You Just Never Know

I was visiting a friend out of town last week when I heard the news about the Seal Beach salon shooting. 

Aside from the tireless string of thoughts and feelings that such news inevitably stirs up, this particular case hits close to home seeing as how I work in a salon.

The daily news is filled with horrific stories of horrific people committing horrific crimes and the innocent victims and bystanders caught in the middle. I can't imagine that any of us have gone this far without having, at some point in our lives, considered that something horrible could happen to us at any given place and time — standing in line for a meal in a fast food restaurant, at the bank, or in traffic. But when a news story of this magnitude smacks you upside the head, and it happened to people who do the same thing you do every day, you can't help but get quiet for a moment.

Right now I work in a small office, alone. I can't say I don't have clients who trail a special sort of hectic drama with them everywhere they go. I can't say I've never scoped out my exit strategy or studied the items within arm's reach of me that can be used as weapons, just in case an angry husband or boyfriend or wife/girlfriend came through my door.

But the Salon Meritage shooting last week brought home a new spin on these "what-if" scenarios that I've tried to be prepared for all these years: Most of us work with other people.

In most cases, we know our coworkers well enough to know if they are involved in the type of drama that could catch us, and our clients, in the middle. But not always. And even more so, we don't always know what our coworkers' clients are involved in.

This is a special sort of scary — for me, at least. I don't like having the element of control over my own destiny taken out of my hands. Last week's news made my career flash before my eyes: every salon I've worked in, all the jealous husbands and boyfriends, all the affairs and the divorces and custody battles that have spun around me as I've sat and filed and polished.

I realize this particular case has some controversial details that we could spend weeks discussing and debating, but I'm not interested in trivializing the tragedy by bickering about why it happened or what should be done about it.

I just wanted to pay tribute to the people who got caught in the crossfire. To their significant others, children, and parents — all the people whose lives have been irrevocably changed because someone they knew and loved worked in that salon, or had an appointment there that day. I wanted to take a moment to remind all of us to never think it can't happen to you.

Do what you can to be prepared for a worst-case scenario, and take a moment to thank whoever you thank for these things for another chance to go home at the end of the work day.

Information on donations to assist the victims’ families can be found here.