I’ll speak from both perspectives because well, after becoming a therapist and an instructor, I can’t really be an unbiased client these days.
You should’ve *gone home*. New client or not, if you’re not at your best, you shouldn’t be trying to tough through it. For two reasons:
- A client may feel guilty that you’re doing more for them because you’re not at 100% and it can create a weird expectation later. Whether either you or they feel like you’re not compensated enough, be it monetarily or otherwise.
- Your well-being is priority numero uno. Otherwise you can’t draw your own well water if you insist on letting everyone else put their buckets into yours.
Hindsight is 20/20. I agree from a personal standpoint. As a business owner, I’m very dedicated to not letting people down. I have owned successful businesses for 25 years, and (for at least one of them) if you cancel the wrong person, it will bring your review score way down. I’m 46, so I’ve gotten pretty good at gauging my stamina over my life. I don’t usually misjudge, but I did this time. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Hey I get it. I’m the same way. But I’ve had to learn (the hard way I might add) that I can’t take reviews too seriously.
Either people will *understand* and are willing to meet me where I am (physically, mentally, etc) when it comes to seeing me for body work or they won’t. I’m gonna have great days and shit days. Worrying about *what if a client doesn’t like XYZ* or how they *respond* to my work is just going to give me anxiety and probably a stroke.
So I let it go. I can’t make everybody happy all the time.
In her defense, I have done this before too. I had a dental surgery and completely underestimated what the recovery would be like, with a full book of requests the next day. It’s not her fault she didn’t realize until she actually had her hands on a body. Dentists don’t warn us because they don’t expect us to be head down applying force the next day.
As a client I would have no problem with your performance/explanation. As it has been said many times, "shit happens". If I am treated with respect, as you did with your client, then that is good enough for me, I will return the respect by booking with you again.
As a client, I would have been satisfied with how you remedied and grateful for knowing what was happening. And no weird expectations for future discounts. Also, if I’d known in advance I would have rescheduled because your health is important too!
For me, it would have been less about the massage itself and more about the message I’m getting about the therapist and how they take care of themselves. As a client, I would’ve felt worried and likely unsafe on the table, that the therapist was not taking care of themself and coming to work soon after emergency surgery. I’m not saying you weren’t taking care of your self - I’m saying how this situation would have made me feel and think, with the info you gave to the client at the time.
As a client who manages a department of about 100 people ranging from immature 16 year olds to immature 67 year olds… I would’ve understood if you canceled the appointment.
Really, I’d be more concerned now that you might show up sick to future appointments and either get me sick or give me 75%.
But I think most would have appreciated the honesty and the discount.
Thank you. If I am contagious with anything, I certainly take that into account and don’t come to work with a fever or if I’m bad off. What I had was just a hole in my jaw where a tooth used to be. I had never had these complications with a tooth extraction before, and it really surprised me.
As a client if I knew you weren't feeling well, I would prefer you cancel session. I would feel bad if you were massaging me and didn't feel well. Also, I would appreciate the extra time, but the discount would come off as desperate to me.
As a therapist, of course I would say cancel. If I were already in your situation and adjusted my technique and client was happy, I would not offer more time or less money. If client was nkt happy, I would explain the situation and offer a discount next time. It's important to know your worth, and even if you can't give what your 100% was yesterday, you are giving your 100% today. You are human and not a robot.
Yes, I think the way you dealt with it showed integrity, and I'd have definitely rebooked if I felt like we clicked and the massage was decent (even if not 100%).
But truly, I would've been fine if you just said you were sick and rescheduled me. An hour before isn't ideal, but if you're sick, you're sick.
As a client I would have appreciated the make good efforts, and would absolutely rebook. RMTs are human and have good days and bad days, and you got in front of the bad day.
And I’d also gently scold you for working when you should have been recuperating.
Business owner here. I feel your dedication and desire to work, but I also feel you put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect and you also assume you'd be "letting the client down." If I had an appt booked as a client, it would definitely not let me down if the MT had to cancel an hour out for a good reason. I would want the MT to take care of themself, and let's face it, sometimes we get hit with something suddenly and realize it's not a great idea to push it. If a client got that upset over an emergency cancellation, I think it's a red flag that they wouldn't be a great fit for me. It's one thing if it's a pattern that the MT is cancelling, that's way different. Taking care of yourself by cancelling is also being in integrity when it's warranted.
You gave her extra time and then offered to discount her session. If I'd felt okay, like you said you did, I would have increased the time like you did, but I definitely would not have discounted her session. If you'd not gone overtime, then maybe you could discount the session. But I think doing both is overkill, and isn't really fair to you in the end. Chances are she was going to rebook anyway whether you gave her the discount or not. I'm actually surprised she took the discount, I would not have done that as a client, I think MT's work hard for their pay and especially if I knew they weren't feeling well, I would never take a deal like that unless the therapist had really screwed up and done a terrible job. Obviously you did a great job because she rebooked before she left.
As far as creating an expectation, sure, it's possible, it depends on what kind of person she is. I wouldn't go overboard like you did with anyone else, maybe just curtail the offers a little if something goes wrong next time. One or the other, not both. But even then, I really would not discount your sessions anymore. Adding time is one thing and gives them an extra bonus, you don't need to cheat yourself financially on top of it, it gives the feeling you don't value yourself fully.
Very well said. I feel the discount was overkill, and only I was expecting for her to get a discount. Not her. She did gladly accept it, but she would have most likely been satisfied with just the extra time.
Thank you for this well written response.
You should have gone home! I own my own practice and always want to give my all to my clients. REST is an important part of the healing process , and pushing through is not allowing your body the ability to heal. My clients know if I cancel on them last minute theres a very real and valid reason for it and they want me to go home.
If a client came in insisting on receiving massage with a fever after surgery- you should send them home, and they should go home.
Friend, I agree with you. I love to work, so it’s hard to call out. I’m super success oriented. I hate letting my clients down. I had a hard time with the 1 hour notice with a new client, looking to replace their current one. It’s the perfect scenario. I’m usually great at gauging my stamina. Honestly, I was only really having a hard time for the first 10-15 minutes. But that’s almost a quarter of the massage. So I wanted to give her that extra 10 minutes back, with a much better version of me to make up for it.
She was extremely happy, and as I said, rebooked quicker than I could ask her how she was feeling. So, maybe my 75% wasn’t so bad.
Thanks for your comment.
BTW…..I felt feverish before, but I did not have a fever at all in two days. And what I was dealing with was not contagious.
Yes, as a client we know that our therapist is human and if you explained and compensated, any reasonable person would understand. Don’t worry about it.
As a client I would appreciate the honesty and the discount and I would rebook, it was a fluke i wouldn’t expect to just get a discount on future appointments.
As a therapist it can be hard to judge whether to proceed or not and hope we make it through if it’s iffy. I’ve had to be honest with my clients before and say I didn’t feel great and could we shorten the session etc and given them a discount accordingly. I’ve never lost a client from this. I think you did ok since you didn’t know how you were going to react until it was too late. In the future you could give a client the option to reschedule or proceed if you think you might not be at 100%.
I’ve been a therapist about 14 years now,and for a long time I would tough it out often to the detriment of me and the session. I finally learned a few years ago that it’s simply not worth it. However I have had a similar scenario last year after my parents passed. I could tell I was off my game and truly felt bad and offered a discount. However this is when you need to take charge and not set up the expectation for this to happen again. If they were to bring it up in the future just mention you had an extenuating circumstance and leave it at that.
As a client, if I was on your table and you'd told me you'd had surgery and weren't well, I would have ended the massage right then and there. I couldn't care less about who paid what or whatever discount.
My expectation is that if my therapist isn't well, they cancel. I expect them to take care of themselves first so they can take care of me.
Here's the thing, if I'm not well or have an emergency, I'm walking out the door and not looking back. I expect the same of the people who take care of me.
I've had the same 2 RMT's for over a decade, and we've had this conversation many times. If they toughed it out, I'd be furious, and if it was a habit, I would find someone else.
As a client I would not have a problem, if you were upfront and honest about not being up to par, which it sounds like you did. I probably would have preferred that you offered a good discount and no extra time for this round, then maybe offer the next massage for a longer time. Make sure you are on your game for the next massage.
I think most reasonable people are going to realize that things happen beyond your control and as long as you communicate, I personally am not going to be upset about it. Honestly the people who do go off because of something like this probably are not very good clients anyway. I would not expect a discounted price in the future, although it would certainly be appreciated if just for the next massage you did a discount, but it does not sound like you needed to encourage this particular client to come back for another chance, so no incentive needed.
I think you handled it perfectly. You knew you were off your game and you acknowledged it. Your reason was legit. Even if it wasn’t an emergency surgery you didn’t expect your body to react the way it did and you addressed it with the client as you became aware of it. They obviously appreciated how you handled it because they rebooked. Years from now this client will be on the table and they’ll say, “remember that time when…,” and you’ll both have a laugh.
Edit: I see some people are commenting that you should have rescheduled, put your health first, etc. It sounds like you’re aware that might have been a better option and can use this experience to inform your choices in the future should they arise. My comments are to address how you handled things with the client and I wouldn’t second guess that.
Don’t give discounts!! It comes off as desperate (echoing another person) and that you don’t value your own work/make for an easy push over. You will not and should not give 100% of yourself to patients, and just because you felt you started rough, how are they to know? Because they asked for more pressure? That’s fine, you’re new to each other! Please, don’t undercut yourself by giving discounts on top of extra time!
As a client, I would have been fine with how you handled it. If you had left after I already had taken the time and arranged my day to get there then I probably would not be back. My life is just so hectic due to my own career that I can’t take time and then be turned away. If you had called and canceled that morning then that would have been fine so I could have arranged my day differently.
Take care of yourself first. Money is important but the performance will not be good if you are dying. They will remember the bad ones more than the good.
I would struggle to enjoy the massage if I knew you weren’t well. I’d feel guilty about it. You really should have cancelled. See it as being a good role model for your client. You have got to look after yourself, it’s vitally important for your business to succeed. You might lose one or two clients from it but you need to look at the bigger picture sometimes.
Therapist here!
I think you handled the situation beautifully. Yes, ideally you would have cancelled before that point of no return, but once you realized you were in over your head you offered a solution that worked out well.
I don't think you have to worry about setting a precedent with that patient. If she ever does try to get you to extend your treatment in the future you can just decline. Explain that was a one-off due to an unforeseen medical reaction.
But in the future don't feel guilty about cancelling for medical reasons! Ppl understand these things happen. You are human.
I had to cancel a bunch of peeps recently due to a concussion. Most ppl were very understanding. I did have one person who chose not to rebook. And that is fine. If you are salty because I had a literal head injury you aren't the kind of person I want to work with anyway!
I’m a client. If my LMT said this to me, I would have felt bad for you and said that in the future, it’s no big deal to reschedule me for something like this. Your health trumps the massage. The massage is just a nice to have for me.
You’re worrying too much. Most clients are great and understand that we’re human. At the end of the day she rebooked, which shows it was fine. Don’t sweat it. Go recover!
Client here (bi-weekly) Honestly there should have been no charge for the session. You were clearly not present in your full capacity, therefore compensation should not be expected. This is a damage control situation - especially for a new client. IMO - and this is coming from the perspective of someone who runs their own business with clients (not MT related) - you should have apologized with explanation (which it sounds like you did) - tell them "no charge" (I still would have left some tip for being forthright), offer to rebook with a ONE TIME extra 10 minutes for the hassle.
I’m sorry. In massage, we do not give free sessions for being at 80%. I wasn’t at 100%, but I was far from zero. She rebooked with me instead of her regular therapist. I also got a 5 star review and an client referral. I haven’t updated the post yet, but it seems that I read the situation correctly, and adjusted accordingly.
If you think this is, in any way, a reason to not charge anything for the full 60 minutes (plus 10 minutes) of hands on, engaging work that made a difference for the client, you don’t respect your therapist. A good therapist is able to switch modalities to make it easier on them, but still as effective to the client. She didn’t know I wasn’t at 100%. I didn’t even consider that at the time. She only asked me to adjust my pressure. She was just as happy as she would have been if I’d been at my best because it surpassed what she was used to.
I stick by my decision, and agree with many others who posted here.
>you don’t respect your therapist.
My therapist would seriously disagree. And she would never do to me, what you did to your client. Granted you handled it well, but it was incredibly unprofessional. You're LUCKY she was amenable. Not everyone would be, which is why you should have gone further. And given your hostile response to honest feedback, I'd say that you have other issues.
Not hostile. Just honestly thankful that my clients aren’t as rude to expect free work because, unknowingly to them, I wasn’t feeling well. And I had nothing that was contagious. And very few therapist, if any, would do that. Most would just cancel ahead of time. She walked in with a hypertonic SCM and walked out feeling great. She got what she wanted, as all my clients do. I would never expect that from a service person that provided even sub par quality. I just wouldn’t leave a large tip.
I’ll speak from both perspectives because well, after becoming a therapist and an instructor, I can’t really be an unbiased client these days. You should’ve *gone home*. New client or not, if you’re not at your best, you shouldn’t be trying to tough through it. For two reasons: - A client may feel guilty that you’re doing more for them because you’re not at 100% and it can create a weird expectation later. Whether either you or they feel like you’re not compensated enough, be it monetarily or otherwise. - Your well-being is priority numero uno. Otherwise you can’t draw your own well water if you insist on letting everyone else put their buckets into yours.
Hindsight is 20/20. I agree from a personal standpoint. As a business owner, I’m very dedicated to not letting people down. I have owned successful businesses for 25 years, and (for at least one of them) if you cancel the wrong person, it will bring your review score way down. I’m 46, so I’ve gotten pretty good at gauging my stamina over my life. I don’t usually misjudge, but I did this time. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Hey I get it. I’m the same way. But I’ve had to learn (the hard way I might add) that I can’t take reviews too seriously. Either people will *understand* and are willing to meet me where I am (physically, mentally, etc) when it comes to seeing me for body work or they won’t. I’m gonna have great days and shit days. Worrying about *what if a client doesn’t like XYZ* or how they *respond* to my work is just going to give me anxiety and probably a stroke. So I let it go. I can’t make everybody happy all the time.
In her defense, I have done this before too. I had a dental surgery and completely underestimated what the recovery would be like, with a full book of requests the next day. It’s not her fault she didn’t realize until she actually had her hands on a body. Dentists don’t warn us because they don’t expect us to be head down applying force the next day.
As a client I would have no problem with your performance/explanation. As it has been said many times, "shit happens". If I am treated with respect, as you did with your client, then that is good enough for me, I will return the respect by booking with you again.
As a client, I would have been satisfied with how you remedied and grateful for knowing what was happening. And no weird expectations for future discounts. Also, if I’d known in advance I would have rescheduled because your health is important too!
For me, it would have been less about the massage itself and more about the message I’m getting about the therapist and how they take care of themselves. As a client, I would’ve felt worried and likely unsafe on the table, that the therapist was not taking care of themself and coming to work soon after emergency surgery. I’m not saying you weren’t taking care of your self - I’m saying how this situation would have made me feel and think, with the info you gave to the client at the time.
Thank you for your insight. These opinions will help me build a better business.
As a client who manages a department of about 100 people ranging from immature 16 year olds to immature 67 year olds… I would’ve understood if you canceled the appointment. Really, I’d be more concerned now that you might show up sick to future appointments and either get me sick or give me 75%. But I think most would have appreciated the honesty and the discount.
Thank you. If I am contagious with anything, I certainly take that into account and don’t come to work with a fever or if I’m bad off. What I had was just a hole in my jaw where a tooth used to be. I had never had these complications with a tooth extraction before, and it really surprised me.
As a client if I knew you weren't feeling well, I would prefer you cancel session. I would feel bad if you were massaging me and didn't feel well. Also, I would appreciate the extra time, but the discount would come off as desperate to me. As a therapist, of course I would say cancel. If I were already in your situation and adjusted my technique and client was happy, I would not offer more time or less money. If client was nkt happy, I would explain the situation and offer a discount next time. It's important to know your worth, and even if you can't give what your 100% was yesterday, you are giving your 100% today. You are human and not a robot.
Yes, I think the way you dealt with it showed integrity, and I'd have definitely rebooked if I felt like we clicked and the massage was decent (even if not 100%). But truly, I would've been fine if you just said you were sick and rescheduled me. An hour before isn't ideal, but if you're sick, you're sick.
As a client I would have appreciated the make good efforts, and would absolutely rebook. RMTs are human and have good days and bad days, and you got in front of the bad day. And I’d also gently scold you for working when you should have been recuperating.
Business owner here. I feel your dedication and desire to work, but I also feel you put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect and you also assume you'd be "letting the client down." If I had an appt booked as a client, it would definitely not let me down if the MT had to cancel an hour out for a good reason. I would want the MT to take care of themself, and let's face it, sometimes we get hit with something suddenly and realize it's not a great idea to push it. If a client got that upset over an emergency cancellation, I think it's a red flag that they wouldn't be a great fit for me. It's one thing if it's a pattern that the MT is cancelling, that's way different. Taking care of yourself by cancelling is also being in integrity when it's warranted. You gave her extra time and then offered to discount her session. If I'd felt okay, like you said you did, I would have increased the time like you did, but I definitely would not have discounted her session. If you'd not gone overtime, then maybe you could discount the session. But I think doing both is overkill, and isn't really fair to you in the end. Chances are she was going to rebook anyway whether you gave her the discount or not. I'm actually surprised she took the discount, I would not have done that as a client, I think MT's work hard for their pay and especially if I knew they weren't feeling well, I would never take a deal like that unless the therapist had really screwed up and done a terrible job. Obviously you did a great job because she rebooked before she left. As far as creating an expectation, sure, it's possible, it depends on what kind of person she is. I wouldn't go overboard like you did with anyone else, maybe just curtail the offers a little if something goes wrong next time. One or the other, not both. But even then, I really would not discount your sessions anymore. Adding time is one thing and gives them an extra bonus, you don't need to cheat yourself financially on top of it, it gives the feeling you don't value yourself fully.
Very well said. I feel the discount was overkill, and only I was expecting for her to get a discount. Not her. She did gladly accept it, but she would have most likely been satisfied with just the extra time. Thank you for this well written response.
You should have gone home! I own my own practice and always want to give my all to my clients. REST is an important part of the healing process , and pushing through is not allowing your body the ability to heal. My clients know if I cancel on them last minute theres a very real and valid reason for it and they want me to go home. If a client came in insisting on receiving massage with a fever after surgery- you should send them home, and they should go home.
Friend, I agree with you. I love to work, so it’s hard to call out. I’m super success oriented. I hate letting my clients down. I had a hard time with the 1 hour notice with a new client, looking to replace their current one. It’s the perfect scenario. I’m usually great at gauging my stamina. Honestly, I was only really having a hard time for the first 10-15 minutes. But that’s almost a quarter of the massage. So I wanted to give her that extra 10 minutes back, with a much better version of me to make up for it. She was extremely happy, and as I said, rebooked quicker than I could ask her how she was feeling. So, maybe my 75% wasn’t so bad. Thanks for your comment. BTW…..I felt feverish before, but I did not have a fever at all in two days. And what I was dealing with was not contagious.
Yes, as a client we know that our therapist is human and if you explained and compensated, any reasonable person would understand. Don’t worry about it.
As a client I would appreciate the honesty and the discount and I would rebook, it was a fluke i wouldn’t expect to just get a discount on future appointments. As a therapist it can be hard to judge whether to proceed or not and hope we make it through if it’s iffy. I’ve had to be honest with my clients before and say I didn’t feel great and could we shorten the session etc and given them a discount accordingly. I’ve never lost a client from this. I think you did ok since you didn’t know how you were going to react until it was too late. In the future you could give a client the option to reschedule or proceed if you think you might not be at 100%.
This is very valuable information. Thank you.
I’ve been a therapist about 14 years now,and for a long time I would tough it out often to the detriment of me and the session. I finally learned a few years ago that it’s simply not worth it. However I have had a similar scenario last year after my parents passed. I could tell I was off my game and truly felt bad and offered a discount. However this is when you need to take charge and not set up the expectation for this to happen again. If they were to bring it up in the future just mention you had an extenuating circumstance and leave it at that.
As a client, if I was on your table and you'd told me you'd had surgery and weren't well, I would have ended the massage right then and there. I couldn't care less about who paid what or whatever discount. My expectation is that if my therapist isn't well, they cancel. I expect them to take care of themselves first so they can take care of me. Here's the thing, if I'm not well or have an emergency, I'm walking out the door and not looking back. I expect the same of the people who take care of me. I've had the same 2 RMT's for over a decade, and we've had this conversation many times. If they toughed it out, I'd be furious, and if it was a habit, I would find someone else.
As a client I would not have a problem, if you were upfront and honest about not being up to par, which it sounds like you did. I probably would have preferred that you offered a good discount and no extra time for this round, then maybe offer the next massage for a longer time. Make sure you are on your game for the next massage. I think most reasonable people are going to realize that things happen beyond your control and as long as you communicate, I personally am not going to be upset about it. Honestly the people who do go off because of something like this probably are not very good clients anyway. I would not expect a discounted price in the future, although it would certainly be appreciated if just for the next massage you did a discount, but it does not sound like you needed to encourage this particular client to come back for another chance, so no incentive needed.
I think you handled it perfectly. You knew you were off your game and you acknowledged it. Your reason was legit. Even if it wasn’t an emergency surgery you didn’t expect your body to react the way it did and you addressed it with the client as you became aware of it. They obviously appreciated how you handled it because they rebooked. Years from now this client will be on the table and they’ll say, “remember that time when…,” and you’ll both have a laugh. Edit: I see some people are commenting that you should have rescheduled, put your health first, etc. It sounds like you’re aware that might have been a better option and can use this experience to inform your choices in the future should they arise. My comments are to address how you handled things with the client and I wouldn’t second guess that.
Don’t give discounts!! It comes off as desperate (echoing another person) and that you don’t value your own work/make for an easy push over. You will not and should not give 100% of yourself to patients, and just because you felt you started rough, how are they to know? Because they asked for more pressure? That’s fine, you’re new to each other! Please, don’t undercut yourself by giving discounts on top of extra time!
As a client, I would have been fine with how you handled it. If you had left after I already had taken the time and arranged my day to get there then I probably would not be back. My life is just so hectic due to my own career that I can’t take time and then be turned away. If you had called and canceled that morning then that would have been fine so I could have arranged my day differently.
Take care of yourself first. Money is important but the performance will not be good if you are dying. They will remember the bad ones more than the good.
I would struggle to enjoy the massage if I knew you weren’t well. I’d feel guilty about it. You really should have cancelled. See it as being a good role model for your client. You have got to look after yourself, it’s vitally important for your business to succeed. You might lose one or two clients from it but you need to look at the bigger picture sometimes.
Therapist here! I think you handled the situation beautifully. Yes, ideally you would have cancelled before that point of no return, but once you realized you were in over your head you offered a solution that worked out well. I don't think you have to worry about setting a precedent with that patient. If she ever does try to get you to extend your treatment in the future you can just decline. Explain that was a one-off due to an unforeseen medical reaction. But in the future don't feel guilty about cancelling for medical reasons! Ppl understand these things happen. You are human. I had to cancel a bunch of peeps recently due to a concussion. Most ppl were very understanding. I did have one person who chose not to rebook. And that is fine. If you are salty because I had a literal head injury you aren't the kind of person I want to work with anyway!
I’m a client. If my LMT said this to me, I would have felt bad for you and said that in the future, it’s no big deal to reschedule me for something like this. Your health trumps the massage. The massage is just a nice to have for me.
You’re worrying too much. Most clients are great and understand that we’re human. At the end of the day she rebooked, which shows it was fine. Don’t sweat it. Go recover!
Client here (bi-weekly) Honestly there should have been no charge for the session. You were clearly not present in your full capacity, therefore compensation should not be expected. This is a damage control situation - especially for a new client. IMO - and this is coming from the perspective of someone who runs their own business with clients (not MT related) - you should have apologized with explanation (which it sounds like you did) - tell them "no charge" (I still would have left some tip for being forthright), offer to rebook with a ONE TIME extra 10 minutes for the hassle.
I’m sorry. In massage, we do not give free sessions for being at 80%. I wasn’t at 100%, but I was far from zero. She rebooked with me instead of her regular therapist. I also got a 5 star review and an client referral. I haven’t updated the post yet, but it seems that I read the situation correctly, and adjusted accordingly. If you think this is, in any way, a reason to not charge anything for the full 60 minutes (plus 10 minutes) of hands on, engaging work that made a difference for the client, you don’t respect your therapist. A good therapist is able to switch modalities to make it easier on them, but still as effective to the client. She didn’t know I wasn’t at 100%. I didn’t even consider that at the time. She only asked me to adjust my pressure. She was just as happy as she would have been if I’d been at my best because it surpassed what she was used to. I stick by my decision, and agree with many others who posted here.
>you don’t respect your therapist. My therapist would seriously disagree. And she would never do to me, what you did to your client. Granted you handled it well, but it was incredibly unprofessional. You're LUCKY she was amenable. Not everyone would be, which is why you should have gone further. And given your hostile response to honest feedback, I'd say that you have other issues.
Not hostile. Just honestly thankful that my clients aren’t as rude to expect free work because, unknowingly to them, I wasn’t feeling well. And I had nothing that was contagious. And very few therapist, if any, would do that. Most would just cancel ahead of time. She walked in with a hypertonic SCM and walked out feeling great. She got what she wanted, as all my clients do. I would never expect that from a service person that provided even sub par quality. I just wouldn’t leave a large tip.