Through a Pair of Clipper, I See ...

I like to visit this particular barber shop. Many others that I had visited would want to do their job as soon as possible (or at least they made me feel so). Their speed would pick up noticeably when there is a queue. I think recently some barber shops or saloons are "famous" because they can be so fast.

Okay, allow me to clarify, I may not be equating fastness to poor quality. But this particular one gives me a different feeling. The barbers (mostly middle-aged man and the others may be even classified as elderly) really take great pride in their work. Even when the queue is undeniably long, I never see them rushing. Furthermore, I am always very satisfied with their skills.

Recently, their services changed favourably. Oh sure, many saloons provide better services, but here I am talking about a neigbourhood barber shop hor. So I needn't elaborate their improved services here.

What actually impressed me more was a simple event happened recently. I was in the shop when it started to rain and I wasn't equipped with an umbrella. I was thinking of battling the rain later by dashing to my car after my hair cut. Dashing to my car.. heh.. something I do pretty often, especially lately as the rainy spell is cast almost everywhere.

But after the hair cut, as I was making my payment, the barber attended to me casually commented, " 下雨 leh."
I replied, "是啊." (Smiling at the same time.)
The barber : 你需要借一把雨伞吗？
Me : 谢谢。不用了啦。我跑一下子就到了。
The barber : 没有关系啦。不然你就拿一些旧报纸来遮雨也好。
(He proceeded to snatch some old newspaper for me.)

This man is certainly not just concerned about getting his job properly done. He extended his care to the other needs of his customers within his capacity.

We are usually rather sure about what we like, what we need, what we want.
Are we as sensitive to extend our care and concern to the needs of our relatives and friends around us?

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有一位圣者这么说：
你的提升，不能让周遭的人互相切磋学习来改变，反而是嫉妒竞争的主要因素，你的提升就大有问题。