Charlie's Barber Shop, Bentonville

It's not every day a place of business tells you, "That's alright; you can stop by and pay me later."

As I sat down in one of the two chairs at Charlie's Barber Shop I asked Jay, "Do you guys take debit cards?" to which he replied, "No, but if you don't have cash you can just stop by and pay me later."  No offense to big city Folks but I responded, "Well, you can sure tell this isn't New York City."  Jay just smiled and said, "No, it sure ain't!"

Scanning the room for a camera certain I was on the set of The Andy Griffith Show I was somewhat surprised when Jay confirmed we were not.  Had Floyd emerged from the back room I would have been only mildly surprised.

The owner of the establishment, Charlie, walked in from outside where he'd been engaged in sidewalk conversation with a presumed local "bidness" man.  Noticing I was a first-timer he introduced himself before relaxing into the well-worn seat-bottom of his #1 barber chair and resumed reading the daily newspaper.

I looked up and noticed the sign on the wall that clearly spelled out the rules of the place.  Differently worded, "We don't tolerate rude behavior".  I like that.

Jay asked, "Do you mind if I use a razor on your neck?" I replied, "I was hoping you would."  He said, "Charlie and I don't feel like we've given a fella a haircut unless we shave his neck".  Ernest T. Bass could not possibly have gone any better than that!

After my first barber cut in quite some time, I walked the short distance to the Bentonville square and removed some cash from Sue's checking account via their sidewalk ATM.  I then strolled inside in search of a few smaller bills.  Arriving at the teller counter with a crisp new $20 bill, I held it between both hands and snapped it like Barney Fife might have snapped a brand new C-Note in an effort to impress Thelma Lou after Friday night dinner at The Diner.  As I did so I asked the teller, "Do you folks have enough cash on hand to break a $20?" to which she quickly responded, "Let me check my drawer; I might be able to handle that."

With cash in hand I walked back down main street to Charlie's, paid off my hair-tab and told them I would see them again soon.  As I took an iPicture of their shoppe-rule's sign, Charlie shared with me that in all the years he'd had that sign up there he'd lost only 3 customers because of it.  He said he was OK with that as he really didn't need their business anyway.

If you're ever in Bentonville and need an Ol' fashioned hair cut by a real barber who's been cutting hair since Ron Howard was better known as Opie Taylor, stop by Charlie's.  And tell them "that one guy" sent you.  In the meantime, I'll try to keep you posted...