Mr. Jenner. Because these coveralls were so ill fitting?
Mr. Shasteen. Because they were just too big—they could have had about 6 inches cut out of them.
Mr. Jenner. You barbers are generally pretty talkative. Did you seek to engage this man in conversation when he came into your shop?
Mr. Shasteen. You couldn't do it.
Mr. Jenner. Did you seek to do it?
Mr. Shasteen. Oh, yes; naturally—she don't need to write this down because this ain't going to help you a bit what I'm fixing to say, but the theory I work on as a barber—if a man gets in a chair, and I tell my other barbers that, if he gets in a chair and you strike up a conversation with him and he doesn't want to talk, don't talk to him—you say just as little as you can.
Mr. Jenner. That makes sense.
Mr. Shasteen. But if the guy wants to talk, then talk to him, if he—if you can talk to him on his level or understand the thing he's talking about, but if a man gets in your chair and he doesn't want to talk, you can find it out without him turning around and saying, "Cut my hair, I didn't come in here to have a bull session." I mean, that's barber shop language, and I try to practice that, and nearly any time he come in I would mention the weather or a football game—I mean, a barber has to get up and read the paper every morning and turn the radio on because everybody that comes in, if you're not up on the latest things that's happening, you're going to be sitting back there and you can't talk to them.
I usually run through the paper real hurriedly and see the headlines at least and I turn the radio on and you just couldn't strike up a conversation with him and I guess if I had ever mentioned politics to him, but we try to avoid that as much as possible in the shop. Had I ever talked politics with him, I might have gotten him on that but since he was the type guy he was, I never cared to talk politics with him.
Mr. Jenner. Well, in any event, he evidenced no interest in the bull session, as you described it?