Appointment Dilemma - Appointment v Walk-in - Page 6

BarbiHollywood · ‎11-09-2011

@Sooner wrote:
Although I would not have confronted the customer in this case, I did walk up to the employee and customer once at a garden store and once somewhere else and said to the store employee "I'm sorry but you were helping me" when someone "hijacked" the employee from me by interrupting to ask a question and the sales person turns attention to them for too long.

Have you had that happen? Someone walks up, interrupts and asks a question, then the employee attention and time go to the interrupter?

Yep! I can recall specifically twice I've said "But you were waiting on me" and felt it was justified.

@Sooner Yes! It did, in fact, happen the other day in the UPS store. Fellow in front of me with large box, only one clerk in the store and she was having trouble finding this guy's info in the systerm. I was next in line and the line was quickly growing behind me. Literally stood in line for 15 minutes but I wasn't in a hurry and needed my package to be shipped so I waited. When it was my turn, I stepped up, and the lady behind me steps to the side and asks the clerk, not me, "can you just scan this for me????" Clerk says "OK," but I told the clerk that I've been waiting and it's my turn. The clerk actually took the lady and had to try scanning her label a few times. It's okay because I know the manager of the store personally so I already complained about her! Doubt clerk Tracy will ever do that again. You learn to wait your turn in kindergarten.

BarbiHollywood · ‎11-09-2011

@Isobel Archer wrote:
What "should" have happened is that the walk in should have been told that the tech had an appointment at x time and that she would not have time to do both a mani pedi prior to that - so the walk in could either wait until after the appointment or get one service and then wait for the other. That would have been reasonable.

In my view it is NOT reasonable to think - oh I'll either just rush the first customer or make the appointment wait and no one should blame me either way. And if it was actually the manager forcing the problem, then that's another reason to change shops.

@Isobel Archer Right. I also think the walk-in should have been told about the 3:00 customer. What just irritates me still is that the walk-in kept making the tech go back and forth bringing her all sorts of polishes and kept saying "no" to each color. It's just a frkg color!! A. Nail. Color. :-(

BarbiHollywood · ‎11-09-2011

@SurferWife wrote:
@BarbiHollywood
You're right, it's not the end of the world, but as a lifelong mani/pedi customer I have stuck with the same person for years & book my next appt. at the end of my current appt. I go every 5 weeks.

1. Any nail tech can pass a customer to another nail tech, so it must just be that salon's policy not to. I've had this happen. My nail tech was helping with a walk-in & as soon as I come in for my appt. she passed the walk-in to someone else.

2. If you've had the same nail tech for many years, she should not want to do a walk-in over you. Loyalty works both ways.

I would have been perturbed if my nail tech of many years did that to me. In an industry where you can go to the next corner to find a nail tech, you'd think she would jump through hoops to keep you. Finding a new nail tech is also a PITA!

Best of luck!

@SurferWife You're spot-on an all points. AND, as has happened in the past, when my tech is running late, the salon usually calls me. I drive 20 minutes each way to this particular salon just for my tech. I will probably call there today and see about getting an appointment and will talk directly to the manager about it. Thanks!

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

The problem is with the salon policy. If the OP makes her complaint known to the management, and their policy is first come first served to heck with your appointment, it's on them and she can decide what to do.

They SHOULD tell a walk in "we can give you (amount of time), but then this person has an appointment and we will switch you to someone else."

That's the only fair way for a salon to handle it. Or tell the walk ins we can do your nails in x amount of time but that's all right now.

occasionalrain · ‎03-10-2010

Many haven't considered that time is worth more than money. You can make more money, but your time is finite. When someone keeps you waiting, they are, in fact, stealing your time.

I won't wait more than 15 minutes, more than that is disrespectful to me.

I would have approached the duo, said excuse me, and reminded the tech that my appointment was for 3:00, so the woman would have to wait until after my appointment for her manicure.

Depending on the response, I would stay or I would go.

NYC Susan · ‎03-13-2010

@CrazyDaisy wrote:
@RealtyGal2 wrote:
@BarbiHollywood wrote:
Hello, first time on this Among Friends board...

I'd like opinions, please, on something that just happened to me at the nail salon I've been going to for over five years. I've been with the same nail tech for even longer than that as I have followed her from place to place. My question is about appointments vs walk-ins. I'm warning you, this is a lengthy post!

I always make an appointment at least a day prior. I've had a rough couple of weeks dealing with an elderly, sickly stepmother and really looked forward to today's 3:00 appointment for a much-needed mani-pedi. I arrived on time, saw my tech was finishing up the lady in her chair, so I fiddled on my phone to kill time. I saw that the lady in the chair had already had a pedicure and was apparently getting a manicure now. She kept making the tech go back and forth to help her pick a color. Every time the tech went over with the sample boards, the lady didn't like the color. This went on for a while. The tech came over to ask me if I could wait another 15 minutes. I said no and left. As I walked out, I thought to myself, go back in, just wait, you'll get your mani-pedi. But it was the principle. I walked to my car and phoned the manager inside to ask if the lady in the chair was a walk-in or had an appointment. I was told she was a walk-in. I then asked why the tech was scheduled with such a long appointment knowing that she had a 3:00 appointment coming in and also asked why the lady wasn't shown over to someone else to finish since the appointment (me) had arrived on time and waited a pretty long time. I was told once they start, they can not pass to another nail tech. I've never heard of that before. Not sure if it's their salon policy or a law.

So my question to you is this: Should someone with an appointment be expected to just sit there and wait or should the salon have handled things differently? I know there have been times when I've asked for additional services at the last minute but have been told they were too booked to accommodate me. I also know that sometimes you have to wait, but 45 minutes isn't right.,

(Is it the end of the world? No! Guess I'm just grumpy today!!!)

The walk-in should have been asked to wait for the manicure, while you had your pedicure and manicure, since you had an appointment. This way the walk-in learns that she needs to make an appointment in the future and choose a color in advance. You were nicer than I would have been. I would have gone up to the walk-in and told her that you had an appointment and would be most appreciative if she would wait to have her manicure done until you were done with your appointment, particularly since she could not make up her mind about the color and this would give her more time to do so. Put the pressure on the walk-in since she is the problem. I have just solved this problem for myself. When I make my hair cut/color appt., I have my stylist make an appt. with the manicurist to do my toenails while my color is coming up (usually 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour. It works great and I only have to make one trip for both services.
While this may have made YOU feel better, it likely would have resulted in you being asked to leave. What sane person would confront another customer?

I agree. That's a really terrible idea. The woman did nothing wrong. They accept walk-ins, and she walked in, and was handed over to a tech. From her point of view, she had every right to be there. She wasn't privy to the schedule, nor should it be her concern.

But even in a situation where another client was out of line, I would never recommend confronting her. Any complaints should go to the salon manager or the tech. Starting something with another client is a really bad idea. Especially in a place you'd like to set foot in again.

NYC Susan · ‎03-13-2010

@BarbiHollywood, I understand why you did what you did.

But I think I would have waited (if I had the time), and then spoken to the nail tech about it. You said you've been going to her for a long time, and apparently without any issues. It seems to me that the walk-in was more time-consuming than anticipated. So the timing was miscalculated, but it's not the tech's fault. And it's not as though this is an ongoing problem.

Because of Covid, a lot of these places are struggling to stay on their feet. But anytime, really, pandemic or not, businesses want to bring in more business. So if they allow walk-ins, they want to treat those walk-ins right. Today's walk-ins can turn into tomorrow's long-term clients. They can't treat walk-ins as "lesser". That's not good business.

Of course treating long-term clients well is important too! But this sounds like a one-time miscalculation, and your tech was probably not happy with how it played out either. So I think you should talk to her about it, & voice your concerns. But also cut her some slack, and don't give up on her. JMO! :-)

occasionalrain · ‎03-10-2010

If walk ins are accepted, then one tech should have been assigned to service them, leaving the others able to honor the commitment made to those with appointments.

The schedule could be on a rotating basis with each tech taking a turn at being available for walk ins. On their day, no appointments would be made for them.

Walk ins expect to wait, those with appointments don't, nor should they.

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

@BarbiHollywood wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
Although I would not have confronted the customer in this case, I did walk up to the employee and customer once at a garden store and once somewhere else and said to the store employee "I'm sorry but you were helping me" when someone "hijacked" the employee from me by interrupting to ask a question and the sales person turns attention to them for too long.

Have you had that happen? Someone walks up, interrupts and asks a question, then the employee attention and time go to the interrupter?

Yep! I can recall specifically twice I've said "But you were waiting on me" and felt it was justified.
@Sooner Yes! It did, in fact, happen the other day in the UPS store. Fellow in front of me with large box, only one clerk in the store and she was having trouble finding this guy's info in the systerm. I was next in line and the line was quickly growing behind me. Literally stood in line for 15 minutes but I wasn't in a hurry and needed my package to be shipped so I waited. When it was my turn, I stepped up, and the lady behind me steps to the side and asks the clerk, not me, "can you just scan this for me????" Clerk says "OK," but I told the clerk that I've been waiting and it's my turn. The clerk actually took the lady and had to try scanning her label a few times. It's okay because I know the manager of the store personally so I already complained about her! Doubt clerk Tracy will ever do that again. You learn to wait your turn in kindergarten.

Your story reminded me of a discussion about letting people with one or two items ahead of you in line at store. Apparently you are the person who would make them wait behind you with a full cart.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

Isobel Archer · ‎04-04-2015

@CrazyDaisy wrote:
@BarbiHollywood wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
Although I would not have confronted the customer in this case, I did walk up to the employee and customer once at a garden store and once somewhere else and said to the store employee "I'm sorry but you were helping me" when someone "hijacked" the employee from me by interrupting to ask a question and the sales person turns attention to them for too long.

Have you had that happen? Someone walks up, interrupts and asks a question, then the employee attention and time go to the interrupter?

Yep! I can recall specifically twice I've said "But you were waiting on me" and felt it was justified.
@Sooner Yes! It did, in fact, happen the other day in the UPS store. Fellow in front of me with large box, only one clerk in the store and she was having trouble finding this guy's info in the systerm. I was next in line and the line was quickly growing behind me. Literally stood in line for 15 minutes but I wasn't in a hurry and needed my package to be shipped so I waited. When it was my turn, I stepped up, and the lady behind me steps to the side and asks the clerk, not me, "can you just scan this for me????" Clerk says "OK," but I told the clerk that I've been waiting and it's my turn. The clerk actually took the lady and had to try scanning her label a few times. It's okay because I know the manager of the store personally so I already complained about her! Doubt clerk Tracy will ever do that again. You learn to wait your turn in kindergarten.
Your story reminded me of a discussion about letting people with one or two items ahead of you in line at store. Apparently you are the person who would make them wait behind you with a full cart.

I think the difference here is that the woman did not ask the person in front of her if she minded - and apparently her "scan" took longer than it probably would have to process the correct customer in turn.

Yes I offer to let those with a couple of items go before me if I have several, but if someone just pushed in front of me, I probably wouldn't be so accommodating.

Please and thank you go a long way - much farther than the - I just have a quick request and it's so much more important than yours and I'm in a hurry and clearly need to have my issue resolved first.