Well, Caring Palms has a new cancellation policy due to my being tired of being left in the lurch.
When people book sessions, I don’t take credit card information, and if they don’t show up, I just let it go. Or at least that is what I have been doing. This past Saturday, I was just screwed over for the second week in a row.
About ten days ago, a mother walks into the shop with her daughter and asks if there is anything I can do to help. Her daughter had scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. The doctors all want to surgically put rods in on each side of the spine to straighten it. Now, I have seen this done as one of my earliest clients had rods in her back. In fact, I could feel the nuts holding the rods in as I ran my hand down her back.
This is a painful process. A few years ago, I was asked by my landlord’s assistant if I could help a friend’s daughter who had this surgery done and was in great pain. I told her I might have been able to help her before the surgery, but Reiki was all I could do afterwards.
It has been found that Myofascial Release (MFR) has been helpful for scoliosis. If the connective tissue (fascia) could be loosened, it could allow the spine to return to a normal position. I have never done this to this extent, so I was looking forward to seeing what I could do for her if anything. They made an appointment for two Saturdays ago. I told the mother that she needed to be there as the daughter was 17. I took down the daughter’s number and name.
Unfortunately, when that day came, I was running on three hours sleep due to having taken my father-in-law to the ER the night before. But even after all that, I managed to claw my way up and to the studio in time for them to show up. And they did not show. When I called, I talked to the daughter. She told me that she had to work and had asked her brother to call me, which he had not. While I was really angry, I still asked if she wanted to reschedule. We set this past Saturday as the next appointment, and I confirmed it with her the day before. Guess what? They did not show up. How can anyone be so rude? The mean part of me hopes she enjoys the pain she will get from the surgery. The realistic side of me changed my policies.
In this case, I should have gotten the mother’s name. In the future, I will be collecting name, address, phone number (which I am already collecting), and credit card information. I will be getting this information from new clients who want to schedule outside of normal hours. For new clients that do not show up, and do not let me know at least two hours before the session time, I will be charging them $35. I figure that if I have gotten up to come into the shop, two hours beforehand is enough time to get me before I come in. And in some cases, I could go back to bed. As was the case two weekends ago, I would have done just that.