By now most, if not all, of us have seen the funny memes, Facebook or YouTube videos showing “the worst clients” or “stylist pet peeves”. Honestly, they’re funny and I’d be lying (and so would every other stylist) if we didn’t admit we watch and think omg I’ve been there, I’ve had that person in my chair. 

After 11 years of doing hair there isn’t too much that can rattle me. You can be nasty, rude, indecisive, picky and I can shake that right off. The biggest gripe I have is that for the “no call/no show” guest. 

I could go on and on sharing personal experiences about the worst clients I’ve ever encountered or seen other stylist deal with but it’s much bigger than singling out those individuals. I have come to realize that people truly don’t understand what happens when you don’t show up.  And please believe this is something that is bigger than someone not showing up for their hair appointment.  It’s about being inconsiderate and not valuing someone else’s time. It’s about being selfish. 

To shed some light onto this I’d like to explain what happens when you make an appointment and simply don’t show up.  For this example I’m going to widen my scenario by not only using COMMISSION based stylists, but also, tattoo artists, makeup artists, photographers, free lance graphic designers or personal trainers (just to name a few commission based professions). These jobs, and many others, require the individual to make appointments (most of the time without deposits) with their prospective client in order to provide a service for which they will be paid for.  So when you make an appointment and don’t show up, we don’t get paid.  

What makes this worse for me personally is I always have a tendency to go straight to the worst case scenario. I immediately worry that they’ve gotten into an accident or are sick or something medically has gone wrong and I just don’t know about it.  Unfortunately all of these things have happened to me personally. In these instances there’s never a reason to be upset because it’s life–it happens!! I just want to make sure you are okay! Especially for stylists, when we see our guest every 4,6,8 weeks and you don’t show up we know it’s unlike you and that’s alarming. 

But then there’s the other side… when someone consistently no show/no call, or calls 5 minutes before and cancels. Please understand that this leaves us with NO TIME to fill your appointment. It leaves us wondering what has happened.  And then it puts us into a position where we may have to resort to some measures that may cause some friction. What do i mean by friction? I mean you may be stopped from booking appointments with your stylist or the salon in general. You may be required to pay a deposit to book future appointments. 

I also understand a lot of people don’t realize there are still 100% commission based jobs out there. Meaning, no work, no pay.  I’m here to tell you these jobs exist.  I don’t know many stylists who actually get paid hourly. So please consider this when you are thinking about blowing off your 2pm blowout because it’s nice and you want to go outside. 

The moral of the story here, please be considerate. If you are sick, call! No one will be upset that you’re cancelling. We will want you to rest up and get better. We will also be very happy you wanted to keep your germs to yourself haha.  If you don’t have it in your budget, please call! No one needs to know that’s why. A simple call to cancel with no explanation is just fine.  When asked if you want to reschedule just say you’ll call at a later date. If it’s a beautiful day and you just don’t want to sit inside, CALL!  (On the flip side to this scenario, don’t be upset if you cancel last minute to enjoy the beautiful weather and you cannot be rescheduled for several weeks.)