I'm still shaking, as I don't even know what to make of the events that just happened.
I went in to get a highlight treatment this morning... which takes 2 hours... so I was there for a while.
The lady that always does my hair is from Vietnam, and speaks very broken English. She's hard to understand. Part of the reason I like going to her ( besides the fact that she is really good and relatively quick compared to other stylists ), is that I don't have to sit there and do small talk for 2 hours. For me, sitting in a chair for 2 hours having someone do my hair is something I really need to get psyched up for anyway.
Personality wise, my stylist is very pleasant, but she's also not someone who would take charge in a situation.
Continue over the squiggly...
Anyhow, it's a weekday morning, so there aren't many people in the salon. From the main area, I only see my stylist, and another stylist waiting for a customer.
All of a sudden, I hear this moan from the back area. Probably like a 5 second moan. Sort of sounds like someone in labor, or someone who is in pain. My mind also thought that it could be someone that was bound against their will. ( But I just finished reading a pretty good mystery novel, so I figured my mind was doing worst case scenarios ).
Anyhow, the stylist that didn't have a customer, went to the back room, to check. She came back to the main area about 5 minutes later. I didn't ask any questions, since it wasn't any of my business.
In the meantime, my stylists finishes doing the foils, and now it's time for my hair to sit for 30- 40 minutes.
The stylist that didn't have a customer went out to grab some lunch, and a new male customer had come into the salon for a cut. He was apparently a regular. My stylist started cutting his hair while my hair was setting.
Suddenly, we hear that moaning again from the back. I get up and say that there is something wrong, and I bolt to the back room, where I find a bathroom door locked.
I knock on the door and ask if everything is okay.
We don't hear a response.
The male customer also jumps up, pulls out something from his key chain, and breaks into the bathroom.
In the bathroom is another stylist ( so I guess there was a 3rd stylist in the area ), who says "I'm fine... I'm fine", while some storage boxes in the bathroom are falling and she is trying to restock them.
She is a hispanic woman ( probably in her 30s ), and she is acting totally normal other than fumbling like crazy ... trying to show that everything is normal ).
So we all go back to our seats again ( a little on edge ), and the hispanic stylist comes out of the bathroom and comes out to the main area. She says some words and they don't seem to come out of her mouth in a normal way. ( Sort of like someone who has a stroke ). But then, her voice comes back and she starts acting like everything is normal.
She then goes back to back room ( but not to the bathroom ).
In the meantime, the stylist that went to grab some food came back, and the male customer that helped us break into the bathroom left.
So at this point, I'm the only customer. My stylist is cleaning up after her last customer, the other stylist is in the lobby waiting for a customer, and the hispanic stylist is in the back room, where we all keep hearing her drop stuff.
All of a sudden, we hear a crash!
We all run to the back, and the hispanic stylist has fallen and passed out.
I run to the front of the salon to call 911, since I want to log in the address from their phone.
While I'm talking to the 911 operator, the hispanic stylist suddenly comes around again, stands up, and asks me to not call 911 and that she is fine. She is acting completely normal and standing up like nothing happened. ( How is that possible??? )
I tell her that she is not fine.
In the meantime, the firetruck comes, and about 6 firemen come in.
She however refuses treatment, and the fireman say that they can't force her to be looked at.
The firemen and fire truck eventually leave.
The hispanic stylist says that she is going to take a break, so she goes out the front door.
That leaves me, my stylist, and the other stylist alone, so we start talking about how bizarre that was.
We were all shaking. We went to the bathroom to see if there was anything weird that we could identify ( needles if there were drugs, blood, etc. ), but all looked completely normal in there. ( We looked in the trash too, which had nothing in it ).
Anyhow, the other stylist said that when she went to check on the first moaning, she could hear that from the direction of the voice that she was on the ground. But at that time, she also said "I'm fine, I'm fine "
Turns out, this is a new person who is just the 2nd day on the job, so the other 2 don't know her yet. They said that yesterday, this person would take very long trips to the bathroom every 1/2 hour.
I tell both stylists, that it's very dangerous for this person to cut hair, and that she should not be holding scissors, as they could injure a customer or themselves.
They called their boss to come in.
While they wait for the boss to arrive, the hispanic stylist comes back, and is acting like everything is normal, and just sits in a chair waiting for a customer.
I'm now at the point of getting my hair cut, and a new customer walks in the door. I thought to myself, "oh- no... poor unsuspecting person".
So the stylist then just acts completely normal, and does a full hair cut on this person.
When I pay to leave, the manager walks in. I have a conversation with the manager about what I observed, and said that this person should not be holding scissors and cutting hair right now.
I then leave, and come to daily kos to write.
So my questions are:
Do you think this person was on drugs?
How can you pass out and then go to completely normal again?
I also wondered about health care, and if this person had a medical condition, but couldn't afford healthcare and refused treatment because of cost.
I also wondered if she was an illegal immigrant, and thus was afraid to be checked out.
The whole thing was surreal.