venting about frustrating clients....long and tangentially henna


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Posted by Natasha on August 25, 2003 at 23:55:21:

Grrr. Just got off the phone with a bride who changed the time of
her henna party. The original time was supposed to be 3-6 on
Saturday... this was set in June before I went on vacation. And b/c
I'm a sucker for brides and she's just relocated from NYC to San
Diego I decided to charge her half my usual price.

Terrific I thought. Done by 6. I then got another offer for a high-
paying corporate gig for the same evening that starts at 8pm. No
problem. Although it is an hour's drive from the bride's house, I'll
have 2 hours so even if the party spills over a half hour (which they
usually do), I'll still get to the gig on time.

Then I got a call last week that the bride changed the time of her
party and the party will START at 6:30pm. Being a doormat, I told
her that at most I could henna for a half hour....but then I looked
at the map today and the corporate gig is very far away -- I'll be
lucky if it only takes an hour. So I called and told her that I had
to leave at 6:30, so I couldn't do her party. And she pitched a fit,
and said that all her guests were coming in from out of town and
they're all expecting mehndi...couldn't I call my other gig and tell
them that I'll be 15 minutes late or something.

No. I can't do that. And she starts to cry b/c she's so overwhelmed
with everything and she just wants her wedding to be perfect....

And I feel guilty. I offer to find another henna artist. She
doesn't want another henna artist whose work is unknown.

I told her I'd call her back tomorrow.

But I can't do her party at 6:30 b/c I don't want to miss my other
gig which is paying full rate (for 4 hours) and might lead to other
gigs. I'm furious that the bride switched the time of her party w/o
consulting my plans, but I feel some weird sense of obligation b/c I
promised her I'd do the party.

Please help me be strong!!!

My other frustration of the summer has been getting payment from the
resort where I've been doing henna every week-end since June. I
haven't been paid, yet. And as a result, I have no money int he bank
and can't register for school b/c I can't pay for my classes (the
University doesn't accept VISA cards...). Part of the problem is
bureaucratic -- the accounting dept. sat on my invoice through July
and then rejected it b/c it didn't have a special invoice number. So
I had to rebill. Then they lost the invoices and I had to rebill
again....but the fact remains that they owe me more than $1000 for
services rendered and I'm totally broke and have to take a leave of
absence for this semester.

Grrr. And I met the owner of a salon who had said she wanted a henna
artist and when I spoke with her she tried to get me to go to
cosmetology school to be a manicurist! She said she would definitely
hire me to do manicures and pedicures....but I don't WANT to do
manicures. I want to do henna; that's why I've been doing henna for
the past 5 years instead of pursuing a cosmetology license...

OK. Gotta go give my diabetic kitty his shot. Thanks for listening
to my whining. The spouse tries to be helpful (which doesn't help),
but doesn't really understand.

 


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