Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A Little Rant

You know what really annoys me?

When people make appointments, ones where they KNOW someone is making a special trip to be there, and then they don’t show. They don’t call, they don’t leave a message, they don’t apologize, nothing.

Currently, I’m sitting in one of my offices, about 30 minutes away from my “main” office, waiting on someone who desperately needed a copy of a return. Had to have it. Today. They need it for an appointment tomorrow, one they already had to reschedule from last week because they couldn’t find the copy of the return they got from their preparer when they filed.

She couldn’t live without it. Had to have it.

She’s 22 minutes late. For an appointment where she picked the time and location. Less than 48 hours ago.

I get it that sometimes, things really do come up at the last minute. A call from school means I can’t go get my hair done, I have to pick up the sick child. A flat tire means I can’t make it on time to the Doctor’s office. A phone call in one office means I leave 10 minutes late for an appointment with a client in another office.

And you know what I do? I grab my phone and make a quick courtesy call. I apologize. I offer to reschedule. I recognize that I selected a time, and that this person made time in their busy life to meet my needs. I recognize that I am the heel who blew it.

I know, I know. Sometimes, we just forget. Maybe we scheduled it way out there, and it slipped our minds. There are days that I swear it’s Tuesday all day long. Until I realize it’s Wednesday. We do it. I personally live and breathe by my Google Calendar- I can pull it up on my phone, laptop, desktop. Mine is shared with my BFF, boss, husband and mom. I can know within just a few minutes exactly where I’m supposed to be and when. Doesn’t mean I don’t mess up, but that’s a process that works for me!

How do you know where you’re supposed to be and when? And if you flub it up, do you call!?

(She’s now 40 minutes past appointment time. I am OUTTA HERE!)



  1. UGH I hate that what a pain and how rude!

  2. I once had a customer make an appointment at 10:30 on a Friday. Then he called to cancel it (which is fine). He rescheduled for 10:30 the following Tuesday. But then he was a no show. Then he showed up the Wednesday of the FOLLOWING week. It was for a 30 page booklet that he needed designed and printed for an event that weekend. AND he didn't get me the final materials until Friday morning. That one royally pissed me off.

    I'm with you on the Google calendar, especially now that it'll send email and text message reminders. And if I do make a mistake, I do call and apologize, because hey, I'll probably need to deal with them in the future.

  3. How rude!! I have a killer work schedule, but I set my Outlook calendar up to remind me at various intervals so that I am NEVER the person that just doesn't show up!!