Reviewing no-shows separately from late arrivals

Stamp the arrival time, not a label

When a dog walks through the door, write the actual clock time on the check-in line before anything else. A dog due at 7:30 that arrives at 7:42 is a late arrival; a dog due at 7:30 with no arrival by 9:00 and no owner message is a no-show. Those two records must stay separate from the moment of entry, because mixing them makes the afternoon phone calls impossible to sort.

Keep two columns on the same sheet

One column reads arrived late, time in. The other reads no-show, contact attempt. A dog cannot occupy both. If an owner calls at 8:10 to say the dog is coming, the line stays open until the dog physically arrives, then the late column gets the time. If the owner calls to cancel, the line closes with a cancel note, not a no-show.

Worked example: The morning sheet shows Biscuit due 7:30, no arrival by 9:00. The desk logs "no-show, called 9:05, no answer." At 9:40 the owner arrives with Biscuit. The line is corrected: the no-show entry is struck through, and the late column reads "arrived 9:40." The end-of-day count changes from one no-show to one late arrival, and the no-show total for the week drops by one.

Read the two counts for different questions

Late arrivals point to owner scheduling or traffic patterns; a cluster on one weekday may mean the drop-off window needs a reminder. No-shows point to contact quality; a cluster means the phone number or email on file is stale. Comparing the two weekly keeps the fix aimed at the right problem.

What changes at closing

The end-of-day tally now reports two numbers instead of one: late arrivals and no-shows, each with its own line. Biscuit's record shows a struck-through no-show and a 9:40 late entry, and the week's no-show count is one lower than it would have been under a single mixed column.

Related: Dog Daycare Manager features.