Saturday, March 17, 2007
Argh!
Ooh I had a horrible day today!!!!! In addition to an uncooperative GREAT PYRENESS, I had a very matted bichon frise which Jody, our excellent salon manager did last. I remember the dog well because she had nothing else to do, and she spent forever on that dog, dematting it and hand scissoring it to perfection. They were so so happy when they picked him up, then called back to say how happy they were, then came in a few days later to give her a really big tip. And here I am, about to do this dog, and I KNOW I am not going to asgood of a job as her. It's so matted I barely got a #4 blade through him and he still looked pink. It took FOREVER to demat him and cut his face and the owners are watching and I am late and then, the last finishing snip on the dog, he moves and I SLIT HIS PAD WIDE OPEN AND THEY'RE STANDING RIGHT THERE! Argh! So I put syptic powder on, they are ok with it, then it starts bleeding again!!! Ahhh!!! Finally, it's done and they gave me a $10 tip for my trouble! I felt so terrible. The haircut looked bad because I had to shave mats out and then I slit his pad open. There's nothing like making an innocent creature bleed to ruin your day. Anyway I am tired...have to get ready for a "great" day tomrrow. Oh, and 3 of my 6 dogs didn't show, so I lost a lot of money...sigh.
Monday, March 12, 2007
LIARS!!!
They're all LIARS! Oooh! Evil evil lying grooming customers!
Had a normal day yesterday, a few dogs, some bad ones, a request cocker spaniel..some fat pomeranians, etc. Was getting ready to end the day on a high note.
UNTIL....
TITAN'S MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I had a dog named Titan as my last dog at 3:00 on sunday. We always ask for 4 hours for every dog we do, but we take one dog 3 hours before our shift ends. It is supposed to be small so we can finish it in 3 hours. We closed at 6 that night, so no one had an appointment later than 3. I actually had the last appointment of the day. Titan was in the books as a poodle/pomeranian but was in the computer as a cocker spaniel mix, which meant it was as big as a spaniel. Too big for a last appointment. Oh well. And comments in the computer said that it is extremely difficult and it bites. Well, too bad, I'll do it anyway, oh well. So 3:00 rolls around, no Titan. Ok. More time passes, and finally 3:45 rolls around and I see a huge matted white thing walk in with a teenage girl and what I assume to be her boyfriend. I go, "Hi, how can I help you?" She says she has a 3:30 appointment for her dog, Titan. Everyone, including my manager watched/heard me nicely tell her that I don't have time to do her dog anymore because she was 45 minutes late to her appointment and that we closed in about 2 hours. I said I was sorry and offered to reschedule. I showed/told her that there actually weren't any 3:30 appointments at all today when she insisted, and she left. Not 5 minutes later, this girl's mom calls saying I was extremely rude to her daughter, I was a horrible person for not taking her dog because she was 7 minutes late for her 3:30 appointment, and I was obviously taking advantage of her daughter because--drumroll--she was 17 years old! Because, apparently, I HATE 17 year olds. She asked to speak to my manager, and when my manager told her that I was known for my excellent customer service, she heard me and I was NOT rude, and that her appointment was at 3, not 3:30, and we closed at 6 and had no time to do her dog, she got so mad and said again how rude I was and mean and that I never offered to reschedule, and now that she has complained she doesn't want to come in because she is afraid we'd hurt her dog.
What a blatant, lying, horrible lady. She was obviously waiting for us to offer to do her dog for free, but she was 100% in the wrong and we were 100% right and she can go rot in hell with her huge horrible nasty biting matted dog and her lying teenager.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
and if I had time I'd tell you about this wonderfully fun lady who is coming in for an express groom on her dog tomorrow for me who said Annie (the last groomer), abused her dog because she was holding the dog's paw and the dog was pulling.
Oh...my...god...
I am just guessing she won't be happy with me. I need to touch the dog..I mean...ABUSE the dog, in order to groom it.
Had a normal day yesterday, a few dogs, some bad ones, a request cocker spaniel..some fat pomeranians, etc. Was getting ready to end the day on a high note.
UNTIL....
TITAN'S MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I had a dog named Titan as my last dog at 3:00 on sunday. We always ask for 4 hours for every dog we do, but we take one dog 3 hours before our shift ends. It is supposed to be small so we can finish it in 3 hours. We closed at 6 that night, so no one had an appointment later than 3. I actually had the last appointment of the day. Titan was in the books as a poodle/pomeranian but was in the computer as a cocker spaniel mix, which meant it was as big as a spaniel. Too big for a last appointment. Oh well. And comments in the computer said that it is extremely difficult and it bites. Well, too bad, I'll do it anyway, oh well. So 3:00 rolls around, no Titan. Ok. More time passes, and finally 3:45 rolls around and I see a huge matted white thing walk in with a teenage girl and what I assume to be her boyfriend. I go, "Hi, how can I help you?" She says she has a 3:30 appointment for her dog, Titan. Everyone, including my manager watched/heard me nicely tell her that I don't have time to do her dog anymore because she was 45 minutes late to her appointment and that we closed in about 2 hours. I said I was sorry and offered to reschedule. I showed/told her that there actually weren't any 3:30 appointments at all today when she insisted, and she left. Not 5 minutes later, this girl's mom calls saying I was extremely rude to her daughter, I was a horrible person for not taking her dog because she was 7 minutes late for her 3:30 appointment, and I was obviously taking advantage of her daughter because--drumroll--she was 17 years old! Because, apparently, I HATE 17 year olds. She asked to speak to my manager, and when my manager told her that I was known for my excellent customer service, she heard me and I was NOT rude, and that her appointment was at 3, not 3:30, and we closed at 6 and had no time to do her dog, she got so mad and said again how rude I was and mean and that I never offered to reschedule, and now that she has complained she doesn't want to come in because she is afraid we'd hurt her dog.
What a blatant, lying, horrible lady. She was obviously waiting for us to offer to do her dog for free, but she was 100% in the wrong and we were 100% right and she can go rot in hell with her huge horrible nasty biting matted dog and her lying teenager.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
and if I had time I'd tell you about this wonderfully fun lady who is coming in for an express groom on her dog tomorrow for me who said Annie (the last groomer), abused her dog because she was holding the dog's paw and the dog was pulling.
Oh...my...god...
I am just guessing she won't be happy with me. I need to touch the dog..I mean...ABUSE the dog, in order to groom it.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
First Post (or, hair splinters)
Hello. My name is Ally, and I work as a groomer at a major corporation which I probably shouldn't name so nothing bad can happen to me. I will use customer names and real dog names so too bad. Don't get all hurt because you or your dog is crazy. There's help out there. It's called DOG TRAINING and GET A LIFE!
So, I'll start with the title of my blog. Hair splinters are extremely painful. When you shave a dog, or groom a dog such as a shar-pei, hair will burrow into many places on your hands and arms and make it extremely painful to touch things. They are hard to get out, and sometimes you won't notice them for a while, then a few days later you're looking at your arm and you notice a sharp hair sticking out from a dog you shaved 3 days beforehand. Disturbing, and one of the job perks I bet no one's told you about.
We get a lot of strange customers, and some stranger dogs. I don't even know where to start. Each and every day, someone comes in and shows us how strange people are with their animals. So many places to start--so I'll start with last weekend.
A 4 month old shih-tzu mix puppy named Koby Jack came in and the mom wanted half off all the fur and a teddy bear face. The dog had been here before with no bad comments in the computer. No problem. I took the dog, bid the mom farewell, then hell began. This dog was insanely vicious. Puppies normally don't like being groomed, and they'll often try to bite you or your grooming tools to show their dissatisfaction. But when you stop grooming them, they are cute bundles of happiness again. This dog was different. I barely got the haircut done, and I could not do the face. He was biting and snarling and lunging at the scissors. Our grooming manager could not even get near his face using all the tricks in the book (distraction, yelling "no", pinning the dog down, etc.). He drew blood from both of us and made my arms look like I cut myself for fun. This dog was awful, vicious, and impossible. Anyway, the mom came to pick up the dog and I charged her the price of the groom because I DID get the haircut like 90% done and I figured the rest was equivalent of special handling fees. I told the mom that and how incredible awful her dog was, she felt bad, paid, and took her dog.
Later that day she calls and says she thinks the haircut looks rough and wonders why it wasn't better. Are you kidding me?, I thought. I told her (not as nicely as I had when she picked up her dog, but still pretty nicely), that her dog was very vicious, hated grooming, was stressing out badly, bit two groomers and made them bleed, and no one could get near him with grooming tools or their hands. She said she understood and didn't know he was that bad. I recommended sedated grooming for him and gave her a phone number for a place we recommend for bad dogs.
So a day later, guess what? SHE CALLS AGAIN! She said she had been talking to her friends and they all agree more should have been done. Excuse me? Your dog makes Kujo look like the Charmin bear! "Oh, well, I think we should try again". After arguing with her, I finally conceded to let her bring her dog back and I would try to finish the haircut. I guess she thinks I am lying. I will do extremely aggressive dogs no one else will do. I'm not easily scared or timid about doing a dog. If I am saying a dog is too aggressive, that's one messed up dog. So she is coming in tomorrow, and when he goes psycho and bites her, I'll just smile.
Then there was the lady with the cocker spaniel who made an appointment and was told to bring her rabies shot information. She came in without it and Jana asked her if she could go home and get it, because we couldn't do her dog without it (corporate rules). She lives 5 minutes away, and Jana was very very nice and told her she would still take her dog. The lady bursts into tears, finds a manager, and gets half off the price of her groom.
Gee, I wish I could cry and get half off my rent because no one told me it was due on the first.
I know there was more, but I forget it all.
There was William the Wheaton terrier yesterday. He has been kicked out of every (insert major corporation I work at here) he has gone to. The mom usually does him at home, but he was matted and needed professional grooming. "Oh, he only nips a little when you poke him with a guard comb". Oh, ok. Well I won't be using guard combs on him today and I don't go around poking my dogs with them anyway. Only nips a little. Ha!
He needed to be muzzled for the entire shave. He would scream and bite and jump and fall off the table. Just awful. Everyone was looking at him in horror. He was ok for the bath but flipped out when I turned on the blowdryer. So he had to air dry. It turned out he just hates the clippers, and was the sweetest dog when I just hand-scissored him. So, I hand scissored the rest. It didn't look that great, and when the mom came to pick him up she said "so, you ready to tell me you're never going to take him again?" I told her he was only bad with the shaving and wasn't a bad dog at heart and yes I would take him again as long as she knows his haircut isn't going to be the greatest. She was happy and liked the haircut. She has him in obedience training and knows he is a bad dog when it comes to some things. I wish more customers were like her.
So, I'll just have to post day by day. So many weird customers and things happen that I can't remember them all. So until next time, watch out for those splinters!
So, I'll start with the title of my blog. Hair splinters are extremely painful. When you shave a dog, or groom a dog such as a shar-pei, hair will burrow into many places on your hands and arms and make it extremely painful to touch things. They are hard to get out, and sometimes you won't notice them for a while, then a few days later you're looking at your arm and you notice a sharp hair sticking out from a dog you shaved 3 days beforehand. Disturbing, and one of the job perks I bet no one's told you about.
We get a lot of strange customers, and some stranger dogs. I don't even know where to start. Each and every day, someone comes in and shows us how strange people are with their animals. So many places to start--so I'll start with last weekend.
A 4 month old shih-tzu mix puppy named Koby Jack came in and the mom wanted half off all the fur and a teddy bear face. The dog had been here before with no bad comments in the computer. No problem. I took the dog, bid the mom farewell, then hell began. This dog was insanely vicious. Puppies normally don't like being groomed, and they'll often try to bite you or your grooming tools to show their dissatisfaction. But when you stop grooming them, they are cute bundles of happiness again. This dog was different. I barely got the haircut done, and I could not do the face. He was biting and snarling and lunging at the scissors. Our grooming manager could not even get near his face using all the tricks in the book (distraction, yelling "no", pinning the dog down, etc.). He drew blood from both of us and made my arms look like I cut myself for fun. This dog was awful, vicious, and impossible. Anyway, the mom came to pick up the dog and I charged her the price of the groom because I DID get the haircut like 90% done and I figured the rest was equivalent of special handling fees. I told the mom that and how incredible awful her dog was, she felt bad, paid, and took her dog.
Later that day she calls and says she thinks the haircut looks rough and wonders why it wasn't better. Are you kidding me?, I thought. I told her (not as nicely as I had when she picked up her dog, but still pretty nicely), that her dog was very vicious, hated grooming, was stressing out badly, bit two groomers and made them bleed, and no one could get near him with grooming tools or their hands. She said she understood and didn't know he was that bad. I recommended sedated grooming for him and gave her a phone number for a place we recommend for bad dogs.
So a day later, guess what? SHE CALLS AGAIN! She said she had been talking to her friends and they all agree more should have been done. Excuse me? Your dog makes Kujo look like the Charmin bear! "Oh, well, I think we should try again". After arguing with her, I finally conceded to let her bring her dog back and I would try to finish the haircut. I guess she thinks I am lying. I will do extremely aggressive dogs no one else will do. I'm not easily scared or timid about doing a dog. If I am saying a dog is too aggressive, that's one messed up dog. So she is coming in tomorrow, and when he goes psycho and bites her, I'll just smile.
Then there was the lady with the cocker spaniel who made an appointment and was told to bring her rabies shot information. She came in without it and Jana asked her if she could go home and get it, because we couldn't do her dog without it (corporate rules). She lives 5 minutes away, and Jana was very very nice and told her she would still take her dog. The lady bursts into tears, finds a manager, and gets half off the price of her groom.
Gee, I wish I could cry and get half off my rent because no one told me it was due on the first.
I know there was more, but I forget it all.
There was William the Wheaton terrier yesterday. He has been kicked out of every (insert major corporation I work at here) he has gone to. The mom usually does him at home, but he was matted and needed professional grooming. "Oh, he only nips a little when you poke him with a guard comb". Oh, ok. Well I won't be using guard combs on him today and I don't go around poking my dogs with them anyway. Only nips a little. Ha!
He needed to be muzzled for the entire shave. He would scream and bite and jump and fall off the table. Just awful. Everyone was looking at him in horror. He was ok for the bath but flipped out when I turned on the blowdryer. So he had to air dry. It turned out he just hates the clippers, and was the sweetest dog when I just hand-scissored him. So, I hand scissored the rest. It didn't look that great, and when the mom came to pick him up she said "so, you ready to tell me you're never going to take him again?" I told her he was only bad with the shaving and wasn't a bad dog at heart and yes I would take him again as long as she knows his haircut isn't going to be the greatest. She was happy and liked the haircut. She has him in obedience training and knows he is a bad dog when it comes to some things. I wish more customers were like her.
So, I'll just have to post day by day. So many weird customers and things happen that I can't remember them all. So until next time, watch out for those splinters!
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