Sorry this is not really a bookkeeping question but it is related.
I visited a new client at 6pm tonight, it was dark, the other offices were all empty and I didn't think anything of this until my friend asked me if I was ok going by myself, my husband was at work and she asked if I wanted her husband to come with me. Although we were joking about this to a certain extent it did leave me feeling a bit uneasy. Suzy Lamplugh sprang to mind.
I said no,I would be fine, I didn't want to be paranoid, but as I was walking in, I did start to wonder, how safe is this? I told my friend where I was and that I would text her when I left. Obviously this wouldn't have helped much if anything had happened but it made us feel better.
Anyway, all was fine and I now have a new client and I feel a bit silly being suspicious, but was my friend right or just being paranoid.? I think this is something to think about and wondered if anyone else has had similar issues and should we take further precautions?
Your thoughts would be appreciated. and although this query seems to be aimed at women I wonder if men think of these issues as well?
When I worked from home normally clients came and met me there for meeting, I was a little wary of this but majority of clients were referred by an accountants firm who myself and husband know, who had already met the client so in a way had vetted them and so it was fine really and I was worrying unnecessarily.
I always make sure a few family members know I have a meeting on x day at x time.
If you don't feel comfortable if it is after hours I am sure a new client would not think it odd if your husband was able to go with you and be outside in the car, if they are dodgy and they know your husband is outside in the car they won't risk doing anything.
Hi Gerry, You can never be to careful these days and i think it would be sensible to do as Alison has said or if the client wanted to you could perhaps meet in a public place and go for a coffee or a drink but still let someone know where you are going.
I agree with the comments above. If you don't feel safe for any reason, don't take the risk. Get someone to come with you (even if it is on the pretence of taking notes). Or as Stephen suggested, meet in a public place. It is regular practice for meetings to be held in coffee shops or cafes so don't feel awkward about it.
When I have to meet a client, either my husband waits outside in the car or if they are visiting me at my home, my mum stays until they arrive and takes the children out for an hour. If I didnt feel comfortable, then I would ask her to stay but in the other room. You are right to be careful
I appreciate that this issue might be thought more likely to affect ladies who, understandably, might feel more vulnerable than men in these situations. However, having spent many years working as a residential surveyor, I often found myself in a house with the lady of the house. Sometimes it was obvious that the lady had taken the precaution of having a friend present because there was a pretty good chance that I was a danger to her! (I jest). It occurred to me that I too was vulnerable perhaps not to attack, but to a false allegation being made by an unbalanced person. I would therefore urge gentlemen to have that thought at the back of their minds.
I suppose what I'm saying is that both sexes are vulnerable but, in reality, my guess is that if someone asks you to call after hours to discuss their accounts the chances are they probably want to discuss their accounts. Stay safe though.
I normally go to client houses out of hours, the thought about safety issues has crossed my mind, but I normally talk to the client beforehand and get a feel of what they are like, I know you can't judge a book by it's cover.
Mainly my client's are women but then, Fred West's wife was a woman and helped in the murder's I believe, this is becoming a bit dark!!!!
But then I have always thought, that people are only asking you to come round because they are only interested in the bookkeeping side of things, I would like to think but then you can never be too sure.....thinking about it when I go to see client's male or female there is usually someone else there to. I always let my boyfriend know where I am going and ring him once I have finished.
Maybe it's being male, or maybe it's because I'm a special too, I don't know. But this has never really been something to cross my mind. I suppose of everything that's been said so far it's jpf's word of caution around false accusations that would probably worry me more than anything else, but even that doesn't worry me that much. In general most people we deal with will be pretty decent, genuine individuals.
There's really not so many bad people around if you weigh it all up.
As Nick Ross always said, Don't have nightmares, do sleep well.
The views expressed in this post are my own personal (HRA protected) views, and are not representative of any organisation I have any involvement with.
Off on a bit of a tangent but a friend of mine told me once that her son had been walking with some friends in the Peak District and apparently become seperated from them and got lost. He bumped into a couple of walkers who lent him a mobile phone to ring his mum. These blokes were clearly well intentioned. My friend and her husband went rushing off to find him with her worried that a couple of child molesting fellwalkers might have abducted him. I expressed the view to her that child molesters don't usually go fellwalking to find their prey and that these were probably two perfectly decent men trying to help out a young lad. But at the time she wasn't capable of rational thought.
I think we all have to be careful in what we do and, as was said at the beginning of this thread the Suzi Lamplugh thing did happen, but probably statistically the real danger of that meeting with the client is the journey there and back in the car. Often we worry like mad about one issue and then get sideswiped by something else completely out of the blue.
Oh, and I'll be staying in the house for the rest of the day just to be sure.....
I also think if you think like this it will probably stop you doing a lot of things, also what about if you put the shoe on the other foot so to speak, the client could be thinking a similar thing about us and questioning their safety with regards to the meeting, it's just a thought.
I had a mobile hairdresser come round to see me last night and she was alone, I wonder if she has thought about this, but then I would have thought she would be used to it by now.....then also you could worry about walking through supermarket car parks in the dark, where would it end?
