I have a great hair stylist. And by the way, that is the correct way to address an individual in that particular profession. They are indeed called hair stylists. I used to get Bubba down at the barber shop to cut my hair. I am not sure what I am supposed to call Bubba, but hair stylist for some reason just does not fit. My stylist has other professional talents too. It was in the context of a discussion about her secondary career that I learned that hair stylist is the correct professional phrase.

Meggan mentioned to me, while she styling my hair, that she teaches exercise classes. I said: “Is that sort of like aerobics?” Now you have to realize that not only is Meggan pleasant, but she is nice too. She chose not to tell me that I was hopelessly out of date in my exercise lingo. She graciously avoided calling me an old fossil head or a dinosaur. In fact, she was so gracious, that she corrected my dated exercise vocabulary in an indirect manner. She said: “You know they used to call people in my profession operators. She hit a chord with me. My grandmother used to talk about going to her beauty operator every week. And then I realized, I had been had… She had ever so gently corrected my dated exercise lingo.

The cat was out of the bag. I am not a fitness expert. I proceeded to tell her that I was walking a couple of miles every day and working on getting in better shape.
Men my age really need to give attention to matters pertaining to physical fitness.
She had great insights to share about exercise and diet as well. It was nice to visit with someone about that subject who just has an affable demeanor. I frequently find that people who have put the effort out to get in good physical condition become obnoxious about the subject. Having conversations with such individuals about diet and exercise is about as pleasant as a hemorrhoid operation.

I think Meggan’s approach to the matter of diet and exercise might even apply to all aspects of life. Making people feel inferior because they are hopelessly ill-informed about a subject is rude and counter productive. The gentle and indirect approach to correcting another person’s dated word use or ignorant comments generate good communication. I left my hair styling establishment with renewed enthusiasm to exercise and watch my diet. Bubba never offered such useful information when he did whatever it was he did to my hair. I am thankful for Meggan today. In fact, I think my beauty operator is pretty cool.