Getting interupted by staff in the middle of a treatment?

[Lavander Rose]

Hello everyone.


I need some help and advice :cry:

I have started to rent a room within a hairdressers 2 months ago, so far its been going great, staff are lovely and we all seem to get along ok,.

The problem ive got at the moment is,, Today I was doing a Reflexology treatment with a New Client, I had 15 minutes left to do on the treatment when there was a knock on the door, which I ingnored as i dont and wont be disturbed during a treatment,.,. Hence i do have a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

As you can imajine I was furious and lost my temper a bit BUT dont regret it as I think i am right.

What would you do if you was disturbed by a member of staff whilst doing a treatment??

All comments would be most appreciated as i have now got to have a chat with the owner on Tuesday as I left work this afternoon feeling a wi bit annoyed.

 

[Kim Lawless]

I agree with your views but you shouldn't have lost your temper in front of the client. This would have ruined her treatment.

What were they knocking for?

 

[Lavander Rose]

Hi

Thankyou for replying so quickly.

I was annoyed at one of the members of staff who knocked on the door.

I had 15 minutes left of the treatment when she knocked on the door, knowingly that I had a client in.

The reason for knocking on the door was that a gentlemen wanted gift vouchers and as there was none left at the desk they interrupted my 1 hour treatment of reflexology to ask for the gift vouchers which I have locked away, ( they ran out of them at the front of the hair salon )

The lady was so relaxed at the time then the knock on the door startled her and she woke up leaving me red in the face and having to appoligise for the interuption.
I was just about to get her a glass of water when I was asked can you get the vouchers for this bloke I said yes but i am still with my client and asked if he could wait 5 more minutes in which I had to do this while my client was still in the room and again I had to appoligize.

This client has booked for a 6 week course I am now hoping she will come back.

I iknow the staff probablly thought it was another potential client but knocking on the door quite loudly too that was out of order in my book.

The bloke got his gift vouchers and the client did book in again, but who is to say she will turn up next week?

I told one of the lady,s who own the hair salon that I was furious that I was disturbed and clearly made my point about it, and to top it all the guy was very arragant to which did not help but i did appoligise for his wait to and explained that i was with a client.

Now i have got to face it all on Tuesday .

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

I couldn't agree with you more for being annoyed at having the treatment interrupted, but I also don't think it is fair for the gentlemen to be kept waiting 15 minutes to get his gift voucher.

I'm not saying this is your fault, but the staff on the front dest should have ensured at the beginning of the day that vouchers etc.... were fully stocked. This way they would not have needed to disturb you and your client.

To remain on good and comfortable speaking terms with the other staff, politely suggest that all stock is up to date prior to commencing work so that interruptions can be avoided in the future. This way there should be no hard feelings for anyone and you can all move forward.

 

[Urban Geek]

I understand you being annoyed at being interruped during a treatment but you cannot blame the hair staff solely. It is obviously a teething problem.

I think you need to brief the hair staff fully of what you expect from them. You would have been just as annoyed if they told the customer they didn't have any vouchers for your services and that they would need to come back at another time.

When renting space or a room you really need to think of all possibilities that may arise.

I think you should perhaps apologise for losing your temper, particularly when you are in part to blame and afterall you do need the staff working in the salon to be on your side.

A little piece offering like a box of biscuits will go a long way in bringing back harmoney. Good luck!

 

[Bombalurina]

My immediate thought was that you're renting a room in a hairdressers...I'm suprised you're not constantly disturbed by hairdryers and the like!! In all the time I was in salons, I never had a soundproofed room, and there was always the possibility of hearing someone walk past, or a client slamming a door elsewhere in the salon. These things can't always be avoided, and although the staff member involved obviously made a mistake (in your eyes) by knocking on the door mid-treatment, as someone else has already stated, you would have been even more annoyed at lost business if this gentleman had been told to go away for 15 minutes and come back later!

You have to try to think of the other staff member in this situation; what should she have done? Lost you business, or interrupted you for a minute? She obviously thought she was doing the right thing.
Don't be so hard on her, I felt that losing your temper was a bit of an over-reaction (Don't mean to offend here, apologies if I do). If it was me, I would ask that they make sure the reception is well stocked with your necessary leaflets, gift vouchers etc...but remember that they are YOUR gift vouchers...so it is also your responsibility to check this too! As an alternative, can they not use a hairdressing gift voucher, and write the appropriate treatment in? Not ideal, but it would solve both problems temporarily; the gentleman would have got his gift voucher in a timely manner, and you would have not been interrupted!

I wouldn't worry about your lady coming in again, I'm sure a knock at the door won't put her off, especially as you apologised there and then. Clients do tend to be very understanding of situations such as these, and I'm sure you'll take the necessary precautions to ensure it does't happen again!

Ps; Agree with Urban Geek, biscuits are the key to harmony!

 

[fiona wallace]

I agree with most of the advice you have been given. When running a business, mistakes will always happen and it is your responsibility to ensure that they won't be repeated.

From your post it appears that it's not the staff's responsibility to ensure that they are stocked up with your vouchers? You can now re-think how this system works and come up with a better one to ensure this doesn't happen again.

I'm sure the staff member thought she was doing the best thing for your gentleman client and you?

The lady will have enjoyed 95% of her treatment hopefully, so I expect she will give you another try and give you the opportunity to deliver 100%

There are 5 unhappy people in this scenario :-

A) The Salon Owner/Manager who may be a bit annoyed with your attitude, particularly directed at her staff when it's hard enough trying to keep them happy and motivated.

B) The member of staff who was only trying to help your gentleman client.

C) Your gentleman client.

D) Your reflexology client (is she really that unhappy?)

E) YOU.

You now have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes that have been made and have your own future business work better and build an even better working relationship with the owner and staff. Know that these things happen, getting angry doesn't fix anything it only makes things worse, as has happened here.

Get the biscuits, apologise, explain why you were upset and then say....'let's talk about how we can make sure this doesn't happen again'.

See this as an opportunity Good Luck!

 

[fiona wallace]

It would be great to get an update on how this all worked out