Oh, who watches the time, anyway ...

[Pixilated]

This is more of a 'hearing' than a sighting but ...

A hairstylist I used to go to told me about a customer who habitually came in late. We're not talking 10 or 15 minutes -- it apparently wasn't unusual for her to stroll in a couple of hours past the time of her scheduled appointment and expect to be jammed in somewhere, in between people who had shown up on time and were patiently waiting.

The worst part was, for the longest time the hairstylist (who was also the owner of the salon) accommodated her. When the situation finally started to really get on her nerves, she didn't know what to do ... didn't want to alienate the customer.

I asked whom she'd prefer to alienate: one customer who couldn't be bothered to show up on time, or the other customers (plural!) who had shown up on time and were now being forced to wait because of this one EW ...

[rose_metal_nz]

Hmph, hair appointments can take HOURS. I'd certainly have some choice words for someone I saw stroll in hours late & try to take my appointment ahead of me!

[fma_fanatic]

I've actually had that happen to me. I was waiting at a chain salon to get a haircut and a teenager and her mother came in about 3 hours from closing, demanding that she get her hair colored and some other things done. Things that would easily take 3-4 hours if not longer and entail the need of at least two stylists (this is important).

The stylist told the mother several times that she would need to make an appointment, and the mother said that she was not going to and that everyone else could just wait. There were two other people besides myself waiting and there were only two stylists working.

I'm not sure what happened, but somehow the teen got her way. I walked up to the front after about waiting for 45 minutes and having finished my book, took a card and asked for the corporate phone number. The stylist begged me to be patient, it'd only be an hour before she got to me as it would take that long to do what needed to be done.

I asked again for the number for the corporate office as I had showed up for my appointment, I was now 45 minutes past my appointment and that was long enough for me to wait seeing as a walk in was taken before me.

I never went back to the chain again, despite their offer of a nice fat gift card to make up for it. I could have taken the freebie grab.

It was a big deal for me because it was right before my wedding and I really needed to get my haircut. I ended up having my sister-in-law take care of my hair.

[PepperElf]

*nod*

this is why when I see pfb/m3c posts regarding other customers i refer to them as "paying customers". the other paying customers have every right to have their appointments on time without being fucked over by bitch-come-lately

[Pixilated]

fma_fanatic, I hope they learned their lesson, however painful it was: you do NOT screw over the people who showed up on time, no matter how much the walk-in screams and yells. All they had to do was just keep saying, "I'm sorry, that's not possible." At some point they could've even dispensed with the "I'm sorry" and just gone to a curt "No." And ultimately they could've just walked away and left them standing at the counter.

And what do you want to bet those people never went back there? So the shop lost who knows how many regular customers for nothing.

[Aria]

fma_fanatic, I hope they learned their lesson, however painful it was: you do NOT screw over the people who showed up on time, no matter how much the walk-in screams and yells. All they had to do was just keep saying, "I'm sorry, that's not possible." At some point they could've even dispensed with the "I'm sorry" and just gone to a curt "No." And ultimately they could've just walked away and left them standing at the counter.

And the final step in that progression is to call the cops and have them forcibly removed. Unfortunately, very few people are willing to do it.

[fma_fanatic]

fma_fanatic, I hope they learned their lesson, however painful it was: you do NOT screw over the people who showed up on time, no matter how much the walk-in screams and yells. All they had to do was just keep saying, "I'm sorry, that's not possible." At some point they could've even dispensed with the "I'm sorry" and just gone to a curt "No." And ultimately they could've just walked away and left them standing at the counter.

And what do you want to bet those people never went back there? So the shop lost who knows how many regular customers for nothing.

Part of me wanted to make a huge stink, something along the lines of "Oh, so her hair coloring is more important than my haircut for my wedding? I see how that is!" With a gnashing and wailing of teeth.

I know I've never gone back to that chain and the shopping center that it was in hasn't done very well since a grocery store that was the anchor closed to move down the road.

[fireheart]

I suspect that part of the problem might be due to the presence of "walk in" salons, where you can walk in, have your name put down and wait to get your hair cut.

I go to one at the moment for a couple of reasons: it's cheap and they ONLY cut hair, they don't do hairdyes or perms (they will do a blow wave, but that's about it). On top of that, they have a rule that you need to have been a qualified hairdresser for around a few years, so you're not getting some random who's just graduated from beauty school. Also the wait time is generally not so much of an issue.

[Seshat]

If- for any reason - I need a better haircut than my Anna can do, I go to a walk-in that only does cuts. The smell of dyes from everything else makes me feel ill.

Since I don't dare use dyes, sprays and other chemicals, I don't need anything more than a cut anyway.


But when I want 'fancy' hair I pretty much always just braid it into something unusual anyway; sometimes smearing with a light touch of one ofo the few hair goops I can tolerate to keep the braid smooth. Braid + ribbon = fancy, and so few people do that nowadays that it tends to get compliments.

For really-fancy, I pin a necklace in among the braiding. Faux pearls, or a chain, or a chain with some randomly placed pendants or charms....

[AmbrosiaWriter]

The place I go to is pretty good at scheduling appointments so that if you're getting something like a dye/bleach/perm (something that requires you sit around without the stylist poking your head) then they schedule in a quick wash-cut-dry that they can do while your hair is being transmuted by the chemicals.

Though, no way in heck would they let you walk in 4 hours late and try to jam you in somewhere, they'll say "Sorry, but I have a slot at XX:XX tomorrow that is available for you!"

Which I think is the best way to go about it rather than just saying "You need to make an appointment." Of course, if the SC makes a stink, then the best way is to say "Do you really want to piss off the lady who is about to be mixing and putting dangerous chemicals on your head?"