Within the business sector, there are a select few occupations that appear to withstand recessions by offering necessities that people, regardless of their financial circumstances, find impossible to live without. A profession like this is barbering.

People will always require their hair trimmed, regardless of how tight their finances grow. Because of this, barbershops are frequently packed with patrons who are all eager to get their turn in the chair.

This unwavering fact was hilariously demonstrated in a timeless joke about a man who insisted on asking how long the lines were at a barbershop. Little did they all know that this seemingly straightforward question was not that simple after all.

When a man entered a busy barbershop one day, he asked a simple question: “How long before I can get a haircut?”

Glancing around the eagerly awaited customers in the shop, the barber projectively estimated, “About 2 hours.”

The man quickly and without hesitation departed the establishment.

After a week, the same man returned and poked his head back inside the store. “How long before I can get a haircut?” he asked.

After taking a quick look around the rather less packed store, the barber said, “About an hour and a half.”

The barber was perplexed by the man’s strange behaviour as he left again. He turned to face his pal and said, “Hey Bob, could you please do me a favour? See where that guy travels once he leaves here by following him. He persistently inquires about wait times but never returns.”

Bob agreed to follow the mysterious customer since he was intrigued by the mystery.

Bob came back to the barbershop after a while, his laughter resonating throughout the establishment. “So, where does he go when he leaves?” said the barber, anxious to solve the puzzle.

When Bob glanced up and finally offered the punchline, “Your house!” he did it while wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

A gentle reminder that some jobs, like barbering, are always in demand is provided by this entertaining story. People will walk to tremendous lengths, or in this example, to their barber’s house, even during hard economic times, in order to have a haircut—a service they simply cannot live without.