Miss Manners: I'd been growing my hair out, and the barber blithely chopped it off

"But next time at a different barber's you might wish to pay more attention while the operation is in progress. Miss Manners suspects some other distraction was at play a phone, perhaps, or the classical music on the salon speakers. The lack of direct access to a mirror does not, by itself, explain why one would not notice all that hair cascading onto the floor. She does not mean to be unsympathetic, but not everything in life has an undo button."

"The unwritten policy is that we leave our office doors open, although we are allowed to close them for short periods if we are on the phone or need to work uninterrupted. There is a conference room directly beside my office that is utilized multiple times daily. Before and after these meetings, people will congregate in the hallway in front of my office door to talk."

A man growing curly hair for a classical musician look received a much shorter cut than requested and paid without protest. He is advised to pay closer attention during haircuts to avoid distractions such as phones or salon music that can cause irreversible mistakes. An administrative employee reports that hallway gatherings outside an office door create loud, lengthy disruptions and block exit paths, despite an unwritten open-door policy that allows brief closures for private work. Repeated congregation and leaning in doorways interfere with accessibility and the ability to work uninterrupted.

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