’s been two weeks now, and I have yet to hear from the owner (who I feel should have called to apologize on behalf of that stylist and offer me some kind of incentive to return); and so you can bet I am NEVER going back there again! Not to mention, if anyone ever asks me what I think of that salon, I won’t hesitate to tell my sob story.

So, why didn’t I post a negative review? Because, honestly, I cannot prove that she did it intentionally! Perhaps it WAS a glitch in the computer (which I doubt), but I cannot, in all good conscience, defame that stylist’s character just because I “feel” she ripped me off. That would be LASHON HARA (evil tongue/gossip), and I know for a fact that YHWH wouldn’t approve. No matter how much I want some kind of "revenge" Scripture tells us we shouldn't do that.

Sooooo, I guess my eternal absence from that place will have to suffice.

"A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue. A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret." (Proverbs 11:12-13).

"A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts" (Proverbs 18:7-8)