Evangelical Hair Salon?

I had noticed, the last two years, that my salon, Tranquility, was playing a lot of Christian music,  I did not think much of it during the Christmas Holiday, I mean, it made sense, Christian music for CHRISTmas, no issue.  However, when the Christian music continued, well after the holiday, I finally said something to the front desk, on more than one occasion.  Some Christian Rock you can’t even tell its religious, but when the chorus, is “Jesus will save you”, its a bit much for this Jew.  I was very polite when I asked them to change the music to something a little less religious.

Much to my surprise, this past Friday, I open up an e-mail from Tranquility, and in addition to sharing special events happening at the Salon, there is a very large invite to  Life Church in Manassas for Easter services.

Honestly, this was just too much.  So I call the Salon to share my concerns with the owners.  The receptionist takes my information and then asks what issue I am calling about.  I share, that in addition to the Christian music the Salon is playing, the invite to this Church was simply over the top, especially since the Church mission is clearly to spread the word of Jesus as the Savior and that just doing good deeds was not enough to be in G-ds good grace.  If that is what the owner believes, I have no problem with that, but I don’t need to know it.  The receptionist then asked, why did  look at the Church website, and I replied “because you included the link in your e-mail !”. 

The final straw was when she told me that the owners had every right to send whatever  e-mail they wanted and that it was a private business and furthermore it was a “Christian business” and I said “Tranquility is a Christian business?”, wondering, what the heck does that mean?  She replied that the staff are christians and that they begin their day with a prayer.  I said “Well, I had no idea, where is that advertised?”, to which she replied, “well, it isn’t”.   So then why is she behaving as though I am idiot for not knowing this very critical piece of information.  I  have been going to this salon for over 7 years, and it is only in the last 2 years I have noticed this change.

If I had known this was a Christian business, whatever that is, I would never have complained, I would have taken my business elsewhere.   I have no desire to feel like I am being evangelized when I am trapped in a Salon, for at least 2 hours, getting my hair done.

The owner, who was very polite, called me the next morning.    To make a long conversation short, even after giving her the example of “what if”, what if Muslim music was being played, preaching that Allah was the only path to G-d, how would she feel?  How would she feel if she started receiving invitations to go the the Mosque where they preach the only path to salvation is Allah? 

She never fully answered that question, but what was crystal clear to me, was that she did not understand or empathize with what I was sharing.  I said that if she was running a “Christian Salon” then she should inform her patrons so that they can make an informed decision about whether Tranquility Day Spa is the right place for them.   She agreed, saying that the website was going to be updated very soon and that she would be clearly letting customers know that it was a Christian Salon. 

Honestly, I was taken aback, to exclude so many people in a growing diverse population, was completely unexpected. 

So, although I struggled with my decision, because I really like my hairdresser, I will only go back, one last time, to say good bye and tell her how wonderful it was to get to know her.   I don’t believe a person’s religious belief should be thrust upon anyone, no matter how well intentioned.