Mom Request # 1: Please Respect My Time

I should have known the moment I walked into the salon. One of the three televisions was blaring ESPN. One TV in the back shouted "The View." I came in with my daughter to get her hair "did" before the school year started. We had an appointment, but we were early.

We sat. Two stylists were with customers. Neither looked up. No one said "Hello, be with you in a few minutes."

This was my first visit, so we tried not to jump to conclusions.

One stylists was straining her neck to hold her cell phone to her ear while she hot curled a customer's hair. She chatted--to the cell phone caller. Eventually she finished. Then she started talking on another call.

After we'd waiting ten minutes past our appointment time with no acknowledgment, I called another salon, secured an appointment and we walked out.

Sadly, in some businesses there seems to be a smugness that suggests that customers will accept any kind of treatment. A simple greeting would have bought them at least ten more minutes. A short explanation that they were running behind and would be with me shortly would have bought them 20 minutes.

Instead, they didn't care. Maybe business is so good for them that one lost customer isn't a big deal. But chances are, I'm not the only lost one.

A new survey by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says that women all over the world feel stressed and overextended. With limited time to balance our responsibilities, we want to feel like it is well used. Sitting in a salon, being ignored --that wasn't the way.