Unfiltered Story #210541

God bless those of you that are willing to sit and read this entire thing.

Client comes in this morning at 9am. He reminds me that he was the one that had to cancel his appointment last Saturday because he couldn’t find someone to bring the dog in. Little back ground for that: He actually called 4 minutes before his damn appointment to cancel!!! 4 minutes! I should also mention that that was his very first appointment with me. My salon isn’t even a year old, so I try to let things slide but I told him to please give me a 24 hour notice next time.

So! I tell him he can go get the dog right now and I’ll grooming him. It’s super slow this week and I only have 4 tiny bath dogs that I had finished in an hour. Yeah… all 4 of them were done within an hour. So I wanted the money even though it was only $45.

He’s super happy and runs to get the dog. Now he lives 5 minutes around the corner… but it took him an hour to get back. Whatever, it was only 10am and I didn’t’ have anything else to do. It was also my fault for not telling him to be back within a certain amount of time. Well he walks in with the dog and I’m asking what he wants done. We figured out a haircut and I tell him it will be 2 hours at the absolute most. Even though I took the dog and told him the time frame, he still sat in the chair in my lobby like he was waiting for something. I don’t like letting clients sit and wait because the dogs can see them and I think we all know how that can go.

So he finally walks out and just sits in his car… parked right in front of my solid window store front. I put the dog on the table to do some pre-bath prep (nails, ears, sani, paw pads, and between the eyes). I always do the sani first, so I lift the dog up and he screams and starts biting me. I try to place the clippers on his belly to get him use to it… but nah, he’s not having it. I end up having to put a muzzle on him just to get that done… and he’s jerking and screaming the entire time. No cuts! I was very careful. So the dad walks back in and I take the muzzle off (people around here don’t really like muzzles…. but I feel like that’s everywhere really). He comes in to tell me that he will be back around 4pm after her picks his daughter up from school and to remind me to do the nails. Soooo no? Like… I just told you it would only take 2 hours at the most.

I politely tell him that I have a policy that he has to pick up after the groom is finished and that I do not offer daycare services so he will have to pick up right after I’m done. He’s fine with that.

He leaves.

I go to do the nails and holy shit they are long! BOTH, I repeat, BOTH back dewclaws were over grown and have grown into each pad! I clip them and pull them out; no blood… no irritation… it’s apparently been in there for a long ass time. I mean… there was at least 1/2 an inch inside the pad. No, I’m not kidding. And I don’t think it should come as a surprise that he was biting for that as well.

So we got the bath done with little fight and he was surprisingly good for the dryer. Not great… but better than I expected.

I put him in a kennel to finish drying and about 30 minutes later… dad walks in and sits down. I walk up and ask him if everything is okay. He says hes just going to sit and wait. This made me a bit nervous because the dog was going to have to be muzzled for his feet and legs and he absolutely would not stand still on the table. So I let him know this. I literally said “I’m just want to let you know that he is not cooperating for me. He’s biting and won’t be still, so I don’t want you to get upset.” He seemed understanding. Good.

So I get the dog out and start taking the body down. As I’m working on the body, dads phone goes off and the dog jerks and whirls around to look. And this is when everything actually started to get me pretty mad.

He starts talking on the phone and the dog can clearly hear him. He’s jerking, spinning, pulling, yelping. The works. After a couple of minutes I put the dog down and go up front.

Me: Excuse me sir.
Client: *holds up a finger to silence me*

oh hell no

Me: Sir!
Client: *tells the person he will have to call them back*
Me: I’m sorry, but if you would like to be on the phone, you need to step out of the salon. Your dog can hear you and he will not be still. I can’t groom him if he isn’t still. It’s very dangerous.
Client: Oh oh oh… oh okay. Okay.

I got back to work and finish with the clipper work and move to the legs which the dog really does not like. He had some of those lovely small twisted ‘pin knots’ all over the inside of his back legs and armpits… and he wasn’t having any of that. But I get it out. By the time I’m on the third leg, dads phone goes off again and he picks it up and starts talking!!!! I try to just work through it because I really just want this dog and especially the dad out of my salon! The guy starts talking a bit louder and the dog gets even work and then kicks my $240 shears out of my hand and onto my concrete floor…

I immediate put the dog down and go back up front. All I say is: “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Client: Wait… what?
Me: Sir, I asked you to not be on your phone in the salon and you are on it again. Your dog just kicked my $240 scissor out of my hand and onto my floor because he hears you and he’s trying to get to you.
Client: Oh yeah… yeah yeah. Oops. Okay.

I had to take a moment before I handed him the dog, changed him the full price and not even finished the groom. I was livid.

So he goes outside and I finish the groom, all the wile the go is biting me while I try to work on the head. It literally took me maybe 15 more minutes to finish up the dog since he wasn’t distracted anymore. The dog actually isn’t god awful if his owner isn’t around.

I call the owner and he walks right back in and sits down. He gives a single “sorry” before I tell him:

Me: I’m don’t mind if you bring your dog back, but you are no longer allowed to sit in the salon while I work. My job is dangerous because I work with sharp tools. I can’t have a distracted dog moving around on my table because that’s how they get hurt. Your dog was also biting me, and I can’t control him the way I need to when you are talking and he’s trying to get to you. And like I state before, he kicked my $240 scissors out of my hand and onto the floor. This means that I will have to pay to get them sharpened or fixed.
Client: *looks at me* oh okay. How much do I owe you?

I normally charge $45 for a small dog haircut, but due to how disrespectful he was and how his dog acted, I flat out told him $60.

After I told him the price… he sat there and looked around… waiting. Waiting! He was like “Where’s my boy at? Where’s he at?”

I pointed to the grooming room and said “He’s jumping on the couch. I’m waiting for you to pay.”

He cuts his eyes and me and huffs and very slowly pulls his wallet out and gets me the money.

I got get the dog and hand it to him and then tell him about the dew claws that had grown in. He didn’t care. He literally did not care. I explained it like a spike that have gone into the palm of your hand and he still didn’t care! I even handed him the freaking spiral nail! Nothing. But he just sat down and watched the fog walk around the salon for about 10 minutes… saying how good he looks and “oh you look handsome. ohhh you sooo good looking. yeah man, you look good.” He then asks when he can come in again. He said “two months?” I told him it was better if the dog came in every 4-6 weeks, but if he really wanted to wait that long, that was fine.

He finally walked out… no leash on the dog… and the dog darted to the end of my parking lot. The guy didn’t move…. didn’t follow him… just stood there and yelled. My salon is on a very VERY busy street that leads directly into downtown. But apparently the dog is okay off leash and runs to the car.