Our beloved Damiano Severo (aka MD) is undergoing major surgery today.  Due to a full-time staffer on vacation (previously scheduled before the surgery was scheduled), a full-time staffer with an ill family member, and another full-time staffer away for a multiday immersive, the scheduling desk will be extremely short-staffed until Monday, July 22nd.  In addition, the scheduling desk will be understaffed through August 7th, when Damiano resumes his normal scheduling wizardry.

What does that mean for our valued members?  Let’s start with studio availability:

• Wednesday, July 17th (the day of MD’s major surgery) – The studio is fully scheduled.
• Thursday, July 18th – The studio is booked from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM and 8:30 PM until close.  Currently, the only studio availability is from 2:45 PM through 7:45 PM.
• Friday, July 19th – The studio is fully scheduled.
• Saturday, July 20th – The studio has some availability, but the studio schedule has not yet been finalized.
• Sunday, July 21st – The studio has some availability, but the schedule has not yet been finalized.

Concerning scheduling now through August 7, 2024:

• The scheduling desk and studio phone line will be mostly unmanned from Wednesday, July 17th, through Saturday, July 20th.
  • This applies to text messages sent to our local number.
• The scheduling desk will resume normal operations at 12:00 PM ET on Sunday, July 21st. However, it will be anything but normal during Damiano’s three-week recovery before he can resume a normal office schedule on August 7th. Don’t worry. We will process all your rental and session requests on a timely basis, but we kindly request your patience and understanding as Damiano is scheduling irreplaceable.
  • Our ability to answer our main phone lines until August 7th will be unpredictable as we won’t be able to staff the phone lines much more than a fraction of the 15 hours per day that is normal (8:00 AM through 11:00 PM), with weekends being especially problematic.  As always, if you leave a voicemail, we’ll call you back within two hours, with most calls returned within 30 minutes.
  • As of August 7th, we will return to answering our phone lines from 8:00 AM through 11:00 PM, every day of the week, including holidays.
• Thanks to our live chat volunteers, live chat will be operating as normal and will be available from 8:00 AM until 11:00 PM daily.
• Session and rental requests submitted via the online session request form will be processed most easily until Monday, July 22nd, as everything we need for scheduling is captured at once.

Concerning scheduling from August 7, 2024 and beyond:

• We will continue to staff the phones (staff) and live chat (staff and volunteers) from 8:00 AM through 11:00 PM, every day of the week, including holidays.
• We will continue to staff the scheduling desk (emails, text messages, and the online session request form) from 8:00 AM through 11:00 PM on Mondays through Thursdays and from 8:00 AM through 6:00 PM on Fridays.  For Fridays after 6:00 PM, Saturdays all day, and Sundays all day, we will lightly and intermittently staff the scheduling desk to address urgent matters, including session and rental requests for that Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the remainder of the calendar week starting with that Sunday (ending on Saturday).    If your non-urgent request or inquiry is submitted between Friday, at 6:00 PM through Monday, at 8:00 AM ET, we will respond in the order received on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – depending on the request or inquiry, weekend volume, complexity of the inquiries and requests, and time needed to resolve request conflicts.

Although Damiano will return full-time on August 7th to work at the scheduling desk and perform other non-physically demanding duties, it is unknown when his surgeon will clear him for sessions.  The initial return to sessions estimate is 10 weeks from surgery or September 25, 2024; however, Damiano may not be able to perform suspensions (rope, plastic wrap, etc.) or physically demanding activities (i.e., intense corporal, physical domination, etc.) for as long as six to twelve months.

Please keep Damiano in your thoughts and prayers.