Exam stress by KF_NDN

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Exam stress

The story is based on a true incident.


Jonas was 18 years old and had been preparing for the high school exams for months. He was very busy because he wanted to graduate with top grades. On his way home from school, he met his friend Kerim, whom he hadn't seen for a long time. He greeted him but got no response. "Kerim?" Jonas asked again. Kerim stopped, turned around and looked at Jonas. "Who are...? Jonas? How do you look like?" asked Kerim.

"What do you mean?" asked Jonas. Hey, look at you. I didn't recognize you at all. I've never seen you with a beard before." Because he was learning so much, Jonas hadn't been at the barber in a while. His baby face was adorned by a long full beard now. He just hadn't invested the time to shave his face. "Really?" Jonas asked

"No. Bro, what's wrong with you?". Look at you. You've got a curly head and a your face is covered with a thick and full beard. I've never seen you like that. "Yeah, bro. I got my last exams now. I've been studying for the last few months and haven't had time to do anything other. But next week I'll finally be done. In two weeks it's graduation. I'm looking forward to it. After that, I'll start an apprenticeship as a retail salesman."

"Graduation? Haha bro! Look how you look!" said Kerim with a big laugh. "Okay. So what do I do now?" asked Jonas. "Get a real shave. My cousin will do it for you. He's works in a barbershop in town. He'll make a human out of you again. Anyway, you can't go there like that." "Yeah, bro, I know. High school graduation makes people crazy. Where's your cousin?"

"At a Turkish barbershop across from Starbucks. Let's meet there next Friday at 4:00 pm. They speak a lot of Turkish there, but don't worry, I'll be there," Kerim said. "Okay bro. Then I'll have all my exams behind me, so I can finally cut my hair."

Jonas last exam was on Thursday. He slept long on Friday and headed into town in the afternoon to meet up with Kerim. It was 4:00 p.m. as Jonas entered the barbershop. Inside the store were a few old men drinking tea and speaking Turkish to each other. In the barber chair was a customer who was about the same age as Jonas and was being served by a young Turkish barber. Noticing Jonas entering the store, he put the buzzing clippers aside, greeted Jonas, and told him he was next. Jonas took off his jacket, sat down and looked around. The boy in the barber chair had some kind of a typically TikTok boys curly hairdo. The barber had shaved a strip all the way around the boy's head at the level of the boy's eyebrows. He then began to shave off the sideburns on the right side up to the top of the eyebrow. No hair was visible below the stripe. In the next step, he began shaving the entire back of the head up to the level of the previously shaved line before shaving the entire right side. Only the curls remained, which stylishly hung in the boy's face up to his eyes. Jonas assumed that the customer would now get some quick snips to align the curls to the sides. The hairdresser asked the boy something in Turkish and heard him say "Evet. Üç numara." answered. The hairdresser seemed to ask again if he was sure. The boy answered relatively demanding "Evet. Hadi gedelim!" Whatever that meant. The hairdresser took a pair of scissors, reached into the boy's thick curls, pulled the hair up and cut the bulk of curls with the scissors regardless. More and more curls landed on the cape and the floor. The barber placed an attachment on the clippers while the boy looked skeptically in the mirror. The barber fixed his head and ran the clippers through the remaining hair. He pulled one path after another with the clippers until all the curls were buzzed to a few millimeters length. The sides were completely shaved. The hairdresser shaved a complete edge of the boy's remaining hair and showed him the hairstyle in the mirror. The boy kept rubbing his fingers over the remaining stubble and took a look at himself in the mirror very closely before getting up and heading to the checkout.

The barber cleaned up the place and swept away the big mountain of curly hair from the boy before. He told Jonas it was his turn now. Jonas was totally fascinated by the haircut he had just seen and had completely forgotten to check his phone to see if Kerim had called him. The barber placed a strip of paper around Jonas' neck before attaching a cape. Then he asked what he can do for him. Jonas realized he hadn't thought about it at all and spontaneously said he would like to have his beard shaved off at first and then he would like to get a hair cut.

The barber adjusted the chair backwards and began to shave off Jonas' beard with an electric razor. Suddenly Kerim walked in. Kerim greeted his cousin and Jonas. He apologized for being late and said that he would have bet that Jonas wouldn't have dared to get completely shaved, but Jonas just said "You failed Bro.". Kerim took out his smartphone and filmed Jonas getting shaved. His bright, thick beard landed on his cape. Kerim laughed and said, "Bro, you look like a baby without having your beard. The head is coming off too soon. We'll put that on Youtube later." Jonas looked at himself in the mirror. He had a hard time recognizing himself. For months he had worn a full beard. Now he saw his boyish baby face and a fuzzy head. Kerim laughed and said, "Now the head." Kerim's cousin asked Jonas how he wanted his hair cut. Jonas was unsure and said he wanted something short for summer. Maybe like the boy before him, but a little longer. The barber replied, "A high and tight? No, your blond hair is much too light for that. You wouldn't really see the edge of the remaining hair."

"Asker Saç Kesimi." Kerim said. The barber asked, "Üç numara?" Jonas had heard that before. But he didn't understand what that means. Kerim just replied laughing, "Askeri saç kesimi! Onu kel tıraş et." The barber said, "Tamam!" took the clippers he had used on the previous customer and ran them up the right side to the crown. Jonah's light blond curls fell into the cape. Kerim said, "Bro. In a minute you're going to look like a real man, not like a baby." Jonas laughed. His hair was being shorn at his side. Kerim asked, "Where are you actually going to do your training, bro?" Jonas replied, "At the Ben Sherman Store."

Kerim said "Why didn't you told me before?" The barber asked "Did he just say he is working at Ben Sherman"? Kerim replied, "Yes, he did." The barber asked "Dazlak?". Kerim asked Jonas "Bro? Don't you want it all off then?". Before Jonas could answer the barber asked "üç veya sıfır?". Then Kerim asked Jonas "Come on bro three or zero? Why not going bald? Then you'll be rid of your baby fuzz. At Ben Sherman, your hair will be cropped two times a week at least." Before Jonas could even respond, the barber started laughing, said "sıfır" and threw the #1 attachment from the clippers to Kerim, who was filming as Jonas' right side being shaved completely bald. Jonas suddenly noticed how it became cold on his head. In less than a minute, the back of his head and his left side were completely bald. He now looked somewhat like the guy sitting in the chair before it was Jonas turn.

Astonished, he looked in the mirror. Even before he could let the look take effect on him, the barber shaved the remaining hair off his head in less than a minute. Great clumps of hair tumbled over his soulder and slid down the cape. The head being turned to nothing than white skin. There was not a single hair left. Jonas' mouth remained open as Kerim said, "Jonas, look at you, you're a skinhead bro!"

Jonas noticed that both his beard and his hair were on the cape now. He grabbed his head in disbelief where just seconds ago it was all full of hair. Kerim's cousin took a brush and swept the loose hair from his head while blowing with a hair dryer. Jonas was electrified. He had never felt such a sensation on his scalp. When he entered the store, he had expected a normal haircut. Now there was nothing left of the old Jonas. "You look good, bro! No need for shampoo any longer. Hope you leave your hair like that. It really looks awesome bro!"

Jonas didn't recognize himself anymore, but somehow he liked his bald head. He regretted a bit, he didn't have his beard anymore. He would have liked to see how he would look with beard and bald head. If he didn't recognize himself anymore, what would the others say, especially his parents?

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