How to tell if the Beautician is Good

When I was in my junior year, I went to a lady to fix my hair for Prom. She did a WONDERFUL job, and so I started going to her for my cuts/trims. She always did an excellent job, and was very helpful if I wanted something differnet but not TOO drastic.
When My Aunt came back from being overseas, she had made a decision that she wanted to cut her waist length hair. Her hair hadn`t been "cut" in 14 years. She looked at some styles and I took her to my Beautician.
The first thing she said was, Thats a lot of hair to cut. This is what I will do, I will cut it not-as-short-as-you-want-it, but with the same style. Keep it a week, if you like it, I will cut the rest of the length off, free of charge. So she cut her hair, and my Aunt LOVED it. She was happy that she didn`t go as short as she had wanted at first.
Everytime I go for a trim now, I wish I could go to her. (Shes in Missouri, Im in germany)
I just thought I would share that. If any of you decide to cut your "long" hair, and the beautician is like "Okay, lets go for it," please don`t do it there. Go elsewhere!