I’ve been going to my hairdressers for a number of years. I say that, but generally I only get round to going to them perhaps twice, three times a year. Nevertheless the amount of times I’ve been to my current hairdresser probably goes into double figures. Recently, they’ve been sending confirmation texts, reminding you of when your next appointment is.

I’m not sure how people respond to these confirmations. Whether they like them, or find them them annoying? I received one yesterday, and couldn’t for the life of me work out whether I was supposed to reply or not. Although I’d been there before, the woman on the other end couldn’t find my name. So she booked me in, as she couldn’t tell whether I’d had any colour (dye) before because she couldn’t see my record, I assume that’s why the text asks me about colour testing. But what, exactly, am I supposed to be replying to?

I take it I’m not needed to confirm that I need the appointment… So this is just the colour patch test. She didn’t mention any of this on the phone, and I already told her that I’ve been there numerous times for colour so why I would need a colour patch test is anyone’s guess. But what if you’d never had colour and didn’t know what it was? Not exactly the most helpful text in the world. I suppose you could always call them up and ask but they don’t always pick up. So I’m not going to reply.

My old doctors surgery used to send these out to confirm appointments and then again to remind people about them the day before. I think this was generally seen to be quite helpful and it also reminded patients to cancel if they cant attend, leaving the space open for other people. Do people find these helpful? Or do they just result in confusing people and ironically encourage more contact to make information clear? I’m not sure, but I do know that my current doctors surgery does not do this and I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because the demographic of the patients there are likely to be a lot older and someone has assumed that people of a certain age don’t carry around mobile phones. Poppycock.