First, I am not going to mention the providers’ name yet. I am still hoping she will work things out with me and this is more of a combination rant and making a point post. Hopefully some of the newer providers will read this and learn something from it. We can hope, right?
The lesson for this long winded story is:
If a problem occurs, even if you feel it was an honest mistake, or you’re not completely at fault, take care of it. Quickly. Do not put it off. Guys may get irritated about the mess up but if you fix the problem, they will overlook it. Knowing you will quickly and fairly resolve problems makes it much easier to book with you. You don’t have to give away the farm. Most guys are reasonable. In this case, an extra 30 minutes would have made me happy and I would be willing to continue coming back. Instead of a regular customer spending $600-$800 a month that is also willing to give her his time to help her out when needed, she may end up a couple of hundred and nothing more.
I am self employed. I don’t get paid till the job is done. If I have a problem with a customer, their expectations have not been met, they become my top priority. I do everything possible to fix the problem. And, if for some very rare reason, the problem becomes evident after they have paid me, they become #1. I will even reschedule other customers to make time to fix the issue and make the customer happy. Nothing is more important to me than fixing the issue and making the customer happy if possible. This is the work ethic I was raised on and it has served me well over the years.
Here is the story:
Most people are willing to help someone. Especially if it requires no great effort on their part. The better we know the person, the more we are willing to do. I had lunch with this provider and have had a couple of times BCD. She has no car so each time I have seen her I have offered to drive her around if she had some errands to run. I had the time, the sessions were good, so why not? The errands did not take a great deal of time and it was nice to help her out. She did not ask; I offered.
Well, one day she text me she needed help. She needed a ride to take care of an important problem. And if I wanted to have a session, that would be helpful too. She did not ask for a gift or loan. Just a ride and a session if I wanted. I had not planned on seeing her so soon, but once she explained the problem, I offered to help her. Now, it’s a 45 minute drive each way for me. So I specifically told her if I was coming that far, I would want to be with her after we ran the errand. She agreed and we set a time for me to pick her up.
We run a number of errands as I had a bit of time though I did tell her we had to be done by a specific time. Time is passing. I hate having a hard deadline to be done as it is distracting and puts pressure on.We are on the last errand when she mentions her mom is coming over to do laundry. I ask her if she will be gone in time for us to have our session. Session? What session?“I didn’t know you wanted a session today.” WTF? I specifically said I was not coming this far unless I had a session. I had already paid her for the session, plus paying for some things she needed so she could take care of the problem. If we needed to get a room, we could have done that. Nope. No time left. So I just spent 3 hours of my time, $10 worth of gas, paid for a session plus extra to help her out, and no session. Now I am going to have to spend another 2 ½ to 3 hours and more gas to get the session. That’s 6 hours of my time. I bill at $60 to $95 an hour for my time. Finding time to meet a provider is not a trivial matter. Especially one so far away
Now, I thought I was very clear on my expectations. But, things happen, people are human, they make mistakes. How you fix the mistakes is maybe the most important aspect of TCB.She offers to make it up. I tell her I want a little extra time for the makeup. She seems a bit put off by that but agrees. We set a time for a few days later. Of course, mother nature interferes. OK, irritating but not the end of the world. She will get back with me ASAP. Few days later I text her to touch base. Oh, it’s a very busy week for her with personal issues, not work related. OK, We set up for the following week, today. Nope, non work issue this morning so no meet. She will not be in the mood today even later. Can I come over tomorrow? I have 2 days a week when I might have the time needed to drive 1 ½ hours driving plus an hour or more for a session. Today is one of them. I told her to take care of her personal issues as it was clear I was not a high priority for her.
I am assuming for the sake of this post that she has been honest and it was a misunderstanding and series of events beyond her control so no need to post that she was taking advantage of me. I know that is a possibility too.
Dear, I hope you read this. I am still giving you the benefit of the doubt even though most guys will post that I am being stupid and your being a typical hooker. It’s your choice.Fix the problem or not.Keep a customer coming back or not.If not, I am happy your doing so well your don’t need repeat customers. Even though you had something this morning to take care of and you wont be in the mood today, I see your online an hour after you broke our appointment. Maybe your just trying to book appointments for later this week. I am sure that is it.