Oh hon ... just because something was standard practice 20 years ago does not mean it should still be standard practice now .... times change, expectations change, risks to a job change and so forth!

Years ago communities were small close knit and everyone either new each other or was related in some manner ... people would not even THINK of stiffing someone in their own community for a service otherwise word would travel like wild fire and well they would not find themselves being offered service anymore ... now a days this is not the case and sadly after 20 years in the field I can say that MANY clients think nothing of racking up a bill with a child care centre and than moving on to a new one leaving the bill unpaid ... one centre I worked at the boss was naive enough to keep accepting 'excuses' and the client was behind in over 4 months of care and then left ... the following year at a workshop with other centres we were venting about clients who do this and it came out that this family had done this to four centres in the nearby area but because cities are so large now a days and communities are not 'close' they were getting away with it!

We are not the only industry to slowly start to 'pay first' .... more and more gas stations, restaurants, service providers require payment up front sadly because they run into people like your current client who use a service or commit to use a service and than feel like they should not have to pay for it