CINCINNATI—Surprised to discover that the once-beloved job perk had lost its appeal over the years, local barber Mike Grossman told reporters Tuesday that he was no longer even that excited by bringing home free bags of hair at the end of the day. “Walking through my front door with huge garbage bags of trimmings that I’d swept up from the shop floor used to be the best part of my work,” said Grossman, adding that when he first started at Pete’s Barbershop, his children would come running to meet him the moment he got home and would immediately start digging through the bags for clumps of their favorite types of hair. “Curly red hair, wavy blond, wisps of salt-and-pepper—I can get as much as I want without spending a penny. The savings are great, but after a while, you kind of get sick of having all that hair around the house. These days, my wife or I just end up throwing half of it out.” Grossman later confirmed that he now leaves the bags of hair on the curb outside the barbershop in case homeless people want them.

Advertisement