The relationship one has with their barber is special.

Mine is a young, energetic Syrian, who works in a hole-in-the-wall shop with one other barber. I was one of his first clients as he was getting started here, after having moved to the area. He does nice work.

Last time I was there, I had forgotten my wallet in that place on the bureau where I always forget it. It usually stays there, or somewhere else, and often escapes my notice as I walk out. This meant I didn't have cash, which is his only accepted payment method. I only noticed after I had arrived, parked, and started toward that hole-in-the-wall barbershop, thinking this might be a good time to try to feed him the orange pill, since I had some sats sitting in a hot wallet on my phone. If he doesn't bite, either he'll have to wait for his money or I'll have to wait for my haircut. I took a chance.

One reason I like him is that he takes me by appointment. I was his first customer that day, so he didn't waste any time sitting me down in his chair. He reached for that cape they put around your neck, but before he got too far, I wanted to make sure I told him that I had forgotten my wallet. No problem, pay me later, he said. One of the other perks, I guess, is the trust I have earned. Coming in at the same interval - sparse though it may be - for the last few years is enough that he is willing to allow me to defer payment until later.

I sat down. The shop is simple. A television in the corner, two chairs, a sink, mini-fridge, a keurig coffee-maker, two couches and a coffee table. No frills. Often the couch is ornamented by passers-by, regulars, or his partner, but not today - 11 AM is early for barbers.

"So only cash," I said, "you wouldn't take bitcoin?" A guffaw. He thought it was a joke, but I kept a serious eye on him. He must have thought I was offering him ~64k for the haircut. He probably didn't quite know what I was offering. When he realized I wasn't joking, he then went on to explain how it has no intrinsic value, how They control the price, which is therefore volatile, and how that makes it too scary to invest in, not like a business, or real-estate, which is real.

I tried steering the conversation toward inflation, hard-money, and assets like gold and real-estate. We talked about scarcity, and I even explained how bitcoin is infinitely scarce, and that there will only ever be 21 million. I also tried to explain how a bitcoin can be divided into teeny-weeny units called satoshis. We talked about how government and central banks keep their thumb on the scale of the money supply and how the economy is centrally planned. Both of us agreed that this is bad, taxes are bad, inflation sucks and that gold, real-estate and businesses have all been historically smart investments. The conversation was engaging for both of us.

I hope I can get him alone again, because I think I made some progress. His partner/mentor, is not a very nice guy, and a bit of a loud-mouth, so when he came in with another customer, I changed the topic to something a little more subtle.

I returned with his cash in the next few days. He was with another client and his partner was glued to the screen as England led France 4-1.