Another First

I got fired by a client yesterday. Sadly, I understood where he was coming from, because circumstances had made me appear like a huge flake to him, before we had ever even had one session.

Prior to his first consultation, when we spoke on the phone, I apparently misunderstood him. He said that the time and day we had discussed seemed perfect, but that he would double check his schedule and get back to me. I missed all that, and besides that, he never got back to me to say aye or nay anyway. So I just scheduled that day and time, as normal. When I showed up at his door he was obviously surprised, but despite that, he was eager anyway, so we did the consultation.

During the consult we discussed a Tuesday evening and Friday morning schedule, but what I totally missed (again) was that for the first week we would begin on the Friday. I called him Tuesday afternoon to confirm that evening's appointment, and he reminded me that he wanted to start on Friday. I had no recollection of this, but we laughed it off.

Then Friday morning I was miserably sick. My throat was totally swollen and my sinuses were working on overdrive and creating a nasty raspy cough. He had to have heard it in my voice, but regardless he hung up on me while I was in the middle of my apology.

To sum up, twice I made errors that were harmless and in his favor, and once I had to call in sick. Seeing as how all of this makes up the of majority his first impression of me, I didn't come off looking too good.

Tuesday, again, I called to confirm. He called me flakey, unprofessional and said that he would be looking for a new trainer.

Dang.

I could see how it looked, and offered apologies, but no excuses. I offered to recommend him to someone else, and he declined.

Between him and the wifey that I dropped, I'm now down by $200 per week.

Better get those ads running again.

COMMENTS:

Haha. Yes, Ed, I do. the issue on the first two was that when I chatted with him, he gave me maybes, and not definites, but I missed the maybe part and put him into ical anyway. So, apparently ical was part of the problem, not the solution.
The third one was just a straight up cancellation. He just plain didn't like that so much.
Joey 02.15.07 - 9:43 pm

Joey, you should try ical.
Hagler 02.24.07 - 2:23 am

Sounds like all his maybes were a bit on the flakey side....but oh well. If he's gonna fire you cause you didn't want to infect him, fvck him in his stupid ass. But that doesn't put money in your pocket, does it?
AmBam 02.24.07 - 12:00 pm

A First

Today, I had to dump a client for the first time. It's not something I enjoyed, but it was completely necessary.

See, this client has a husband. This husband is a little taller than me and probably outweighs me by a good thirty to forty pounds of muscle.

That, in and of itself, is not my issue. My issue with him is that he clearly had HUGE issues with me.

At the initial consult I walked in the front door, and was greeted warmly by the client with a handshake and introductions. A moment later He walked in. He looked jovial until he made eye contact with me and his face contorted to a look that said without words "what the fvck?!"

Immediately, not two seconds in to working with this woman, her husband was triggering my fight or flight response. My knees slightly bent, my hands tightened towards a fist shape. Whatever he was going to do, I was ready.

He turned his gaze to her with that same look. She tried to laugh it off and explained that I was her new trainer. His answer to that was the same face accompanied by "what the fvck do you need a trainer for?"

She pointed out her belly and again tried (unsuccessfully) to laugh him off. His anger seemed to defuse the tiniest little bit. With a still slightly furrowed brow, he turned his eyes back on me and said "she's not going to listen to a damn thing you say anyway." And with that he stormed off into the garage.

I should have addressed it right then, before she hired me, but I figured he wouldn't always be there, or at the very least she would have a talk with him about his behavior around me.

We had her first session yesterday and he kept poking his head in. At first he was just making snide remarks about how he could train her himself, and she was being silly and blah blah blah. Then it moved into him telling her this or that was wrong with her form, or she shouldn't work so hard because she'll be too sore for work later that day.

As a result of all his interference I was distracted and unfocused and so was she, and her workout was probably the worst session I have ever given any client in the past few years. I left her house a little angry, until I realized that it's not my problem. I am in control of my situation, not them. It was obvious that they have some huge issues, one being trust on his part. I don't have to put myself in that position, so I decided not to.

Today I dumped her via email. I gave her the above reasons, but in a shorter and less personal form. I feel kind of bad. In the email I was tempted to suggest that they discuss what that was all about, but that is not my place. I'm not their shrink.

Maybe the guy just watches too many movies. You know, you always see those affluent, bored wives who start screwing their trainer or their gardner, or their poolboy or something. Little did he know that not only did I not find his wife attractive, but I'm already pretty heavily invested in a lady-friend of my own.

I did learn a valuable lesson though. When I see warning signs during the first consultation, do NOT pick up that client.

COMMENTS:

found it...you were right, it was obvious.
Kim 02.06.07 - 4:26 pm

Admit it. . .you touched her boobs.
Hagler 02.06.07 - 6:13 pm

I think you hit the nail on the head with the "seen too many movies" thing. And, while it's more likely the guy is just an ass, maybe she has hired herself a plaything or two before, so when your pretty self walked through the door...what abusive asshole of a husband wouldn't be threatened? And we also know that logical thoughts (like why would you risk professional and physical harm to mess around with a less than topgrade married lady) are wasted on a possessive mind. If nothing else, you were gonna make the guy look bad. I bet the time while you were there, and the ensueing fights, were the biggest chunks of time he'd spent with her in ages.
AmBam 02.06.07 - 6:50 pm

It is also not customary to have the client sitting on your lap while doing curls. Shame on you Joseph...
Crohn 02.06.07 - 6:51 pm

HAHAHA. God, I love you guys.
She must have picked up on my discomfort. Her reply was simple:
"I understand."
I wonder what chaos is ensuing at their house as I type this. And, Amber, I hope that he is just possesive and not actually abusive. :-(
Joey 02.06.07 - 9:43 pm