Confession: I book 9am Tuesday appointments specifically to avoid salon small talk. Anyone else or am I broken

Bit of a lighter one but I need to know I'm not alone.

I LOVE my hairdresser. She's brilliant, been going to her for 3 years, wouldn't trust anyone else with my layers. But the small talk genuinely exhausts me. The "any holidays booked?" the "busy day?" the maintaining eye contact through the mirror while shouting over the dryer. By the time I leave my hair looks amazing and my social battery is at 4%.

So I've developed a whole system. I book the earliest weekday slot when the salon is dead quiet. I bring a book as a prop (works about 40% of the time). Once I pretended to be on a work call for 20 minutes. I've heard some salons now have actual "quiet appointment" options you can tick when booking which honestly sounds like the greatest innovation in the industry's history.

Questions:

- does anyone actually use the quiet appointment thing where it's offered? was it awkward to select it knowing your stylist sees it?

- hairdressers of the forum, honest question: do you PREFER chatty clients or is silence actually a relief for you too sometimes?

- and does asking for less chat after 3 years of faking enthusiasm about her caravan make me a monster? because I feel like the window to be honest closed around year one

My hair has never looked better and I've never known more about a stranger's caravan. Send help.