Missed Appointments

I am married to a Registered Massage Therapist who works out of our home.  We have found that this arrangement works very well for us as she is able to dictate her own hours and will be able to be home most of the time once our kids hit school age.  Unfortunately it does absolutely nothing for me…  You’ve heard that a mechanics car is in the worst shape right?  Well, I could be considered that mechanics car…

Periodically we come across a situation that leaves us both feeling incredibly frustrated and upset, and yet completely impotent to do anything about it.  People just don’t show up for their appointments.  And then the response is “Oh, Sorry!” 

Well, yes, I understand you’re sorry.  Obviously you’re going to be sorry.  You probably needed a massage which is why you booked it.  Now you’re sorry you don’t get to have it and you’ll have to book another one.  I also understand that you never meant to forget the appointment.  Oh, wait a minute, let me emphasise something from my previous sentence: YOU forgot the appointment.

I believe that anyone should be able to figure this out with about 20 seconds of thought, but I have observed that almost nobody understands the following principle.  This applies to pretty much all places where you book an appointment and they hold that time for you.  Let me explain it here in terms everyone should be able to understand.

The time slot is reserved for you.  By the time my wife has determined that you are not only late, but you are not showing up it is probably 10 minutes after your scheduled appointment time.  Usually she will scramble to try to fill that spot.  How on earth is she supposed to fill that appointment time now?  Especially if she has someone scheduled to come following your appointment.  I’ll help you figure it out – 99% of the time she can’t fill it.  Now she is out that money.  When you get paid on a salary you just get a cheque once or twice a month.  When you work as a massage therapist you rely on every appointment in order to get paid.

If you would have called ahead to cancel (and here is another hint that is really top secret that not many people can figure out: if nobody answers the phone when you call to cancel, LEAVE A MESSAGE!) then there is some notice and that spot can likely be filled by someone else.  If you call and don't leave a message then you are not off the hook yet - you have not given notice.  When you don’t call, but just don’t show up, that is money that is just lost.  There is really no way to recover it…unless…

You pay for your missed appointment.  Here is another tip: don’t wait for your massage therapist (or whatever appointment you have missed) to ask you to pay for your missed appointment – just come right out and tell him/her that you will pay for it.  It is your responsibility.  “But, I never got a massage!  Why should I have to pay for it?!”  Because you were the one that missed it.  Because your massage therapist reserved that time for you and didn’t book someone else into it (which they very likely could have) based on the fact that you said you were coming.  Had they known you weren’t going to come they could have gotten someone else to fill the spot and not been out the money.  But now that you have missed it, it is too late for them to fill the spot, and they are now out the money.

Because you forgot…they don’t get paid.

Because your schedule changed last minute…they don’t get paid.

Because you got sick…they don’t get paid.

My wife is such a sweetheart that often she doesn’t have the heart to enforce her cancellation policy.  She feels bad for the person that for whatever reason, life got in the way and they missed the appointment.  It is so unfair to make her ask.  Please just offer to pay for the appointment.  You owe it to her.