He Couldn’t Fit His Wheelchair Inside Barber Shop, So the Barber Came Out to Him
A barber from Webster, New York, made the best of an unfortunate situation when he gave a customer who utilizes a wheelchair a haircut outdoors on the sidewalk.
The potential client, Devin Hamilton, visited Joe’s Upscale Barbershop in mid-September for a haircut.
Hamilton couldn’t find a way into the old building, which is not yet wheelchair accessible.
He called the shop to ask if they accepted walk-in clients, and that’s when hairstylist Victor Burgos realized what was going on.
Burgos noticed Hamilton outside in his wheelchair and immediately understood that he couldn’t find a way inside.
Burgos, 34, went outside to speak with Hamilton and determined that he could give the man a haircut right then and there, instead of simply turning him away.
“I immediately ran out there with two other barbers to see if we could get him in somehow,” Burgos told Inside Edition.
“We weren’t going to be able to get this heavy-duty thing in here, so I took my cordless barber clippers, trimmers, shavers, and sheers, straight blade, comb — everything I need to give him the same haircut that he’d get if he came inside,” Burgos said.
Burgos has received praise for making sure Hamilton received a professional haircut, but Joe’s Upscale Barbershop has been criticized for not being a wheelchair accessible business.
“I couldn’t be happier to work and know a person of such kind nature as Victor,” the shop’s owner Joe Cocozza wrote on Facebook. “I’m proud to know that even when I’m not around our staff will go out of their way. Just to make someone happy!”
But many readers argue that Joe’s Upscale Barbershop can and needs to do better by offering a wheelchair ramp into the business.
According to Inside Edition, community members are coming up with solutions to make the old building accessible to everyone.
In the meantime, Hamilton said that he loved his haircut. Burgos said he plans to continue to cut Hamilton’s hair, and will even travel to his home to get the job done.
“He grows hair, and I cut it,” Burgos said. “So we’re a good match and I think I’ll be cutting his hair for a long time.”
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