Made with Love

Going overtime with your SP

jumpingjackflash

Reviewer
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
2,940
I was reading about a situation on another board and I would like to bring the topic here without any names of course.

The situation is, you have booked an hour with your favorite SP. The time goes over, lets say by about thirty-five minutes or so. The SP at this point gets up to go shower and before she leaves she asks you for a two hour donation instead of one.

What do you do, pay for the extra hour or refuse on the grounds that no mention of the time extension was agreed upon?

I for one choose the latter. Unless I ask for the extra time, I will not agree to pay for the extra time, although I may consider a tip, unless that extra time was only chit chat time.
 
Interesting situation JJF.

In my situation, I've gone over with Indies and they have not asked for anything extra. Part of the allure of Indies for me is that they don't have someone on the other end of the phone pressuring you to get client out because the next client is waiting; this also goes with having some downtime to freshen up and give the kitty a bit of a break. The indies that I've seen have gone over on occassion but I also respect that they have to make a living and I'm usually the one to point out that are time is up; if they aren't worried about getting me out the door, then all is good, but I still have their time consideration in the back of my mind.

For Agency girls, they have their bookers making their appointments. I'm more cognizant of their time and schedule and rarely go over.

I guess my point to your situation is this; she's a repeat and there's a reason why you repeat. If this situation has come up where you go over and she hasn't asked for anything additional then I'm not sure of why she asked for it this time, perhaps she was a little miffed at you staying, but she is equally responsible for managing the time you spend together, in fact, more so. On the other hand, 35 minutes is a little long to be going over without either of you saying something regardless of chit chat time or getting down and dirty time.

I'm guessing that you won't be repeating with her anytime soon ?
 
I usually keep track of the time and I also expect the SP to do the same. I would not pay the extra if we haven't agreed on it, especially if it was talk time.
 
A situation like this would be a big problem for me as I only bring with me the exact amount of the session. I also keep glancing at my watch to make sure I keep within my time, not blowing to early or not having enough time to go through all the services.
 
Considering I usually book many of my appointments for only 30 minutes, I too am very cognizant of the time. I have been told on occasion not to hurry, no one after me, but that was an invitation, which I assumed no extra money was expected by the SP.
 
For me, money's not really the issue - the split between agencies and indies is about 80/20. This being the case, even though it's rare I book less than 3 hours, I am always very focused on finishing up the action, cleaning myself up, and making for the door right on the nose of 3hrs. I've found many of the girls don't really have much down time between appointments once the cleaning of the room/bed linens, bath/shower area is done, she showers to freshen up, redoes and her hair, makeup, clothes etc. Most of the ladies would like 5 continuous minutes to grab a bite & a drink, catch their breath, grab a smoke maybe, and reset for the next encounter. I find I feel guilty if I run over time and sense I might be putting the lady in ackward situation where she'd like me to be gone so she can get on with the above logistics, but doesn't want me as the paying customer to feel bum-rushed out the door.

I'd also feel bad if the next guy was standing on the street for 20mins cooling his heels due to my lazy ass humping along at a leisurely pace, knowing its the lady that'll be stuck with his annoyance long after I'm gone whistlin' down the block.

I take it upon myself to be aware and respectful of the session's time limits so everyone goes home happy with no resentments whatsoever.
 
Personally I have a bit of a different take on it, I don't believe it's the clients responsibility to manage time, the responsiblity should rely on the shoulders of the service professional. I think this is something that isn't unique to this industry either, when I deal with an accountant, a lawyer, anyone that is providing billable hours it's up to them to let me know in advance what I will be billed and to manage their time accordingly.
The smaller the account the larger the burden is to stick to the timeline as provided, eg. if I go to a personal tax advisor and am looking at getting my taxes done they will tell me it's only $200 to file. Now in the middle of it they realize they misquoted because I have several expenditures that I had not previously explained and they will need to file several different forms on my behalf requiring additional time making the total cost $350. This is a substantial change in cost and I would expect them to approach me before moving forward with this or I might not pay the additional fees as I had not previously agreed to them.
If I approached the same tax accountant with an RFP for my large multi-national corporation which needs it's taxes filed I would expect it would require a team and many hours of work. Lets assume the proposal comes in at $100k in billable hours for his team (I like round numbers). Now as a large project goes on it's only natural that some overtime is going to happen at 'crunch time' but one would expect they would not come to the me the client for approval on each billable hour as that would be poor customer service "excuse me sir, do you approve this $400 additional on your 100k project?" ;) but rather they would only burden the client at a certain level or %. Otherwise if the account was important enough and they wanted the ongoing business they would compare the costs and look at where they made the error in the proposal process and consider whether they should comp the additional service or not.

In regards to the specific issue at hand, I will not speak to it. I wasn't there, I didn't see the communications and I don't know the details as none of us do. There are so many variables at play in these types of situations we really can't know what is best and each situation needs to be looked at individually.

If the situation were to happen to me what would I do?

Well it has happened many a time and each time I've handled it differently.
Clients that I enjoy and want to see again I simply thank for spending so much time with me and tell them that I appreciated them wanting to spend that time with me and then walk out.

Clients that I think were 'angling' for additional time when I had clearly communicated the parameters I will let them know that their behaviour was unprofessional and that I will follow up with an email on how they can make the payment to make right on their debt. The key to this is that I am very clear that I communicate when one agrees to go 'overtime' since my date packages are flexible anyway it's a big difference so not hard to misconstrue (one doesn't book 6 hours and accidentally get 12 ;) ).

Clients where I think I made an honest mistake and I didn't communicate clearly enough for them, I chalk it up to my mistake and simply walk out. It's the cost of doing business and asking them for the money is just going to put them in an awkward situation. Instead I'm not out any overhead, just a bit of time which I can spare and in the end I've invested in a bit of goodwill and relationship building which goes a long way anyway. Next time I can manage my time better and they will understand and just like the person that writes the proposal and needs to look at where they went wrong I need to look at my process and see if there was something I didn't allow enough time for, perhaps I need to change the 2hour min. to a 3 hour min. or need to ask him to shower before I arrive, something to save a little time. :)
 
Like any other business the paying customer should be told when time is up and up to him to decide if he wants to continue. The seller cannot assume the buyer know simple common sense.
 
Since the OP is referring to a thread I started on another board, I feel I should clarify a few things.

First, I will say that I have now put this issue behind me, and don't really wish to make more of a deal of it than it is. I felt taken advantage of when it happened and it left a sour taste in my mouth for a day or two, but I've since gotten over it, and decided to give that client the benefit of the doubt and to take my share of responsibility for how the evening unfolded. As I also said in that thread that the OP is refering to, the world seems a much nicer place to live in when you don't assume the worst of other people, and that's how I've since chosen to look at this evening.

As for the situation at hand, I had been communicating extensively through emails with the client in preparation of our date, and we had agreed on a two hours date, which was to involved meeting at the bar of his hotel and me pretending to be a civilian picking him up and inviting myself to his room. It was crystal clear that this time at the bar was "on the clock". He had expressed a few time by email the possibility of extending for an extra hour should the date go well, and I had informed him of the rates for the initial two hours, and for any additional hour should he decide to extend.

Once we got to the two hours mark, and since I didn't get any signals (verbal or otherwise) from him that he wanted me to leave, I took it to mean that he indeed wanted to extend for an extra hour as he had initially suggested. That was my mistake, and in insights, I should have clearly asked instead of assuming. But I didn't, and when came the time to leave and collect my envelop, he denied having "agreed" to the additional hour. I didn't want to make a scene about it and to completely ruin what had been a nice evening, and left with the donation for two, rather than the three hours I spent with him.

Live and learn as the kids say.
 
Yes Gen live and learn and learn again it may happen to you once more cause you have a kind heart and have faith in people. The Asshole knew what he was doing and took advantage of your trust.
 
GenevieveLajoie said:
Since the OP is referring to a thread I started on another board, I feel I should clarify a few things.

Live and learn as the kids say.

Gen, I remember posting this link in a review I recieved once - perhaps you'll appreciate the humor right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odxM_oJLF3A

The fact is that when one is addressing a specific situation on a board something is lost everytime, those that are not directly involved are not aware of the specific facts and though some discussion is helpful when dealing in this industry the need for discretion and privacy limits the information that is available thus negating some of the situational advice. General information can be given but addressing a specific situation is almost impossible as too much information is left out, not to mention the usual 2 sides of a story issue as we all have our own viewpoint as well. :)

Anyway I thought you'd appreciate the link.
 
Beenthere123 said:
Yes Gen live and learn and learn again it may happen to you once more cause you have a kind heart and have faith in people. The Asshole knew what he was doing and took advantage of your trust.
As I said, I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt. If anything, the discussion that unfolded in the thread on the other board and the comments made by a few people whose opinions I respect suggested to me that what I thought was obvious may not have been to him.

So far, I've done quite well by giving people the benefit of the doubt, and in two years in this business, it was the first time that I was in a position where I felt taken advantage of. If that's the price to pay to live in a world where I don't assume that everyone is an asshole trying to rip me off, I'm ready to pay that price. Which is not to say that I wouldn't act differently if a similar situation came up again. But I refuse to change my outlook on life just because of what is, in the grand scheme of things, something relatively insignificant.
 
Kyra.Graves said:
Personally I have a bit of a different take on it, I don't believe it's the clients responsibility to manage time, the responsiblity should rely on the shoulders of the service professional. I think this is something that isn't unique to this industry either, when I deal with an accountant, a lawyer, anyone that is providing billable hours it's up to them to let me know in advance what I will be billed and to manage their time accordingly.
The smaller the account the larger the burden is to stick to the timeline as provided, eg. if I go to a personal tax advisor and am looking at getting my taxes done they will tell me it's only $200 to file. Now in the middle of it they realize they misquoted because I have several expenditures that I had not previously explained and they will need to file several different forms on my behalf requiring additional time making the total cost $350. This is a substantial change in cost and I would expect them to approach me before moving forward with this or I might not pay the additional fees as I had not previously agreed to them.
If I approached the same tax accountant with an RFP for my large multi-national corporation which needs it's taxes filed I would expect it would require a team and many hours of work. Lets assume the proposal comes in at $100k in billable hours for his team (I like round numbers). Now as a large project goes on it's only natural that some overtime is going to happen at 'crunch time' but one would expect they would not come to the me the client for approval on each billable hour as that would be poor customer service "excuse me sir, do you approve this $400 additional on your 100k project?" ;) but rather they would only burden the client at a certain level or %. Otherwise if the account was important enough and they wanted the ongoing business they would compare the costs and look at where they made the error in the proposal process and consider whether they should comp the additional service or not.

In regards to the specific issue at hand, I will not speak to it. I wasn't there, I didn't see the communications and I don't know the details as none of us do. There are so many variables at play in these types of situations we really can't know what is best and each situation needs to be looked at individually.

If the situation were to happen to me what would I do?

Well it has happened many a time and each time I've handled it differently.
Clients that I enjoy and want to see again I simply thank for spending so much time with me and tell them that I appreciated them wanting to spend that time with me and then walk out.

Clients that I think were 'angling' for additional time when I had clearly communicated the parameters I will let them know that their behaviour was unprofessional and that I will follow up with an email on how they can make the payment to make right on their debt. The key to this is that I am very clear that I communicate when one agrees to go 'overtime' since my date packages are flexible anyway it's a big difference so not hard to misconstrue (one doesn't book 6 hours and accidentally get 12 ;) ).

Clients where I think I made an honest mistake and I didn't communicate clearly enough for them, I chalk it up to my mistake and simply walk out. It's the cost of doing business and asking them for the money is just going to put them in an awkward situation. Instead I'm not out any overhead, just a bit of time which I can spare and in the end I've invested in a bit of goodwill and relationship building which goes a long way anyway. Next time I can manage my time better and they will understand and just like the person that writes the proposal and needs to look at where they went wrong I need to look at my process and see if there was something I didn't allow enough time for, perhaps I need to change the 2hour min. to a 3 hour min. or need to ask him to shower before I arrive, something to save a little time. :)

Smart mind and a hot body to boot, thanks Kyra.
 
Kyra.Graves said:
Gen, I remember posting this link in a review I recieved once - perhaps you'll appreciate the humor right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odxM_oJLF3A

The fact is that when one is addressing a specific situation on a board something is lost everytime, those that are not directly involved are not aware of the specific facts and though some discussion is helpful when dealing in this industry the need for discretion and privacy limits the information that is available thus negating some of the situational advice. General information can be given but addressing a specific situation is almost impossible as too much information is left out, not to mention the usual 2 sides of a story issue as we all have our own viewpoint as well. :)

Anyway I thought you'd appreciate the link.
Hahaha. Thanks for the link. Hilarious.

And yes, you are so right about the the need for discretion limiting the usefulness of feedback that can be given for any specific situation. When I posted the thread, I was very careful to limit the details I was sharing and to provide only a very sanitized and depersonalized synopsis to protect that client's identity, but also to avoid him feeling "exposed" if he was to ever stumble upon that thread (although I am positive that he is not (yet) a member of the board). It soon became clear that without those more "personal" details, all the feedback I was getting and the speculations on his motivations were only of limited use for this specific situation. Which is also why I tried to stear the discussion away from speculations on his motivations or character -- not only is it unfair to him I think, but it's also pointless.

That being said, the feedback I got made me reconsider a thing or two, and if nothing else, it helped me think about the situation from a different perspective which I don't think I would have been able to see by only talking with other SPs.
 
CallmeMatt said:
Gen why did you not ask for money in the beginning?.
I wrote a reply, but decided to delete it because frankly, I'd rather not go in details and start this whole conversation over again. I wasn't sure whether to ignore this thread or not, but having been around boards for a while now, I thought it would be best to at least clarify the situation that prompted the OP's post. But I would really prefer to just let it go.

It's over, what is done is done, life moves on, lets see some titties.
 
CallmeMatt said:
Gen why did you not ask for money in the beginning?.

That's a good point. I always provide the donation first, although in your situation during the role play, this may have been a little awkward.

I think my point was getting to what Gen and Kyra are basically saying, in that, the SP is running a business and charging for services rendered on an hourly basis; the oness lies primarly with them. I hate to say that there are some hobbiests out there that try to get more bang for their buck; I'm a clock watcher but only bcs I don't want to go over my time and put the SP in a compromising position, not because I want to squeeze every minute out of the session.

I remember the thread Gen, and you were nothing but professional in it. Kudos to you.
 
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