A not-quite-funny joke was played on Tuesday when an employee of a Luxembourg City chain barber shop asked a man to pay fifty euros for a haircut that took just over ten minutes.
With a totally straight face that would make even the most experienced poker player or Terracotta army figure proud, the joker then asked the man if he was going to pay by card or cash
Amused by the woman’s unexpected attempt at humor, customer Francis Gibbone forced a polite laugh, left twenty-five euros on the counter, and walked away.
However, in the spirit of comedic excellence, the barber followed Gibbone through the commercial center and insisted that he pay the whole fifty euros. Laughing, he waved her away.
Not willing to let her joke die, the woman then summoned her boss, a 40-something man with a streak of silver in his coiffured black hair. With admirable seriousness, he parroted the woman’s claim that a men’s haircut now costs 50 euros.
“You silly gooses,” Gibbone said, melodramatically looking around. “Is this for one of those YouTube prank channels? You got me! I almost believed you.”
Minutes later when Gibbone arrived in the parking garage and started his car, he was surprised to see the hairdresser, her boss, and two burly security cards running toward him.
“I do appreciate your attempt to bring some fun to this gray day, but I believe your joke has run its course,” he told them. “Fifty euros for a simple haircut with electric clippers is an absurdity, something from the realm of fantasy or horror, so the next time you try to prank a customer, I suggest you try a more realistic yet still humorously elevated price, perhaps thirty-five euros.”
“Au revoir, äddi, goodbye,” he added and drove away.
According to sources, the pranksters were so committed that they recruited the police to visit the Gibbone’s house that evening and issue him a summons to appear before a judge – a summons which he then ate in an attempt to play along with the joke and end it.
“All this time, I’ve believed that Luxembourg was a serious place where formality and straightforward business practices rule,” he said from jail a few hours later. “I have to give credit to everyone involved in pulling off this elaborate prank.”
“And yet I still don’t find it funny.”
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Originally published by RTL Today
