In about 2016, I began going to the Big Sky Barber Shop in Dickinson, owned by Matt and Paul Ellerkamp, who are cousins. Matt and Paul were fairly polite and cordial to everyone, and for a time I believed that they were the best and most skilled barbers in Dickinson.
Even though the oil boom was over in Dickinson by the end of 2015, in 2016 and 2017 it was hard to get an appointment at the Big Sky Barber Shop, they were usually booked solid. When I was getting my hair cut by Matt, I learned that he had a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Mary in Bismarck.
If anyone wondered why Matt was a barber, at $20 per haircut, times three customers per hour, times eight hours per day, that equals $480 per day, $2,400 per week, $120,000 per year. But cutting hair all day long, and being on your feet all day long, is not easy, it is hard work.
It was not too much of a surprise to me, that Matt and Paul decided to relocate from their small, cramped barber shop, to a new location in 2018. They were both making good money, they were usually completely booked, so why not get a bigger and nicer place.
I was surprised that Matt and Paul decided to occupy the whole ground floor of a historic building downtown, that required a complete and total renovation. I had been inside of this building before recently, and I knew that this was a huge undertaking, what were Matt and Paul doing I wondered?
It turned out that Matt and Paul were opening “De Porres House of Barbering and Lounge”. I was worried that they had gone too far, they might have been better off just sticking to being barbers, what they had been successfully making money at. In any small town, especially Dickinson, you need to be very cautious about grandiose business plans. Dickinson has gone through some very, very lean times in the past.
Today, was my first, and last time, trying to get my hair cut at De Porres House of Barbering and Lounge. The four on-street parking spaces in front of De Porres were occupied, so I parked in the city lot across the street. I didn’t know how busy they were going to be, it was about 10:30 a.m. on a Monday morning.
When I walked in the front door of De Porres House of Barbering, I was shocked, and I thought to myself, “What is this place?”, because there was an alcohol bar, bartender, and lounge right when you walk in. I was thinking, this is not what I wanted at all, I just want to get a haircut, that’s all.
I guessed that you were supposed to ask the bartender if they had any walk-in appointments available, and the bartender asked me my first and last name, and he put me down for 10:45 a.m. with “Dave”. In a matter of seconds I received a text message on my phone that I had an appointment at 10:45 a.m., they must have had my name and phone number in their system.
I had a coke to drink while I waited, and there was a man and a woman seated in the lounge who were apparently waiting to get a haircut. In the back, I could see that Matt and Paul were busy with other customers, and so was the barber named Dave. Within a few minutes, I received a text message that my appointment was now being re-scheduled to 11:00 a.m.
At first I was not too annoyed, I was just not very comfortable in this place, I was not seeking this kind of experience, I just wanted a haircut. A customer went and sat at the bar drinking a beer, he told the bartender that his occupation was as a commercial truck driver. Keep in mind that this was now 10:45 a.m. in the morning.
As I continued to wait, I saw a very large message board, where customers had paid in advance for haircuts and pints of beer for the local Catholic Monsignor and Catholic priests. This was very off-putting to me, as I believe that the Catholic Church is probably the most corrupt institution in the World, and each local Monsignor and priest is complicit in this corruption, if not actively involved in molesting children.
I found myself becoming more and more angry, as my re-scheduled appointment time for 11:00 a.m. came and went. I said to the bartender, that I was very angry, I no longer wanted a haircut, and that I would not ever be coming back.
I now think of Matt and Paul Ellerkamp as assholes. This De Porres House of Barbering and Lounge is more like a monument to themselves, and something that arose out of their ego, pride, and arrogance. They went from having a quick, efficient, dependable barber shop, to something that is an impediment and obstacle to getting a haircut.
I would not want this kind of lounge at a car dealer service department, a tire store, an attorney’s office, a dentist’s office, a chiropractor’s office, or any service provider where I came to get something done quickly, competently, and efficiently. Alternatively, why don’t the Paragon, the Spur, the Rock Bar, Bernie’s Esquire Club, and the Eagles Lodge start cutting hair?
If you want to go to a barber shop like the Big Sky Barber Shop used to be, where you can quickly get in and get out with no fuss, I recommend Luke Simons’ Gentlemen’s Barber Shop.
I just wanted to get a haircut, not this…..
Dickinson58601 
So you’re upset that you walked in to get a haircut and they were busy so you pitched a fit and won’t ever go back. You clearly said you didn’t know how busy they would be. In that case most people would call an make an appointment. You could clearly see that they were each busy with a customer that either made an appointment or came earlier than you did. I think the fact that you got a text message is what put you over the edge. Most places don’t do that, and actualky its a perk to know what kind of time frame you’re looking at. You instantly were upset seeing a bar when you walked in. No one is forcing you to drink, but it’s there as an option. I think it’s a great idea to offer something like this for men. Woman can go and have drinks with their friends while getting their nails done, guys should have the same kind of options. Instead of stomping out of there like a child and then telling everyone how terrible they are, you could have instead asked to make an appointment at a better time. Patience is a virtue.
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Ali,
Once again, you have inadvertently hit the nail on the head. You are exactly correct, De Porres House of Barbering is exactly like someplace where women go to get their nails done.
Go look in the window of Ted’s Barber Shop, or the Queen City Barber Shop, or Luke Simons’ Gentlemen’s Barber shop, there are some chairs where you can sit and wait right there, and that’s it, that is all most men want when they go to get a hair cut. It makes about as much sense to have a lounge at a barber shop, as it would to have a lounge at a hardware store, a lumber yard, or a bank, places where you came to get something and go, not waste time.
If they had a big message board at a car dealership service department, tire store, dentist, chiropractor, or anywhere, about Catholic priests and the Catholic Monsignor, I would leave these places, and never come back. The Catholic Church is the most corrupt, evil, and sinister organization on Earth, they have mistreated, misled, taken advantage of, and abused people for centuries, the molestation of children by priests is only the tip of the iceberg of what they do.
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Also, after reading this, I went and checked out their Facebook page. Along with the 6 priests on the pay it forward list, there were 21 other men who aren’t priests. Are you sad your name isn’t on there? I could go buy you a haircut if it would make you feel better. Let’s keep to telling the whole story not just bits and pieces.
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Ali,
Probably for my next blog post, I will include a video made by an elderly woman who had been a Catholic Nun. After she had accepted the vows to be a Nun at the age of approximately 16 to 18, after another several years of living in a convent she agreed to accept the vows to be a Cloistered Nun, which entailed that she would give up the right to any inheritance of property from her family, and that she would never, ever have any contact with her family or the outside world ever again. Upon agreeing to that, on the very first day, with the consent and approval of the Mother of the convent, she was handed over to a Catholic Priest for him to use her for sex. She refused, and the Mother of the convent told her, “Oh child, it doesn’t matter, your body has been given over to God, your body is not yours anymore.” She continued to refuse, and she was physically tortured in many different ways, for many, many days. The Catholic Church has this all lined up for women, who consent to give away their legal rights and get locked away in a convent, their family thinking that this is part of their service to God, when in fact they are being raped by Catholic Priests, and physically tortured by the Catholic Mother. What do you think that the Mother of the convent does with the babies when these nuns get pregnant after being used for sex by the Catholic priests?
The Catholic Church is the most corrupt, evil, and sinister organization on Earth, and you Catholics, each and every one of you are part of this corruption. You should be ashamed of yourselves, but you aren’t, because you refuse to see the truth, and you are evil.
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That has absolutely nothing to do with the barber shop. The people who own it aren’t the ones paying it forward to the priests. It’s customers. I was raised catholic and was kicked out of the catholic school. Couldn’t tell you the last time I went to church other than a wedding or funeral so no need to educate me on religion. I had to take YouTube away from my kids you should think about cutting back and getting out more.
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Ali,
Please, please look at my latest blog post, where an elderly woman describes what happened to her as a Nun. For now, just focus on what she says from the 16:00 minute mark to approximately the 29:00 minute mark, where she describes that it was all planned out for Nuns to be used for sex by the Catholic priests, that all of the 180 or so Nuns in her convent went through this.
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Do dey sell Jerry Curl and sole glo
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Tequan,
Yes, bring the whole family.
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