u/mockingbird2602

Just curious how everyone is feeling about their book as we head into fall. I work in a med spa in Michigan. This time last year, I was seeing 10-15 patients a day every day I worked from Oct-Feb. So far this October, we’re lucky if we see 4-6. We’ve been having entire mornings or afternoons with zero clients. November is half empty, when past years it would’ve already been mostly full at this point.

How are things going for everyone else? Any trends you‘re noticing?

Our owner- who is not associated with any type of skincare licensing/physician/anything- is insisting our schedule for treatments is too long and needs to be adjusted. Currently, we do 30 minutes for IPL or laser hair removal if it’s on any body part except the legs. 60 minutes for microneedling the face, CO2 for the face (this includes the numbing time). 40 minutes for a dermaplane or chemical peel (chem peel includes a massage and mask).

Could some of you share how long you schedule these appointments for? We are responsible for doing our own charting, room clean/turnover, and we are booked back to back with no gap to account for that, so it’s included in our appointment time. We do not handle scheduling or checking customers out.

Im honestly a little shocked after getting off the phone with them. My car had wires chewed on by squirrels and I’ve lost power steering. Repair is $4k, so it’s basically bricked my car at this point. I pay for comprehensive coverage, and progressive is telling me they don’t cover rodent damage. Ive read thru my policy document and I don’t see where it says that’s not covered. Has anyone else had rodent damage covered by them or been told no? Not sure where to go from here!

I work in a small spa attached to a medical practice. We have largely been ignored as far as getting new supplies, new training, advertising, etc. A year ago, we had a fellow employee get moved up from a general position within the practice to a practice manager position. It was out of the blue, and a lot of people were not thrilled about it. She was not my direct manager, her co manager was, but obviously being a practice manager, we still worked closely with her and she was still our superior. Her co-manager has since left, so she has become my direct manager. When I tell you this manager has gone to absolute bat for our department, I’m not exaggerating. The company has been in chaos these past few months, with a majority of things falling to her, and she has still gotten me everything I’ve asked for to get my job done properly- additional admin hours, a marketing team, product refresh, training. Things that I have been asking for for years and never received. I’ve now been given the proper tools, time, support that will lead to me being more successful in my position.

I would like to find a good way to say thanks, that is appropriate but also shows just how thankful I am. I don’t want to come across as kissing ass, because I’ve got exactly what I want and have zero requests left, but I do want her to know her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Prior to her becoming a manager, we were on the same level, just different departments, and did have somewhat of a rapport. We’re the same age, if that matters.

Would it be inappropriate to gift her a box of pastries or a small desk airplant? A card seems too formal (and too kiss ass)- not sure what I would even write in there past “thanks”.

I have recently gone no contact with my mother after she immediately crossed a boundary I set. My mother has always been overbearing, slightly emotionally abusive, and selfish. She, of course, does not see herself this way. I have been distancing myself from her over the last few years, and she has become obsessed with either coming down to see me, or me coming home to visit. I have zero desire to do either. There was an incident recently where she demanded that I come home for an event, telling me I “will” be there, and she has repeatedly tried to plan a trip nearby to me casually mentioning she could just swing by for the day. I’ve made it clear that this is not happening/okay. She is used to getting her way with my younger siblings and father thru either putting her foot down, or throwing a fit/crying until people cave. I’ve been married to a woman for a few years now who does not take shit from anyone and does not tolerate people being disrespectful to me- it’s helped me learn what boundaries are and that I’m not a bad person for having them. This situation with my mother has been brewing for a long time, and this was just the straw that broke the camels back.

My wife and I travel to a specific spot twice a year, and have done for the last 3 years. We go in the same months each year as well. We have a trip coming up in September (6-12th). A couple months ago, my mother brought up that she wanted to go to this place on a certain weekend during September, when an event is taking place. We were already planning on being there for the event, so made a half ass effort to steer her towards a different event weekend (same event is happening then too), and the issue was dropped. A few weeks ago, she got more insistent on floating the idea of going (no plans were actually made, but she was looking at the weekend AFTER Labor Day- so 10-13th), because there are two events two nights in a row that she wanted to do (they take place thru all of August/September/October). She was very specific with the dates, via text. All of this was being presented in a way that I could tell she was fishing for information or an invite because those were the dates we went last year. My wife made an effort to dissuade her from that specific time (mother works for herself, and has Fridays off, so she could go anytime), but it didn’t work. We couldn’t tell if she knew when we were going (a mutual friend knew our dates but was unlikely to have shared that info), was guessing our dates based off previous years, or (least likely) was just picking a random time. After speaking to the mutual friend to see if they had said anything (they didnt), we decided we had two options. Continue to pretend we weren’t going at the same time, which seemed immature and too much work, or share our dates and make it explicitly clear that we did not want to be joined on our trip because this is a week for my wife and I to reconnect and my week to relax from an exceptionally high stress job (I made it clear that this was my preference), that we would appreciate it if she picked a different weekend because our plans were already purchased, and that if she decided to move forward with those dates, I would not be in contact with her and we would not be available for anything and we were to be left alone (this wouldn’t have happened and wouldve resulted in multiple texts every day asking us to join them for lunch/pool/dinner/etc- we don’t eat with them because we go to this place specifically to try foods, and my siblings won’t eat anything besides pizza and chicken nuggets, so everything is always about accommodation for that- mind you they’re early 20s). She said she understood, and we discussed going on a cruise over the Xmas holidays as a compromise. Thats where we left it. Here’s where I may be TA- I knew my mom wouldn’t be able to resist doing something stupid with the date info (my wife was optimistic but I know better), and honestly cutting contact has been a long time coming, so that was part of the motivation for just giving her the dates. I just wanted to see if she could resist or if she would take the rope to hang with instead.

The literal next day, my mom called me to let me know that they were going to the same hotel/place for vacation, except now it would be Sept 6-10th- overlapping more nights of our trip. She claimed it was the only time they could go, even though she had previously mentioned that the 10-13th was the only time she could go before.

I hung up on her, and sent her a text telling her that I was disappointed with her decision, that due to the circumstances of her choosing to be even more invasive on my vacation plans, I would not be attending a future event coming up with the family, that I did not want to be contacted by her, and that she should also not be contacting my wife. I then blocked her.

Since then, friends and family who are aware of the situation have said theyre honestly not surprised, and that they’ve seen it coming. That part does make me feel a little better. I’ve also heard that she’s telling people I said “some very mean things” to her, which my text was very factual and to the point, so I guess she’s interpreting that in an interesting way. My siblings are only getting her side of things, because I’m trying to keep things neutral for them (they’re extremely sheltered and can’t understand), so they keep trying to tell me to call her, or pass messages for her, and I can tell she’s used their phone to text as them a couple of times. She’s contacted my wife on social media, but she’s left things unread for the time being.

Ive honestly been feeling like a weight has been lifted, but at the same time, going no contact with a parent seems a little sucky.

So AITAH?

TLDR;mom changed her vacation dates to align more with mine after explicitly being asked not to, so I cut contact.

I work in a small spa attached to a medical practice. We have largely been ignored as far as getting new supplies, new training, advertising, etc. A year ago, we had a fellow employee get moved up from a general position within the practice to a practice manager position. It was out of the blue, and a lot of people were not thrilled about it. She was not my direct manager, her co manager was, but obviously being a practice manager, we still worked closely with her and she was still our superior. Her co-manager has since left, so she has become my direct manager. When I tell you this manager has gone to absolute bat for our department, I’m not exaggerating. The company has been in chaos these past few months, with a majority of things falling to her, and she has still gotten me everything I’ve asked for to get my job done properly- additional admin hours, a marketing team, product refresh, training. Things that I have been asking for for years and never received. I’ve now been given the proper tools, time, support that will lead to me being more successful in my position.

I would like to find a good way to say thanks, that is appropriate but also shows just how thankful I am. I don’t want to come across as kissing ass, because I’ve got exactly what I want and have zero requests left, but I do want her to know her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Prior to her becoming a manager, we were on the same level, just different departments, and did have somewhat of a rapport. We’re the same age, if that matters.

Would it be inappropriate to gift her a box of pastries or a small desk airplant? A card seems too formal (and too kiss ass)- not sure what I would even write in there past “thanks”.

Any insiders able to tell me what the discount is for Disney tickets? We’re debating paying the $95 fee just for that, but I can’t find any firm details on what the discount percentage actually is, just a lot of “up to” language.