Over the weekend I called not one, not two, but three ladies to schedule appointments. Two of the ladies assured me, when I called, that they were no more than 15 minutes away from their hotel. The first lady said it would take her a half-hour to get ready after she arrived, so I could time my arrival at the hotel parking lot for 45 minutes later. And that's where I was, 45 minutes later . . . and I sat in that parking lot for another half-hour, calling and texting this 1st lady until I finally left. 15 minutes later I texted her again, at which point she finally responded by saying, "I was there 10 minutes ago, where were you?" So she was 40 minutes late and didn't even care to apologize or even acknowledge her lateness. The 2nd lady (same town, different hotel) I contacted -- after leaving the hotel parking lot of the 1st lady -- led to a similar result: she was en route to the hotel, would arrive in a half-hour, and needed only 5 minutes to get ready. An hour later she hadn't responded once to my 2 calls and 2 texts. Hat trick: 3rd lady, different day, this provider was an hour's drive from me. When I was 5 minutes out from her place she called me to tell me that her previous appointment had just shown up and she needed to push my appointment back an hour. I asked her why she didn't tell the other guy that he had to wait an extra hour since he was the one who was late, and this lady replied that he was a regular of hers. Okay then, I asked her why she had waited until 5 minutes before our scheduled appointment to call me, and she said because when he didn't show up on time she figured he was a no-show. I pointed out that since he was 55 minutes late to his appointment, he was a no-show, especially since he hadn't even called her to tell her he was coming late. (If he had called her to tell her he was coming late, she should have called me to let me know that I could show up later myself.) She seemed a bit irritated (!) and said, "Since you're almost here anyway, you could just stick around the area and if he finishes early I'll call you." Here's my gripe: Yes, many men are no-shows, or show up late to appointments. Or travel delays happen while ladies are driving to their hotels (or they deliberately under-estimate the time it will take them to get there, so that the client doesn't call another provider instead). Why do so many ladies seem to assume that it's okay to jerk guys around when it comes to starting on time? Before there were cell phones and text messages, maybe it was difficult just to call a guy and say, "I'm running late, so if you still want the appointment it won't start before X time." But now? . . . It's not even rudeness, it's also bad business. The third lady, by the way, offered me a small discount off her usual half-hour fee (a Jackson), but why on earth would I give her another opportunity to waste a couple of hours of my day? . . .