Because consumers are idiots and unable to pick a good healthy barber shop, Connecticut government, ever the sage organization that sets up laws to protect us from our feeble minds,requires hair cutters to obtain a license in order to enter into the trade.
Certainly it isn't the only state but it is the law after all and so the mayor of Waterbury (Neil O'Leary) is set to enforce it and close down any unlicensed shop or licensed shop that allows those to cut hair without the necessary credentials.
The enforcement of the law will apparently impact the Latino community the hardest. Some say they can't afford the necessary $2000 it cost to go to class and then pay a fee. The mayor (full disclosure, he's a friend of mine and I haven't spoken to him since holding office. No we're not fighting or anything like it's just that I haven't run into him) gave the unlicensed operators a grace period in order to be legal hair cutters.
The other complaint is that the test is in English and there happens to be people who speak only Spanish and that make it unfair. Who ever thought that you would have to speak English in America in order to make a living?
Well the grace period is coming to an end and so enforcement is forthcoming. Here is the odd aspect of the story: $2000? To become a real estate agent with class and state fees it cost roughly half that if you factor in joining the Multiple Listing Service (disclosure again, I'm a Realtor). That doesn't seem to make sense, I like it, but I got to say, what I do is more important than a haircut. I can ruin you. A barber can only take away your pride and dignity for three weeks.
Couldn't it be enough to require schooling and a license without making the whole thing into a racket? What this does is shut out small shop barbers in poor neighborhoods and closes the door of real opportunity... what am I saying, I'm a conservative what do I care about the poor. Sorry, never mind.
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