I'm a self-employed personal trainer. One of my clients has been late on a regular basis for quite a while. I'm very flexible with her, as with all my clients. My contract says a session cancelled or moved with less than 24 hours' notice still counts, but I waive that rule in about 99% of cases. On Thursday at 9 pm, she messaged me to move her Saturday session because she was coming back from vacation. I don't answer clients every evening after 9, because I'm trying to keep work and personal life as separate as I can, so I replied Friday at 7 am. She said she was too tired to come Saturday morning, so I gave her Saturday afternoon. That matters, because Saturday afternoon is normally my time for family and friends. Since I started, it has been hard to carve out real days off, so it was a real effort on my part to let her train. Then, 10 minutes before the session, she texted that she'd be late. All my clients arrive 15 minutes early to warm up (we do the warm-up together beforehand), so we normally get a solid hour of work on the gym floor. I sent her a short message reminding her that lateness has been happening regularly for a while. She replied in an aggressive, guilt-tripping tone: "OK, fine, I just got back from vacation, you can understand." I told her I couldn't push the session back any further, because I had another client right after her, and that I shouldn't have to justify myself every time. She got angrier and basically gave me an order: "we'll do it next week then." I said no, the session was full for today and I was sorry. She just replied "ok". Afterwards I had to message her twice to get next week's session booked. Later that morning, after that brief exchange, I sent her a longer message. I explained what hasn't been working over the last two months, including her measurements and progress photos. They're often late, sometimes by more than a month, so I can't adjust her plan properly. I told her I do my best to support her, and that the way she spoke to me wasn't acceptable after I'd made the effort to move her session so she could train. Her reply was harsh. She said I made no effort at all, that as a client it's normal for me to free up my Saturday afternoon, and that I was just making excuses. She ended by threatening to stop working with me if I didn't like it. Honestly, that suits me. It's not about money. It's about enjoying my job and not ending up burned out because of this kind of client. I take my clients' progress to heart. I know some trainers stay detached from all this, but I can't, and I take things too much to heart. That's also why I don't take on too many clients even though there's demand: outside the gym, I'm usually at home working on meal plans, training plans and answering messages, and I want to do it properly for each person. I take my job seriously. I told her that I need mutual respect and a good relationship for the work to be effective, and that if she can't understand or make an effort on those points, I'm ready to end the contract myself. So: would you drop a client who is regularly late, doesn't value your time and speaks to you like this? Or would you keep trying? Thanks in advance.   submitted by   /u/Bubbly-Scale- [link]   [comments]