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Client Responsibilities/ Therapists Rights. Being late should have consequences right?
I work as a subcontracted massage therapist at a business, where the owner isnt familiar with massage therapy. We offer couples massages, and we keep coming across people running LATE ( 10-15 minutes) which then during the intake takes about 5 or 10 minutes. Getting them IN the room then undressed another 5 minutes. So instead of starting at 1:00 were starting 1:20 - 1:25. I see on some listings of " client responsibilities/rights" that they should be on time and leave on time. But what if they ARENT. Do we have the right to shorten their time.
Ideally in a perfect world, it wouldnt be a big deal to just extend their time, but when we have someone immediately following them, then that ruins their time, and makes them wait even longer.
Our owner feels we should NEVER cut time short, for any reason. Dont we have that RIGHT as therapists to MAKE that call?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Relax & Rejuvenate on
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Whether or not the owner knows anything about massage therapy is immaterial. This is a scheduling/operations/customer service issue.
And be careful about the whole IC/Employee thing -- there are unintended consequences that you might not want to subject yourself to.
For instance -- when you accept an appointment from the establishment, you are being "contracted" to provide a 50/60 whatever minute massage. Where is the stipluation about how long it takes before and after to deliver that service? If you don't deliver the service contracted, it is you who are in violation of your contract.
Once you start asking to get paid for time not delivering the service, you start down the slippery slope of being an employee, at which point everythign changes, including your rate of pay.
Also, what are the consequences when the MT is late? It is not equivalent to say that is the client is late they pay 100% and get whatever time remains. You may give an entire massage to a client when you are late, but you have inconvenienced them. Therefore, the MT should absorb 100% of any discount due to their negligence/discourtesy out of their pay -- the establishment needs to be made whole as if the appt happened as contracted. Are you, and the other MTs, willing to be held to this same standard?
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Permalink Reply by Joana Maria de Meneses Silva on
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Well, i will probably use the comun sense. When you have back to back clients isn't fair that the next client should wait for you to finish the client that came in late for his apointment. However you don't want to loose it as a client...as i work in a very busy place, that happens often. I always tell them to come up 5 to 10 minutes earlier to their apointment and i explain the duration of the treatment. However, if they run late, i explain them that i have a client after them and the treatment will be shortend and if they can choose the areas of concern to massage in that time. If they run really late (like 1/2hr) i sugest to reschedule for later if they can or if i don't have anyone booked in on the next hour i just adjust my agenda and i do the treament as was booked.
Experience tells me if you are honest and correct with them, they will not be upset and continue coming back to you.
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Permalink Reply by wendy on
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I can relate to what people are writing here. it's frustrating for me cause I usually get last minute calls and the problem is not so much with regulars being a few min late but new clients being late cause I don't even know if they are coming at all?!
what is the policy for a client saying he is stuck in traffic and might/will even need to cancel the appointment, meanwhile I had to deny treatment to other people for the same time....that is really disturbing!other thing is it takes to long sometimes, intake, undressing, shower before and after(sometimes 5 min!), dressing, before the massage can start but I started to deduct this from the total time. you can give 60 min massage and calculate 20 min extra + 15 min clean up for every client, this is too time wasting!
any thoughts are helpful.....
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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I haven't read any of the other comments...I work in a busy spa...The clients are told to arrive fifteen minutes before their appointment...If they are late, they are late.. The appointment ends at the scheduled time.. If we can make up their late time we do...If we can. However, usually we have other appointments,or the room is scheduled for another service...Ultimately its their(the clients) responsibility to be on time..They pay full price.
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As a follow up.. If I'm late, or the spa is late.. They are more then compensated for.
Gordon J. Wallis said:I haven't read any of the other comments...I work in a busy spa...The clients are told to arrive fifteen minutes before their appointment...If they are late, they are late.. The appointment ends at the scheduled time.. If we can make up their late time we do...If we can. However, usually we have other appointments,or the room is scheduled for another service...Ultimately its their(the clients) responsibility to be on time..They pay full price.
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Permalink Reply by Linda LePelley, RN, NMT on
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I let my clients know up front, it is their appointed massage time and where they spend it is up to them. That said, on the rare occasion that a client does get held up, and if I can, I give them a whole hour. I'm fortunate, it doesn't happen very often - I've had to ask clients not to show up early several times - I need my time between massages or I feel overworked. I have had one client challenge me when I let him know that if he is late he will only receive whatever time is left of his scheduled appointment. He said, "So you're telling me that if I get held up, you aren't going to give me the massage I paid for?" I told him that, a) he will never have to wait for his massage because the person before him was late, and b) he was not paying for any hour of massage, he was paying for the specific time between 1:00 and 2:00 on Tuesdays, and it is up to him whether he is on the table at that time or not. He decided he could live with that, and hasn't been late.
Change of subject, I saw in a response that Massage Envy only allows 10 minutes between massages? It takes that long to wash your hands and change the sheets! I always give myself at least half an hour between to "shake off" the old client, refresh myself, and prepare for the next client. I imagine that not being able to take that time for your self would be a fast track to burnout!
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I work at a chiropractors office. And I am lucky to have 5 minutes between clients. I am scheduled a client every half hour or hour. When you are booked with 1/2 hr. massages all day you feel like you don't have time to catch your breath. But when you have several FBRM book in a row it is exhausting. I have just enough time to wash my hands, change the sheets and maybe use the restroom before the next session starts.Change of subject, I saw in a response that Massage Envy only allows 10 minutes between massages? It takes that long to wash your hands and change the sheets! I always give myself at least half an hour between to "shake off" the old client, refresh myself, and prepare for the next client. I imagine that not being able to take that time for your self would be a fast track to burnout!
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Our owner feels we should NEVER cut time short, for any reason. Dont we have that RIGHT as therapists to MAKE that call?
Doesn't the owner also have a RIGHT to set policies for their establishment? This is where it's most helpful to open a dialog and find middle ground.
If complete autonomy is what you want, perhaps subcontracting is not for you?
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