TODAY I FIRED A CLIENT.
Today, I fired a client.
We had our first argument before I even met him.
He called to book a yoga class, and I referred him to the pricing schedule.
He asked for the group rate, but wanted a private class.
I told him what the 1 on 1 rate was, and he agreed to it.
We booked a time.
He called again to ask if we would be alone, and I said yes, it’s a private class.
He called again to ask if we would have our own room.
I said we would have the studio to ourselves.
He asked for photos of the ‘room.’
At this point the hairs on my neck were starting to prickle.
He called again and asked me exactly what we would we doing.
I replied that he booked a yoga class, so we would be doing a warm up, yoga poses and a meditation at then end.
He said, ‘ok, thank you sweetie.’
He called again to make payment arrangements and called me ‘Lovie’.
I asked him to paste the proof of payment into our WhatsApp chat to confirm his booking. 8 days, I’m still waiting.
At this point I felt I needed to set some boundaries, so I messaged him and told him there will be no funny business, asked him why he was calling me ‘sweetie’ and ‘lovie’ and asking so many questions about what we will be doing in the private space.
He replied that he always talks like that, that he is married and has a daughter. As if that makes him safe, somehow?
Also, his profile picture is of a sports car. Immediate red flag, in my experience.
This is the challenge so many women face in business.
Today I cancelled the appointment.
Not because I didn’t need the money.
R550 is always welcome in my bank account.
Not because he was unpleasant to me. In fact he was too pleasant…too familiar.
I cancelled it because I got tired of humouring his frequent phone calls.
I got tired of waiting for a payment that never came.
I got tired of feeling an icky vibe.
But the main reason I cancelled him was that I felt unsafe.
I think this is the thing most men don’t realise. While he was enjoying chatting to a ‘nice lady’, I was wondering if I should keep the pepper spray close.
If he was going to make things uncomfortable in class.
It’s exhausting to stay professional when someone is constantly trying to get into your pants.
Was he just shy or was he a predator?
I was worried that he may try to overpower me, force himself on me. Afterall, he had gone to great lengths to ensure we would be alone.
Was this client worth the risk or should I trust my intuition?
So aside from the business concerns that we all face…time-wasters, non-payment, unconfirmed appointments…women also have to face this:
AM I SAFE?