Few people tend to tend to pay attention to the things they sign when they enter a new work assignment. Most are thrilled to be beginning a new job and anxious to get to work. Betty shoved a stack of documents to Cathy, and quickly described them. Cathy began skimming through and signing them one by one. The final page was to agree to follow the company policies that were outlined in the employee handbook. Cathy pushed back her long blonde hair as she quickly signed the document acknowledging receipt and understanding of the rules in the company handbook. She was happy to have been called back to this company to back to one of the best paying companies in the area. Manufacturing jobs were hard to come by, and it paid twice as much as the waitressing jobs she had worked in the past. Cathy was put in a rigorous training program to learn how to operate the machinery that would be daily responsibility. Cathy was then paired with experienced operator, and she quickly had learned to operate the equipment in the factory.

Ted was one of the supervisors and had worked closely with Human Resources while they were developing the latest revision of the employee handbook. It was his suggested that another sentence was added to the personal appearance section of the book. Since there were many rapidly moving parts on the machines, and many of the employees in the manufacturing department were woman, and, it was logical that hair should be no longer than shoulder length or pulled up while in the manufacturing department. This area was often overlooked, and many of the women with longer hair either left it down or wore a long braid while doing their daily assignments.

Safety has always been a priority in the facility, but recently there had been many close calls that could have lead to serious accidents and personal injury. Management decided that something must be done to
increase awareness of safety. This was just the opportunity that Ted had been looking for. He had the perfect plan to bring awareness to safety as management directed, and to fulfill his dreams at the same time. Ted had long been obsessed with thoughts of haircutting and head shaving. He was thrilled when he discovered the Internet and found that there were others that shared his interest, and even videos
catering to that very thing. He couldn’t wait to find the next worker who forgot to put their hair up.

Nikki was running late, and threw her wavy dark hair back in a loose ponytail as she walked to her car that morning. Traffic was worse than normal on the way to work, and she thought what else could go wrong. She barely made it inside the building and to the time clock when the whistle blew. ” Wow, I made it”, she thought to herself as she began her workday. Ted was making his rounds, and as a he approached Nikki’s station he saw her hair falling to the center of her back. “Today is the day”, Ted thought and he could barely contain his excitement. “Nikki, I will need to see you in the Office at 10 o’clock” Nikki mind quickly began questioning what this could be about.

Ted quickly walked back to his office and phone HR to arrange to have a second person present when Nikki arrived in the Office. Nikki arrived in Ted’s office and Betty from HR was already there. “Ted, what’s the
problem?” Nikki asked. “You were given a copy of the employee handbook and agreed to follow the rules contained therein.” Ted began explaining the new safety initiative, and Nikki was unfortunately the
first one to be affected by it. Betty has your file here that contains your signed acknowledgement of receipt and understanding. “Let me point out section
8.2.14 to you.”

8.2.14 – Hair shall not be fall below the shoulders while in the manufacturing areas. Violations of this section will be punished as deemed appropriate by the area manager.

This section exists to insure the safety of our employees, and you have violated it. Nikki said, “I’m sorry, I was running late today, it won’t happen again.” “You are absolutely right about that Nikki. In order to provide a clear message that safety is paramount, we have to be harsh with this punishment. You have two choices. The first is that you are immediately relieved of your position for violation of company policy.” Nikki couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “The second choice is that you will allow us to cut your hair while we make a safety video that all employees will be required to view. You have to the end of the day to make your decision.” Nikki quickly knew that she had no option. She could not afford to give up her job, and after all it was only a haircut. She agreed and then put her hair up in a bun as she walked back to her station. Ted said we will arrange the time and location before the end of the day, so plan on staying late tonight.

Ted was excited that Nikki agreed, and Ted and Betty how to proceed with the video, and agreed that they really need a second participant to make an effective video. Betty said, “I know the perfect person to
complete our video.” Betty’s own hair was thin and fine, so she always wore a short-cropped haircut. She had never been able to grow her own hair long, so Betty had been envious of Cathy’s long thick hair since the day she met Cathy to process the new employee paperwork. When Betty mentioned Cathy’s name, Ted knew exactly who she was. The shimmering gold hair that Cathy frequently left down fascinated Ted. He knew she would be easy to trap into cooperating with the video shoot. Ted quickly walked out of his office to the manufacturing floor and toward Cathy’s machine. Sure enough, today Cathy’s hair was French-braided and hanging down her back. “Cathy, I need to see you in the office, Joe will cover your machine.” Ted escorted Cathy back to his office. “Cathy, wait here while ask Betty to join us. Betty was waiting in her office when Ted came in and said, ” I knew this would be easy, she is waiting in my office now.” When they reached Ted’s office, they closed the door behind them. “Cathy, do you know why you are here?” Cathy’s mind had been racing trying to figure out that exact question while Ted had been gone. “No Ted, I really have on idea.” “I am sure you have heard that there have been several close calls here lately, and employees attention to safety has become very laxed. We have rules here that are meant to protect our employees from injury, as well as the company from incurring liability. You have routinely violated a very serious one.” With this he pointed out section 8.2.14 to Cathy. You have violated this rule several times since you have begun working here. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that it was an issue”, she said, as no one had mentioned her hair before, and she routinely left it hanging down. “It is a very important rule, as there are many place where long hair can be caught in moving equipment which could then pull the careless individual into the machine.” With the recent close calls we have experience, we have no choice but to begin enforce this rule vigorously. You are unfortunately one of the first people to be affected by this new directive. As you can see from section 8.2.14, the punishment is at the discretion of the area manager, and unfortunately in this situation it must be severe to provide the proper message to the other employees. Ted continued to offer Cathy the same options as he had previously laid out to Nikki. “You have two choices. The first is that you are immediately relieved of your position for violation of company policy. The second choice is that you help us produce a safety video that all employees will be required to view which will demonstrate the proper respect for safety rules.” Cathy thought, wow, there is no question, why would I give up this job when all I have to do is a little acting in a cheesy safety video. OK, Cathy quickly agreed. Ted continued, “Since your violation involved the improper restraint of hair that is longer than shoulder length, we must ma
ke an example of you. Your long blonde hair will be cut off as part of the video.” Cathy pleaded that she would never let her hair at work again. Ted agreed, that is true, you will never let your hair hang below your shoulders here again, you will either have it cut for the filming of the safety video, or you will not be returning to work here again, it’s that simple. Cathy loved her hair, but knew she would have to let it go, this job was just too important. Reluctantly, she agreed, and Ted instructed here to return here at the end of your shift.

USE YOUR HEAD, DON’T LOSE IT appeared at the opening of the video. The title screen fades away to a manufacturing floor where two women are shown operating their stations. The young blonde drops one her tools, and bends over to retrieve it, as her blond braid swings over her shoulder and gets caught in the machine. The next operator down see this as it happens, and quickly rushes to stop the moving equipment before the blonde get pulled further into the machine. The blonde’s hair has been pulled very tight, and the blond struggles to maintain her balance in the awkward position she is confined to. Help arrives, but there is no way to extract her from the machine. We won’t be able to remove your hair from the machine with you standing there she is told. There is no choice but to cut her free from the machine. Her thick blonde braid is cut at the base of her neck, and she is relieved to be free from the captivity of the machine. The scene cuts to her looking in the mirror and she can’t believe she was so stupid as to have her hair hanging loose around the moving equipment. She is trying to make the rough cut look better by trimming the uneven cut into a very short bob about chin length. The back is angled up because of the rough cut from the machine. A coworker comes in to talk to her, and the blonde describes the terror she experience while being pulled by the machine. The blonde suggests the coworker get her hair cut off to be safe while at work. The brunette looks at here hair in the mirror and says, you know I have been thinking about going shorter, you are absolutely right, if I cut my hair, I won’t take the chance that I will get it cut off and look as bad as yours is. As soon as she said that, the blonde says I can help you do it right now, and promptly cuts a long section wavy brown hair. There, now sit down on the bench and I can fix it. The camera pans to the floor and we see lock after lock falling down to the floor. Soon the camera returns to the coworker, who now has a very short pixie style cut that shows her perfectly shaped ears. The picture fades to the closing screen showing the words: DON’T LOSE YOUR HEAD, LOSE YOUR HAIR.

Ted thought this was actually going to work great. I have gotten to cut he hair of two beautiful women during the filming of the raw footage. He was the hands of the maintenance man who cut Cathy’s braid free from the machine in the first scene, and after Cathy made the first cut on Nikki, he was the one doing the cutting and dropping of the hair in the second scene. Now, he not only had the experience of the haircuts, but he had the raw footage of all the cameras to relive the event any time he wanted. He also had the braid of Cathy’s thick blonde hair, and all of the cuttings from Nikki once gorgeous mane. The next part of his plan would be almost as good.

The new safety video was rolled out and shown to all employees. Most had already seen Cathy and Nikki’s new looks, but neither would elaborate to why they decide to cut there hair, so as they watched the video, they were surprised to see the stars getting there new looks. As the video concluded, Ted explained company’s position on safety and the new enforcement of section 8.2.14. He went on say that the company was committed to it’s employee safety as well as philanthropy. He went on say that company will be bringing in a hairstylist who will cut your hair for free if you decide you don’t want the hassle of securing it every workday. Your hair, and a monetary donation in your name, will be made by the company to Hair for Hope. Ted couldn’t wait to see the number of participants to sign up for the charity event, and was ready to break out the cameras again to capture the removal of all that hair.