I work for a pet daycare. Clients are occasionally late, and we have no choice but to stay late waiting past closing with their dogs. One lady comes in ten minutes after we close.

Manager: “Ma’am, we closed ten minutes ago.”

Client: “Oh, sorry, I was on the phone out there for about twenty minutes.”

Manager: “Well then, f*** you very much, ma’am.”

Client: “I beg your pardon?!”

Manager: “You kept us all past closing because you thought your phone call was more important than all of us going home on time. F*** you. You’re no longer welcome here.” 

Client: “I will be calling your manager about how you’ve spoken to me!”

Manager: “I’m the visiting district manager. Buck stops with me. Your dog is lovely; be more like them in the future. Bye now.”

 The manager locked the door behind them and reminded us we could do that to any customer that admitted to being late for no good reason.

I watch dogs for people through an app. A woman asked me to check on her two dogs and one cat on a major holiday I know I had blocked off in my calendar. I looked up her location and it was within a few minutes of where I would be that day. Before I could decide, she messaged me.

Client: “Hi, I know you’re marked unavailable, but our last sitter turned out to be irresponsible so we would like to try someone new.”

Me: “I’m looking into what the plan is for that day. I’ll get back to you when I know.”

The next hour was a flood of messages about how desperate this woman was and how much she needed someone to let her two little dogs out twice that day. Finally, I decided to meet with her to see what we could work out. Holiday pay is nearly double normal on this app.

Client: “If you could come at [exact times], that would be great. I know the app is flexible, but their little doggy bladders are not.”

Me: “I’ll do what I can. I don’t—”

Client: “Good, just whatever you can do is great. I’m so glad you’re free!”

The day of the visit comes, and I arrive ten minutes before I’m scheduled. I open the door to find not only the woman’s two dogs and one cat, but six other dogs in the house. I call several times, but she doesn’t answer. Finally, I message her via the app.

Me: “Hi, there are way more dogs here than you booked. I’m going to have to take this up with [App] to charge more.”

Client: “Those aren’t my dogs! You can’t charge me!”

Me: “Am I taking care of them?”

Client: “Yes, obviously! My friends didn’t have a sitter, so I told them to bring their dogs over and you would help us all.”

Me: “No. I’m not getting paid for all of this; I’m not doing it.”

I took a photo of the group, let all the dogs out to relieve themselves — it wasn’t their fault, after all — and left.

I contacted customer support to seek extra payment for the extra dogs. They told me they went after her for the money, but she deleted her account as soon as the complaint was made. I wonder why her last sitter didn’t want to work for her anymore.

I offer a dog-sitting service through an app. A woman reaches out and requests my services for three one-hour visits per day, every day for a week. She provides an address that is only ten minutes from my house. We do a little meet-and-greet at her house to get to know each other, and I agree to take the job.

The first day of the week-long agreement comes and I go to the house. There is no key like she said there would be, and the door is obviously locked. I try calling her through the app, but she doesn’t answer. I knock, but there is no noise. I reach out again through the app via the text option.

Me: “Hi, I’m having trouble getting into the house. I don’t see the key where you said it would be.”

Client: “Yes, we are at [different address]. Please change your visits to this place as we are on vacation and brought the dogs with us.”

I plug the address into my GPS and see it’s almost two hours away.

Me: “I won’t be able to do that. I agreed to this address. The one you just provided is way out of my range.”

Client: “We’re paying you to take care of these dogs so we can relax.”

Then why did you take them with you?

Me: “I am canceling this appointment.”

I canceled the whole week and contacted customer service letting them know she had failed to provide accurate information. Customer service apologized (even though it wasn’t their fault) and said they would look into it.

I work at an animal clinic that doubles as a kennel. We board dogs and cats. A younger woman whose dogs have recently been boarded walks in, absolutely SCREAMING.

Customer: “My dog started having diarrhea when they got home! You’ve poisoned them!”

Me: “Ma’am, sometimes this can happen when a dog is left in a place they don’t recognize. It’s called stress diarrhea.”

Customer: “That’s impossible! My dogs are immune to diarrhea!”

No one is up front except her and me, so I reply:

Me: “Oh, really? Your dogs are immune to diarrhea? That’s incredible. Perhaps you should breed them!”

She then threw a slew of profanities in my direction and then stormed out the door. I haven’t seen her since.

I work at a high-end boarding kennel. My boss, one of the three co-owners, gets a call one day from a woman asking to board her dog for a few nights. She tells the co-owner that she was referred to the kennel by her vet in Northern California. My boss asks why is she asking for a boarding kennel in Southern California.

Woman: “I want to board my dog while I’m attending my daughter’s wedding.”

Boss: “Sure! I just need to ask a few questions so we know what kennel the dog would be best in. Is the dog people-friendly?”

Woman: “Well… sometimes.”

Boss: “Is the dog pet-friendly?”

Woman: “Well… sometimes.”

Boss: “Well, has your dog bitten anyone?”

Woman: “Well… sometimes.”

Boss: “I need a yes or no so I know where to best place your dog. It’s a matter of safety and risk to the dog and my staff.”

The woman gets indignant about this

Woman: “I’d like to talk to someone else, please.”

Boss: “Ma’am, I am the owner.”

The woman hangs up. The owner goes back to her work. Not even a few minutes later, the same woman calls up again.

Woman: “F*** you, you b****! I won’t be referring you to anyone!”

The owner was left thinking, “Why is anyone going to come down from NorCal to SoCal just to board their dog?”