A close shave

(Oh I love the pun in that title!)

I went to a barber here since my hair was getting way too long for this heat. By the way, if I haven't made it abundantly clear, this place is hell on earth when it comes to heat and the sooner Calgon takes me away, the happier I'll be. So anyway, I'm sitting in the chair and getting my haircut when some guy walks into the store. He's some sort of collection agent for some neighborhood thing like protection or maybe festival funds or something, or maybe just the owner of this strip mall. Basically he starts talking to the barber, who's a young kid of about 20 years, about some fake currency that the barber gave this guy. The barber was trying to explain that it was someone he knew who paid him with that note, and so it's probably not intentional. The other guy told him to look out for these notes and left. Since I was getting my hair cut, I had my head down and I asked the barber if they were talking about fake notes and then said, "Damn, I was going to pay you with a fake note, now I can't." When I didn't hear a chuckle I looked up to see the barber with a look of concern on his face. I suddenly realized that he might not think this funny, and that he had a blade in his hand!!

"I'm kidding" I said hastily. He cracked a very small smile and resumed cutting my hair. Then he started explaining a little about the fake note. Apparently it was a friend, and "you know how you don't really examine notes from friends". And then he started telling me that he was quite an expert in telling fake notes. And then mentioned that he once swapped out Rs. 50,000 worth of fake notes for someone for Rs. 16,000. This guy was a money launderer!!! What the hell!! Where do I meet these people? Of course, it's possible that he was just bragging, but still, what an odd thing to brag about.

The funniest part was after the haircut, when I paid him with a Rs. 100 note, he examined the note very carefully before giving me my change. Some people just don't have a sense of humor.