Flaky people drive me crazy

This afternoon I was supposed to have a shoot with a local senior to do some awesome Trash Your Prom Dress photos. I blocked off most of the afternoon for her shoot and when the time came, she was nowhere to be seen. I tried to contact her and had no response. Why do people schedule a shoot and then flake like that? It drives me crazy because it means I just wasted a beautiful afternoon of sunlight and clouds waiting for someone who never showed up and I could have shot photos for another client.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens relatively often. Today was the "tipping point" and I decided that all sessions are going to need to be paid for in full prior to the day of the shoot. I hate doing that, but it's really the only thing that is fair to me and fair to my reliable clients.