I'm not sure why this is happening lately but when providers have been contacting me for a reference, the lack of information I am supplied is no where near close enough for me to give a positive "yea" or a negative "neh" so I thought since I've never made a post about my preferences, now may be the time for me to state what will help me get your reference approved fastest and hopefully some other providers will chime in with their thoughts as well.
1. When we met and approximate time of day ... "midweek in September before noon" is fine. It doesn't have to be exact, but give a girl something to work with.
2. Where you saw me ... A hotel? An apartment? Anything destinive that stuck out to you? Saying you saw me downtown means nothing since I publish that information freely.
3. Something unique we discussed ... maybe you told me you accidentally ran over a squirrel on the way to see me or I told you I hated the manicure I got 2 days ago? Unique conversations like this are easy to remember.
4. Supply me with the phone number you used when you called me or texted me when you arrived at my place. On my phone all I have to do is enter the number and hit search, even if your number is not saved, it will pull up any contact I have had with that number.
5. Your name and handle .... no explanation needed as to why this is helpful.
6. If it has been over 6 months please do not use me for a reference unless there is really a mitigating reason too, such as we saw each other many times, you moved out of state and need to reestablish yourself. I understand I am one of the more vocal ladies on the board with a long history so I can see the benefits of using me as a reference even though it may have been over 6 months since you've seen me. If you are in a predicament like that, I'm happy to help.
Finally years ago at the end of a pleasant appointment I would give the gent a code word and tell him if he'd like to use me as a reference, please let the provider know I told you to mention the words "ugly hat" to her. Then when she contacts me as soon as she mentions "ugly hat" I know right away you are good to go.
Also I change the code word monthly so I know "ugly hat" is someone I saw in September while "purple garden" is someone I saw in October, this worked great for me for years and I never had a security problem with a client I gave the code word to, supplying it to another hobbiest. I'm actually going to start doing the code word thing again this week.
Ladies, I highly recommend coming up with your own monthly code word, it really makes the screening process much easier.
Thanks for reading my post and I hope I was able to provide some information you feel is useful.
All the best - B