Never having had a raging migrane myself, I don't know how bad that really is. I'd accept that it's bad enough to not want to do the session, but since you knew that he intended to call you to confirm, couldn't you have gone to bed with your phone on your pillow, accepted the discomfort of being awakened, and when he called, you could tell him not to come?

Perhaps you're one of those dommes who get so many phone calls that if you left your phone turned on, you'd never get any rest. You could change your outgoing message to say something like "It's Monday at 1 PM and I have such a bad migraine that I won't be available for today's appointments. I apologize, and please get back to me so we can re-schedule." It helps to have a phone dedicated to the mistressing biz so your mother or kid's school won't call you there and get that message.

Yet, I know there are some clients who do everything they can to minimize the data trail, and they can be hard to reach on short notice.

I was going to New York for a day to attend a trade show, figured I had enough time to have a little fun, and made an appointment with a disciplinarian who I'd been wanting to see there for a long time. We set up a date and time by e-mail, and she confirmed it the day before, giving me her address. I figured it was one of those buildings where you needed to be buzzed in, and assumed that I'd call when I got to the building and she'd let me in and tell me where to go when I arrived. I had a semi-smart phone at the time. I wasn't set up for text messages, but I was able to make calls and send and recieve e-mail. When I got to her building, the lobby door was open, so I called her from the lobby and got voice mail . . . again and again. I sent a couple of e-mails, and finally after an hour, I gave up and went back to the show. I e-mailed her the next day to ask what happened, and she never replied. I guess I'll never know about that one. I was disappointed, of course, but in this case all I was out was a subway fare and an hour of travel time.

Maybe I just happen to pick the flaky ones, but I've had two other similar experiences, both of which were confirmed the day before - both with the day of the week and the date - and in each case, the mistress wasn't there at the appointed time, believing that the appointment was for a different day. I can understand a mixup if we hadn't had any contact for a week or two prior to the session, but with a two-way exchange of e-mail the day before with clear reference to the date, there's really no excuse for being elsewhere. I was able to re-schedule one for the next day since I was in town for a few days (and she gave me some canollis as a peace offering), the other, I think it was about a year and a half later before we finally got together.