Special clients

[tanfastic]

Have you ever had a client that just touches your heart?
I had a spray tan yesterday afternoon with a new client.I was there for nearly two hours, she has had such a tough time and is so lonely, she's been here four months and lives in constant pain. I think the only contact she has with others is beauty treatments. I just had to give her a huge hug and she cried. I had to tell her off because we didnt want a lovely tan with tearstreaks. At least that got her laughing. Her family all live in Kent and her partner works abroad, she has come here to live in his house due to all her health issues. My heart went out to her:cry:

I am worried about her and am wondering if I should keep in touch with her or include her in some of my personal activities like inviting her to come and walk the dogs with me just to get her out of the house and some human contact but don't want to come across as a wierdo iykwim

What do you think I should do?

 

[Steph41]

Ah that's lovely that you care so much (not enough people like you in this world) maybe you could send her a text and see what happens x

 

[crazybek]

I have many special clients that i love to see and here how theyre doing.
I have made friends with a select few over the years and they are amazing people.
One of my very very special clients passed away in April at only 44 years old but fought with every breath in her body right untill the end and made a point of coming to see me in the salon just a few weeks before she passed,even though she struggled to sit in the chair due to severe pain etc.On her wedding day her entire family came in with a photographer and we did the salon up to make it special!
I do love my clients

 

[Mobile Manicure]

I went to my favourite clients funeral yesterday. Apart from her son and husband, I was the only one blubbering like a mess. It's amazing how well you get to know someone when you see them for an hour every week for 3 years. I'm sure I knew her better than most of her family. She was an amazing lady and I miss her very much. :sad:

 

[tanfastic]

Oh how sad, I am sorry to hear but it is wonderful that you care so much. Lovely replies, thank you I think I will text her this evening to see if she is OK.
I have always been a big softy, always brought strays home, saved baby birds that fell from their nests, rescued a snake once, my dad eventually made the rule, NO RATS , NO SNAKES
I always befriended the outcasts and even now I always seem to attract people with big emotional issues. Thank goodness my husband keeps me grounded.
Maybe I was meant to be a therapist but not a beauty therapist, a mental health one. Ha Ha

 

[Christy.]

I've recently adopted myself a granny 😊 she came into work to get a new phone (my day job isn't beauty!) but she'd ordered one over the phone and it all got into a mess! Anyway, i went to hers to sort out her phone problems a few days later. She's 90 and lonely and she completely broke my heart. I treated her to some pretty nails and I'm off shopping for her later xx

 

[gr8nailz]

I think that's very sweet. I know this is going to come across as harsh; however, I think it unwise to become personally vested in the lives of our clients. It's emotionally destructive. We must remind ourselves that we can only dedicate ourselves to them for a set amount of time and then we have to let them go.

A very wise business woman in the industry told me years ago after she thought I was wandering down that path, "Think of your clients as stray cats. Collect too many of them and you're going to be overwhelmed. It's better to leave them where you found them."

 

[Christy.]

I go and visit her in my spare time, I know that giving up an hour of my time is going to make the world of difference to hers

I agree though, i'm not adopting anymore!xx

 

[gr8nailz]

I go and visit her in my spare time, I know that giving up an hour of my time is going to make the world of difference to hers

I agree though, i'm not adopting anymore!xx

Adopting.....LMAO!!

 

[Planky1]

See, I find this hard as I'm a bit of a sucker for feeling the heart strings pull on occasion that leads to friendships where maybe they should have stayed professional or nothing at all. But I also agree with Tammie. It's a toughie because in this particular situation, I think I would do the same and say I'm taking the dogs out for a walk, would you like to join me? If I was worried about her mental state as well, my mind would start wandering off and I would take on that responsibility of the worry and would just have to at least try and get her out.

 

[gr8nailz]

Several years ago, one of my colleagues decided to befriend a client who was having "man troubles." I remember this client would come in, sit in the pedi chair and bawl her eyes out about her "boyfriend." In fact, she was gay.

Next thing I know, my colleague was going out with her for drinks. Then the client was over to her apartment for meals. They seemed to be BFFs, at least in the client's mind. My colleague thought she was just doing a good deed.

When this girl started showing up at the salon just to chat, my colleague had to tell her she was jeopardizing her job. The girl made a scene so dramatic, she was banned from the salon. She ended up vandalizing several cars in the parking lot and was arrested. She expected my colleague to bail her out of jail....she didn't.

When she was released, she made a bee-line to my colleague's apartment but when my colleague refused to allow her in, she threw a brick threw her window. She then proceeded to vandalize her car as well and was promptly arrested. She stalked my colleague relentlessly until my colleague finally resigned from the salon and moved away.

I will never allow a client access into my personal life. EVER.

 

[dandelionpoppy]

You sound lovely, but I am with Tammie on this.

I collect needy people left, right and centre. My husband can't believe how strangers will weave their way through a crowd to seek me out for help. He says I must have an aura of some sort....perhaps I've got a special smell..!
However, it can turn worrying. I knew someone, slightly, who latched on to me and became increasingly jealous of anyone else I knew. Another poor lady thought I was channelling her dead mother. She was later sectioned after a very violent incident - not involving me.My latest is an incredibly distant relative who somehow got my phone number and rings me several times a day. I haven't been able to answer the phone, and have relied on 1471. I've had to get someone to tell her I've gone on holiday; I'm just hoping she doesn't resume after "the holiday".

I don't want to assume your lady is like this. But be careful. After all, do you really know her, and her history?

 

[Planky1]

You sound lovely, but I am with Tammie on this.

I collect needy people left, right and centre. My husband can't believe how strangers will weave their way through a crowd to seek me out for help. He says I must have an aura of some sort....perhaps I've got a special smell..!
However, it can turn worrying. I knew someone, slightly, who latched on to me and became increasingly jealous of anyone else I knew. Another poor lady thought I was channelling her dead mother. She was later sectioned after a very violent incident - not involving me.My latest is an incredibly distant relative who somehow got my phone number and rings me several times a day. I haven't been able to answer the phone, and have relied on 1471. I've had to get someone to tell her I've gone on holiday; I'm just hoping she doesn't resume after "the holiday".

I don't want to assume your lady is like this. But be careful. After all, do you really know her, and her history?

Dande this is me!! But my husband isn't quite so tactful and just says I have a knack of attracting nutcases! I seem to get such needy people make a beeline for me and attach themselves and I'm such a softie and would do anything for anyone that I always try to help and put my heart and soul into it. This has got me in trouble so many times but I just can't stop it!! It's just who I am I guess....

 

[gr8nailz]

Carolyn and Claire, PM your addresses. I'm bottling up some of my b*tch pheromone for you two. It's a natural repellant.

It immediately eliminates all your warm fuzziness.

 

[Planky1]

Carolyn and Claire, PM your addresses. I'm bottling up some of my b*tch pheromone for you two. It's a natural repellant.

It immediately eliminates all your warm fuzziness.

Do you really think I'm that stupid???? You'll turn up here stalking me n all that jazz.....

 

[gr8nailz]

Do you really think I'm that stupid???? You'll turn up here stalking me n all that jazz.....

My plan has been foiled!!!

 

[Planky1]

My plan has been foiled!!!

:lol: :lol:

 

[lindseym631]

Dande this is me!! But my husband isn't quite so tactful and just says I have a knack of attracting nutcases! I seem to get such needy people make a beeline for me and attach themselves and I'm such a softie and would do anything for anyone that I always try to help and put my heart and soul into it. This has got me in trouble so many times but I just can't stop it!! It's just who I am I guess....

Me too! (minus the husband though the voice is my internal voice of reason) so frustrating at times because you get 'caught in the moment' with compassion on forget the nutcases of your past!

 

[tanfastic]

Several years ago, one of my colleagues decided to befriend a client who was having "man troubles." I remember this client would come in, sit in the pedi chair and bawl her eyes out about her "boyfriend." In fact, she was gay.

Next thing I know, my colleague was going out with her for drinks. Then the client was over to her apartment for meals. They seemed to be BFFs, at least in the client's mind. My colleague thought she was just doing a good deed.

When this girl started showing up at the salon just to chat, my colleague had to tell her she was jeopardizing her job. The girl made a scene so dramatic, she was banned from the salon. She ended up vandalizing several cars in the parking lot and was arrested. She expected my colleague to bail her out of jail....she didn't.

When she was released, she made a bee-line to my colleague's apartment but when my colleague refused to allow her in, she threw a brick threw her window. She then proceeded to vandalize her car as well and was promptly arrested. She stalked my colleague relentlessly until my colleague finally resigned from the salon and moved away.

I will never allow a client access into my personal life. EVER.

You know Tammie, you are right and your previous post made a world of sense too. I wish someone had taught me earlier in my life that too many strays can overwhelm you, I think deep down I am concerned that it could become problematic as she is in a fragile state of mind and I have been latched on to before so I am a little cautious, hence asking the question hoping you more experienced geeks would advise me. I heve never invited a client into my private life before and am not that keen on doing it now but I do still feel for her and she keeps crossing my mind, I am home with hubby, dogs, chickens in the garden,everything hunky dory and then I remember she is home all alone and abandoned. My hens feel more loved than she does.
I think I will keep it strictly business as I could end up letting her take up too much of my time. and one thing I have learned over the years, customers never see you as an equal. No matter how many favors you do them, they end up taking it for granted and make you feel bad for not bending over backwards once that line has been crossed.

How horrible for your colleague, hope she ended up better off once she moved on

 

[tanfastic]

do you really think i'm that stupid???? You'll turn up here stalking me n all that jazz.....

lol