04.17.03
There are some interesting differences between life in a Chicago Saks-owned salon, and one not in Chicago, from what I understand and have been told.
The first time I visited Lincolnwood's Carson Pirie Scott Salon, a lady and her child walked into the salon around 12:50, for her appointment at 1:00. She was told that her stylist wasn't there yet, but would be shortly. She seemed cool with it.
20 minutes later, yes, 10 minutes after the appointment should have started, and 25 minutes or so after she should have already been at work, the stylist breezed, put her stuff away, came up front to collect her client, and then took her back to the styling area. Strangely, the client didn't really seem to mind.
Here, we are supposed to be at work 15 minutes before our shift starts, although getting here exactly on time isn't unheard of or particularly frowned-upon, as long as it doesn't happen all of the time. A great deal of the clients that come here have a snit if they have to wait five minutes while the stylist is finishing up their previous client, or expect the stylist to not care when they are ten minutes late for an appointment. And usually we don't, unless everyone is running late that day, which really throws a kink in the stylist's entire schedule.
When I went in to my new salon, to make up a work schedule, the manager told me that I could work whenever I wanted, and could come and go as I pleased. Being prompt and reliable didn't seem to be relevant to the scheduling. In fact, flipping forward two weeks in the appointment books to write me in them to work, no one was even on the books to work, although they presumably had scheduled shifts. And the appointment book only ran through the end of May, and there didn't seem to be another book lying around to write future appointments in.
Here, we have the books written out through Tuesday, October 21, and have the stylist names written in through the end of July. Standing appointment clients are also written in through the end of July. This is because most salons encourage pre-booking when the client leaves the salon, so that he or she is guaranteed to get in for a service exactly when they want it done. Otherwise they might have to wait several weeks after calling in later to make an appointment that will work in the books. People don't like to wait. And, at least here, we like to be able to flip through the books and see ourselves scheduled out over the next 6 weeks or so.
It also makes things more convenient for the stylists in the salon when they are booking appointments for other stylists. Here, I know Carol's schedule as well as my own. I know exactly when she has her standing appointments, and when she has her days off. But in a salon with more stylists, I probably won't know when people are going to be available.
I should not have to commit to memory the irregular schedules of others, and I will not schedule appointments for people that are not reliably available. If someone is coming in early or leaving early, it should be marked down on the books. And if I don't know if someone is going to work or not, both the potential client and the stylist are put at a disadvantage. The client doesn't know when or if s/he can come in, and the stylist could lose business because of a policy of lax scheduling.
Having the books written out in advance is also nice because people often want to schedule times for special events -- proms, weddings, etc. If a bride knows that she is going to have nine people needing their hair done early on a Saturday morning in June, she wants to make sure that all nine of them can get their hair done on that particular Saturday morning in June.
It is also convenient for the stylists to schedule their own activities on the appointment book. If Carol is going to be in New York for training May 12 - 16, those days are marked out on the books, and when people want to book then, you can see that she is unavailable and that you have to book them some other time.
So, change is going to come to the salon I will be working at in a couple of weeks. Other people may not always be on time, but I most certainly will. And you better bet that the appointment books are planned out ahead for more than a couple of weeks.
I just hope I don't ruffle too many feathers.
What's in your head?