Marco Conti is a barber and co-owner of Marky Fresh Barbershop in Mentor, Ohio. A few days ago he attracted a ton of attention and positive comments for his deed and hereโs what happened.
On October 12 Conti had scheduled a haircut with the parents of a 7-year old boy, Brycen. Brycen happens to be autistic and when his parents, at the age of 3, realized that the experience of going to a โkiddie salonโ was traumatizing to him, they decided to start giving him a haircut at home. Now this year Brycen began his first year at public school, so his parents decided to give him a professional haircut before his first school picture day.
So they scheduled the appointment with Conti. So far so good, but soon after the boy and his dad entered the barbershop, Conti realized the boy became so emotional that he started crying. The barber, who has worked with children with special needs before, realized that something was wrong and that probably going outside would help the boy feel more comfortable. So he asked Brycen if he would prefer to go outside for the haircut and when he agreed, Conti took the chair outside.
This change worked like a charm! The boy soon calmed down and it made it much easier for the barber to do his job. Contiโs partner took a picture of the outside haircut and his post on social media attracted lots of positive comments about how much of an impact such deeds can have on autistic people who have a hard time dealing with certain situations.
Conti believes that he did what anyone would have done in this case- he felt that he had to do this in order to help the boy feel safe and comfortable.
The boyโs parents were very happy with how the barber handled the situation and expressed their gratefulness to the man who paid attention to their childโs needs, preventing this one from being one more traumatizing haircut experience for their boy.
โTo have a company so willing to accommodate is such a relief on my end or my husbandโs end,โ Ashley Juby said. โItโs pretty fantastic. I found if you reach out, there are good people that are willing to help you.โ
According to Contiโs social media posts, he often works with kids with special needs and autism, even going to their homes to give them a haircut. Also, as a dad commented below his post, he offers to order earplugs or headphones for children who are sensitive to noise as he did for his little daughter who couldnโt stand being in the barbershop due to the noise.
This story is so powerful and touching, while it proves that a little really goes a long way for people who are struggling on a daily basis with a society that sometimes doesnโt take their needs into account. So, if you own a business or you work around people, make sure you do your small act of kindness every day- it might mean the world to someone else.
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