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Following my column “Start on Time”, I received an email from my friend Maria. While she definitely agreed with the column, she also felt very strongly about people who arrive late for appointments or forget to show up for their appointment. Have you ever arrived late or forgotten an appointment? Did you think about what it meant to the person you had the appointment with?
Admittedly, I have missed appointments in my life. Involved in something, I completely lost track of time and missed the appointment, or inadvertently put in the wrong date when I entered it into my Blackberry. Then I’d spend the next three days totally beating myself up!
Maria works for a lawyer in Ontario. She said, “What irks me at work are clients who come late for an appointment. This throws off the whole day. It punishes all the rest of the clients who arrive on time and have to wait because of someone else's inconsideration. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! “
I was discussing this with my nail tech. She had equally strong feelings. She sends out a text message the day before to remind clients of their appointment, yet still they either don’t show up or arrive late. She’s a busy tech and an appointment lasts an hour. If someone arrives late, she can’t take them and they become annoyed. Not a happy situation for her or the client. It also represents a financial loss to her every time a client doesn’t show up.
Twenty-one to thirty-one percent of doctors’ appointments are missed in the United States. Depending on their practice, this represents a financial loss of $100 - $500 per day. It also means another patient who may have desperately needed that appointment you missed had to book a later date.
Despite the fact that arriving late or completely missing an appointment is truly a social no-no, it seems to be a normal occurrence.
Let’s face it; eventually you’re going to miss an appointment, for whatever reason. Now what do you do about it?
- Phone as soon as you become aware you’ve missed the appointment and apologize profusely and sincerely.
- Accept personal responsibility, and don’t give a bunch of lame excuses.
- Pay the person anyway. It shows respect for the person’s time and it will definitely help you remember any future appointments.
- If you need to change an appointment, do it as far in advance as possible.
- If you’re caught in a traffic jam or something else out of your control on the way to your appointment, phone and explain. Ask if it’s okay to still come or if it would be better to make another appointment.
Much to my chagrin, I missed a couple of massage appointments over the years. Besides feeling like a jerk, I made sure to pay for the appointments. It was too late for her to book anyone else. That’s a lot of money for nothing. I haven’t forgotten since!
Mary Anthes is a retired business owner, speaker and a Distinguished Toastmaster. She can be reached at nmanthes@shaw.ca.
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