I've been spoiled living in Florida, I guess.
Last week I spent a few days in Lawrence, near the University of Kansas.
I had about 45 minutes free, so -- carelessly assuming that everywhere is like Florida -- I walked into a barbershop figuring I'd use the time to get a haircut. (Trust me: when you're ol' Woods here, your haircut doesn't take that long.)
Another person and I entered at the same time. Inside, we saw the barber, standing alone.
He asked, "Are you here to make an appointment?" We indicated that we were each in fact hoping for a haircut.
Haircuts are by appointment only now, he said.
Now mind you, there was nobody in there. A way around the "appointment" requirement would have been to offer one of us an appointment five seconds from that moment. Didn't happen.
So the two of us headed out, muttering something about this being a shame, and the barber said, "That's how everyone should be doing it today." I couldn't help responding as I walked out, "Yeah, if they want to destroy their businesses."
Of course I get that the current situation isn't his fault, but acting like the destruction of his business is right and just, in front of two customers who just want haircuts, is weird.
I feel for the guy, though. I can't imagine what this year has been like for him, and he could well have burned through what savings he had.
Next week on the Tom Woods Show I'm talking to Mark Jeftovic, who's written a book on "cancel culture" and deplatforming. I'll ask him about what it would look like for us to build essentially a parallel Internet where we can function in peace.
Well, the same goes for doing business these days. How can we work in peace, doing things that no inspector can stop by and shut us down for?
This is no doubt why I'm seeing far more activity on this list this year than ever before. We see what they'll do to us without batting an eye, and we want to build a firewall against it.
Well, here's your firewall -- and you don't have to use Facebook or Amazon, either, in case you can't bring yourself to do that.
Coming up in just a few days: my live presentation with the masters, Aidan and Steve, on what running your own laptop store looks like.
Sure beats the headaches and ulcers of trying to run a brick-and-mortar store, especially these days.
And I'm handing out valuable goodies just for attending -- plus, if we can just hit 500 live attendees, we'll be donating $5000 to the Scott Horton Show, to thank the hardworking Scott for everything he does for us.
Secure your spot now:
Tom Woods