Ok, I have cut/pasted everyone's (so far) questions and statements on the subject and addressed each.
For the record, it is very cathartic to simply write it all down and present it to a jury of my peers. Y'all probably know my pain when I say it just isn't the same to run it by the BF. Although if you've read today's blog post at Nails Mag (plug) you know he DID come up with a really good, albeit dork-tastic, analogy that gave me some interesting perspective and at least made me more at peace with it. BTW: This got REALLY long. From: Nicole Cormier <[email protected] > OK, what is it that you really > fear will happen, by letting go of this client? Is it that > you'll lose business? You won't. What do you really > fear by telling her that her checks are no longer good? **No fear. Really. I have looked at this thing from every angle that I can twist it into and asked myself all these same questions. That's why I finally just put it in writing and presented it to the masses. I certainly don't think I've ever been accused of being afraid to stand up for myself! lol! I don't care if I lose HER business. She's been off my books before and I didn't miss her. I don't feel sorry for her. I don't sympathize for/with her. I don't miss her when she's gone. BTW, do you do business with your cell phone or do you > have a salon phone number? **I do use my cell phone for biz. I love texting. I DO NOT, however, answer my phone for clients when I'm off work. Sorry. They all know my rules: the only "nail emergency" is YOUR prom or YOUR wedding. For those occassions, I stick close to the phone since I don't normally work on Saturdays. Other than that, they have all heard the lecture: If it were a business land line I wouldn't be able to answer the phone when I'm not at work, I'm not going to answer the cell phone when I'm off work just because I can carry it with me. So sad, too bad, leave a message, I'll call you back when I return to work. True, by texting this particular client doesn't have to speak to me directly-- but I don't have to speak to her either. It's a win-win on that one. On Thu, 5/7/09, Cira DAnna <[email protected]> wrote: i have a client that cancels ALL the time. I am one of those people that will come in early or stay late for my clients. BUT... not for her. She gets in when I am availble. not at her convience. **Same here. Especially with this one. She does not get prime time. On Thu, 5/7/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: You should have run to the bank and cashed it right away. > > **I can't run to the bank to cash a check at 8 o'clock at night. I would have loved to! But I work late and do her nails at 6:30/7 p.m. I had every intention of taking the check to her bank at 9 a.m. (meaning I'd have to get up early on my day off!-- no. I'm NOT a morning person!) but she'd already left the message by the time I got up. One thing you did not mention is if she is paying the fees > for her bounced checks. Are you covering her ass on them? HELLLLLLLLLL NO! I don't cover her ass on her @!$#*&!ing checks! LOL! She absolutely DOES pay the fees when a check does bounce. What are your fees? What are you telling your clients your > bounced fees are for them? I have a $20 fee. Some banks > charge their patrons $30. That is $50 per bounced check. Who > can afford that? My bank charges $35. That's what my clients pay if their check bounces. Plus the face value of the check. And I don't monkey around with chasing after bad checks either. If I have any trouble collecting the cash I turn the thing over the District Attorney's office for prosecution. It's too expensive and too much hassle to chase someone around town for 6 months or file a claim in small claims court-- WHICH doesn't gaurantee I'll get the $$$ after I win, but DOES gaurantee I'll end up being out MORE $$$ by the time it's over! I have not had a check I couldn't collect on in 10 years! It's few and far between and even this bimbo (who is my worst offender) manages to show up with cash when it happens. The WORST she has done is made me wait till her next scheduled appointment-- I absolutely will NOT do her nails again until I've been paid for the last time! I might let her slide too far too often, but there are limits to my patience! Go figure... But every time a check has bounced she does, indeed, show up with the cash to cover it. Even though the fees are usually about the same as what she owed me for the nails. I'd way rather she just paid me double for her nails in cash instead of writing the damn checks and having to pay back my bank!!!! (although right now, maybe the banks could use the $$$ more than I could!) On Fri, 5/8/09, Laura Merzetti <[email protected]> wrote: What kind of payoff (to quote Dr. Phil) are you getting > from her? Does she > refer any business to you? Is it because you've known > each other so long > you don't know how to stop it? It seems to me you > want to keep her as a > client but you want her to stop this behavior, am I > right? Hmmmmm. I like the Dr. Phil approach: I do not know what I get from her. Honestly. She does not tip me. She is not pleasant to visit with. She does not bring me new clients. She does not bring me Starbucks. She does not stroke my ego (unless I cut her off, then I get voicemails and letters and emails full of "OMG MAGGIE! PLEEEEEEEEZE let me make an appointment with you again! I miss you SOOOOOOOO much. You are the BEST nail tech in the world.") I don't want to keep her as a client, I don't care where she takes her behavior. She's more drama than even I can handle. Here's where I THINK my current dilemma is rooted: I'm done already. This last "oh my purse got stolen" episode is my last straw. year after year she scews up, she screws up, she walks the straight and narrow long enough that by the time she screws up again-- I'm willing to let it go she screws up, she walks the straight and narrow long enough that by the time she screws up again I only twitch a little bit, she disappears. Life is good. I foget about her. She calls. I give her a chance. She walks the straight and narrow. She walks the straight and narrow. She screws up, I slap her over the wrist with the file (yes, believe it or not, she and I HAVE had a few talks about behavior) She walks the straight and narrow, she walks the straight and narrow, she screws up, she disappears. I swear I'll never rebook her again. She calls. I don't rebook her. She calls. I tell her I can't get her in. She sends me a gift card for a pie at Marie Calendar's with a ridiculous letter about how great I am. I tell her I can't get her in. She emails me. She calls. She begs. Literally begs. I wonder if I still have that letter? I break down and rebook her because it's now been over a year since the last time I saw her, maybe she's gotten it together-- and at that point I'm really slow and figure it's worth the risk because, Hey, even though she's a serial loser-- she DOES always come through with the money. She annoys me. She annoys me. She screws up. And now her purse has been stolen and her bank account has been cleaned out. I'm sorry her purse got stolen. I do believe it really happened and I do believe it'll take a few days for the bank to process the police report and verify the story and replace her funds. And I do believe she'll come in and cover the check with cash. If this had happened to ANY OTHER client I would be so sympathetic! I would hang on to her check and assure her that it's no big deal and I totally understand and I can wait until she gets paid or gets her bank straightened out. But it's not any other client, it's THIS client. It's the client that has a rap sheet SO long that I had to start a new address book entry for her in my PDA because the "notes" field in her original entry is FULL! Seriously! She has TWO address book entries now JUST so I could continue writing notes on her! MOST of her history is stuff that I don't consider TOO serious when taken on a single instance at a time case, but put it all together and OMG! Really? I haven't blackballed her for good before now? That's when I really started asking myself these questions! I went to notate her latest drama, had to start the new entry, and read through the last 5 years (that's how long I've had the PDA) of notes I've written about her-- and said to myself, "OMG Maggie! you HAVE to get rid of her!" But somehow, I don't feel it's um, FAIR?, to fire her over this particular drama since -- aside from arguing WHY she left her purse in her car overnight?-- this is just a crappy situation for anyone to be in and it's not entirely just to blame her for it. If I were ANY OTHER type of business, I'd be stuck waiting on a bad check too. Her car payment bounced, THEY have to wait for the situation to get straightened out; credit card company, grocery store-- anywhere she wrote a check that handn't aleady cleared. The only difference is that she was able to contact me and say "WAIT!" before I deposited her check and got stuck with additional fees-- that, even if a police report would result in having those fees overturned, it's still inconvenient. If it had been anyone else, I'd be GRATEFUL to them for contacting them and letting me know before deposited the check and had to deal with it. My hesitation is that I don't feel JUSTIFIED in firing her because of THIS. Yeah. I think that's what it boils down to. I don't feel justified in considering this her 3rd strike (or 15th, whatever) but at the same time, I don't want to wait around for the next justifiable offense either. Maggie Franklin: Attitudes Salon; Visalia, CA "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." http://www.nailsbymaggie.biz http://blogs.nailsmag.com/maggie/ http://myspace.com/nailsbymaggie http://twitter.com/Artofnailz --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/NailTech?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
