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Original poster

Did I Handel this right?

151 replies

Chazz88 · 14/06/2013 21:35

Hi I run a small beauty salon that is a hairdresser I rent the space off the hair salon owner Today I had a client booked in at 10.45 for a pedicure and wax this treatment takes about an hour and 15 mins to do my client showed up at 11.05 so 20mins late so I explained that unfortunately because she is so late that I will only be able to do some of the treatment myself and my qualified junior therapist will have to do the rest as I have someone booked in at 12 so I don't have enough time to do the treatment before they are due in.

She said she wanted only me to do it and that its not her fault she's late and as she is a regular client I should make an exception, I then explained that although it is not her fault it is not fair for me to make my next client wait 20mins longer for her treatment evan tho she arrived on time and that she is also a loyal regular client.

She then said she would only have the leg wax done then if I couldn't do the pedicure myself I said I'm very sorry but if you refuse to have the pedicure treatment done by the other therapist I will still have to charge the whole amount as I had waisted time waiting for her to come when I could of had other clients booked in earning money instead of just standing their waiting for her. A pedicure costs £35 so evan tho I had been waiting around to do the treatment and given my time up I would have been down £35 for the day

Well she blow her top that I suggested she pay for a treatment she had not had so I explained that she was paying for my time that she had still taken up evan tho she was not their for the treatment and that she had been offered to still have the treatment by the other therapist just not me. Anyways I could not please her so in the end I did the treatment and my other lady's treatment was started by my junior then i took over (tho I don't think it was fair she had a less qualified member of staff as she was on time for her treatment.)

After the lady left she then rang the salon to speak to the owner saying I was rude, DO YOU THINK I WAS WRONG DO YOU THINK I SHOULD HAVE JUST LET IT GO AND LOST OUT ON THE £35. She said she would not be back to use any services hair or beauty so of course the hair side of thinks think iv lost them a client to, which I feel really band about. My lady also blamed my pregnancy and said it must be the baby as I not normally like this but shes not normally late so I haven't had to deal with this before.

I think as she was late she should of expected my kind offer to have it done by my other therapist as it was after all her fault

OP posts:
Amazinggg · 14/06/2013 23:19
SanityClause · 14/06/2013 23:20

Ooh, well played with Gluck! I couldn't work out how to get him in.

Amazinggg · 14/06/2013 23:23

Don't be wagners. OP needs to gersch win this battle, if you'd only liszt-en properly.

curryeater · 14/06/2013 23:25

Maybe she was there on time, but she was Haydn.

curryeater · 14/06/2013 23:26

It'll all come out in the wash (with a bit of Purcell)

CoolaSchmoola · 14/06/2013 23:27

I can see why you were annoyed, and yes £35 is a lot to lose, but by insisting that she paid that you have now lost a client.

If she was spending £35 a fortnight, that's £70 a month, so £840 a year that she will now spend somewhere else.

It's a lot to lose for £35....

That's what people mean by thinking about the long term impact of what you did. No you shouldn't work for free (although you weren't actually working) but to make that point has cost you far more than that £35.

It's cost you every penny she would have paid you in the future plus every penny her friends and family might have paid you if she recommended you, plus every penny you might have been paid by everyone she tells about you.

I'm sure you are a great beautician, but this was bad business practice and customer service which will have a bad impact on your business. If you are reliant on your income you really need to think about the long term. Lose £35 but gain £840 because a happy customer comes back - you chose gain £35 but lose £870 and a customer. Bad choice.

BinarySolo · 14/06/2013 23:27

Shame she wasn't Abel to see your Punto view.

curryeater · 14/06/2013 23:28

Perhaps she was slowed down by worn out heels - waiting for the Schumann to finish

Amazinggg · 14/06/2013 23:28

A lasting customer would Beethoven a single kept appointment financially.

SanityClause · 14/06/2013 23:29

The OP is right. Unless we all pay our taxes, I don't know what will happen to Britten.

Amazinggg · 14/06/2013 23:31

Curryeater - if she was betting on that, she sure lost that Schubert.

curryeater · 14/06/2013 23:32

Oh dear does the op feel everyone just wants to Mahler?

Wuldric · 14/06/2013 23:32

Oh Paganini is impossible - I did try to think of a pun on being hungry and going for a Pa(ga)nini but it was lame. Then I tried Rachmaninov - involving a scenario where the OP had the customer on a rack, and the customer cried out 'Man, enough'. But it all sounded a bit wrong - as though the OP had the Customer in a Cage.

AgnesBligg · 14/06/2013 23:33

Sounds like a lot of hot Air on the G string. I would ignore the peer gynt.

Amazinggg · 14/06/2013 23:33

I've been trying Rachmaninov for a while Sad

Amazinggg · 14/06/2013 23:38

Maybe you should take a more minimal approach to this. Nyman would stand for this sort of treatment to be fair. Einaudi posters would. Sit in an Oldfield and look into a Glass... you'll find the answer soon Eno.

Wuldric · 14/06/2013 23:39

Good work!

Everyone has done well. Bellinis all round?

Hug for the OP. Genuinely. But you must have a Bellini now.

lougle · 14/06/2013 23:40

Could you not have done the treatment, and then when the next lady arrived you could excuse yourself for a moment or two, pop out and say to the next lady that you are running a bit late, but your colleague (do you really use the word junior? I hate that) could start her treatment straight away to avoid delay. Then, once the client had left, you could either continue with the treatment, or allow your junior (hate that word, did I mention it?) to complete.

It's not good customer service to start arguing over services, etc. I wouldn't have had either treatment if I had apologised for my lateness and you launched a lecture about your costs - it's the peril of self-employment.

Besides, I agree with Flowery. Even the NHS allows 20 minutes before a DNA, more if the patient phones. That's, like, real life and death stuff. Nobody died because their nails weren't pretty, did they?

SecondRow · 14/06/2013 23:41

Woah there I don't think the OP asked for this kind of a baroque-ing :( There'll be fireworks if MNHQ have to get involved...

Kneedeepindaisies · 14/06/2013 23:42

OP- YABU. This is one of the joys Hmm of being self employed.

Original poster
Chazz88 · 14/06/2013 23:47

I actually can't understand a word most of you are saying, also I don't know why when I come on hear for advice most of you make it out to be a joke. My job it not Joke. I'm benefit bashing as if any off you did work you would not expect a person to work for nothing. Anyone on benefits understands the opposite as they already get payed to do nothing.

To the person that said I was not working as I didn't do the treatment I was standing at the desk waiting if I had had my baby by now I would also be paying a child minder, I wasn't at home doing what I wanted, I was at work so therefore I was working.

OP posts:
DramaAlpaca · 14/06/2013 23:47

This thread has got me crying and DH desperately trying to think of more musical puns. He wanted to know why I was laughing so much.

He's very impressed with baroque-ing and fireworks...

Best thread today - hope OP is taking it in the spirit it's intended.

lougle · 14/06/2013 23:50

Chazz88, you have had 6 minutes, 26 seconds to read my post which did not make any reference to any musical genius. Did you not see it?

WhatALark · 14/06/2013 23:50

OP, I feel your pain. It Mozart to lose £35.

lougle · 14/06/2013 23:50

"Best thread today - hope OP is taking it in the spirit it's intended."

Drama, I think we can be reassured that the OP is not Wink