A woman brings in her dog for grooming at 6:00 pm, our last slot before we close. She is in a nice dress with immaculate makeup, and she looks ready to be spending a night on the town drinking expensive cocktails.

I check in her small dog and go through the details.

Me: “Okay, you’re all set. [Dog] will be ready in about an hour.”

Customer: “Well, I’m about to head out for a date, so I’ll pick up [Dog] in the morning.”

Me: “Uh, ma’am, we’re a grooming facility only. We don’t do boarding.”

Customer: “Oh, I know. But I thought one of you…”

She pauses and looks around at the staff, all teenage girls covered in dog hair and the complete opposite of elegant compared to what this customer is wearing.

Customer: “…ladies could take [Dog] home for the night. It’ll be fun, like a sleepover!”

Me: “Sorry, ma’am, but no. Our responsibility for your dog ends when we close and you pick her up at 7:00 pm. We can’t take [Dog] home for the night.”

Customer: “Well, you’ll have to figure something out because I won’t be back until the morning.”

She flounced out despite our protests. As she’d paid, I groomed the dog while my colleague called the police and a local animal shelter. We had the customer’s contact details and we passed them on to both agencies. A policewoman came by just after close to pick up the dog and we provided a quick statement.

A few months later, the same policewoman came in with the same dog, but no longer in uniform, just as her new owner!

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My coworker is talking to a customer.

Coworker: “No, ma’am, I am afraid we cannot trim your baby’s nails.”

Customer: “Why not?”

Coworker: “Because your baby is two months old. Also, we’re a dog-grooming salon.”

I work at a pet salon. Someone doesn’t show up for their 9:00 am appointment, so the owner calls them to find out if they’re still coming.

Customer: “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in a few minutes!”

Owner: “Okay, see you soon.”

Thirty minutes go by and they’re still not here. The shop owner calls again, and again the customer says they’re almost here.

After an hour of them not showing up, the owner leaves a message saying if they can’t make it by 1:00 pm, we won’t have time to groom their dog. They don’t respond and they don’t show up by 1:00 pm, so we assume they’re not coming and cancel the appointment.

At 1:30 pm, the customer walks in.

Owner: “Sorry, we don’t have time to groom your dog; it’s too late in the day.”

Customer: “Are you sure you can’t do it?”

Owner: “We won’t be able to finish before closing time. You’re more than four hours late for your appointment.”

Customer: “That’s because my dog needed to exercise, so I took him for a walk. And then he got hungry, so I had to go to the store and buy him a chicken. Can you please still groom him?”

Owner: “We can reschedule for another day, but we aren’t able to do it today.”

Customer: “In that case, you should have called me!”

I work in a pet grooming salon. We have a customer who brings six dogs in every two weeks to get their nails trimmed.

Customer: “Your nail trimming prices are ridiculous! They’re far too expensive.”

He gave me a very long lecture about our prices. His dogs are very well-behaved, so I really don’t know why he just doesn’t trim their nails himself.

I’m in high school. My mom works in a pet salon, and sometimes I help her there.

We have a customer that insists on having us shave her rottweiler to stop shedding. Shaving a dog won’t do a thing to stop shedding; it’ll just make the hair smaller. Her dog likes to bite at the clippers, so it takes a while to do him because we have to be careful that he doesn’t hurt us or himself. Don’t get the wrong idea — he’s the sweetest dog I’ve ever met — he’s just a handful to deal with. We’re in the middle of shaving him when the owner calls at 5:13 pm.

Customer: “Uh, yeah, I’m calling about [Dog] because it’s almost six and he isn’t ready yet.”

I start to bring the phone to my mom, but she tells me to tell the customer that we are having problems shaving him.

Me: “He’s almost done; we have one leg left to shave. We’re just having problems shaving him.”

I am in no way rude to her, but she must find offense in something I say because she goes off on me.

Customer: “Well, it really pisses me off! [Dog] is a good dog, and I pay good money to get him groomed, and now you’re saying that he’s mean and he’s biting! My dog doesn’t bite!”

I try to explain that I never said her dog was mean or bites, but she cuts me off.

Customer: “You know what?! You should’ve had my dog groomed and bathed at 5:30! I’m coming to get my dog right now!”

Me: “Okay, ma’am.”

Customer: “AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GONNA DO—”

She doesn’t get a chance to finish before I hang up the phone. I’m in high school and helping my mom out at this place, I have had a long day, and I’m not about to deal with this woman screaming at me. I tell my mom what just happened, and even though the woman is rude, my mom STILL finishes her dog, at 5:30, just like the woman had screamed about.

I think it’s over, but then the phone rings again and the customer’s name flashes on the screen. This time, my mom picks up.

Mom: “Hi. What can I do for you?”

Customer: “Whoever I just talked to said my dog was biting and that he couldn’t be shaved!”

Mom: “That was—”

Customer: “Well, whoever I just spoke to was being a little b****! They didn’t have to be an a**hole about it!”

Mom: “That a**hole was my daughter, and you are not going to disrespect me or her like that.”

Customer: “Well, I wanna see the owner!”

Mom: “The owner will be waiting for you when you get here.”

My mom told the owner what happened and she wasn’t even mad. The customer ended up sitting in the parking lot for about twenty minutes just screaming on the phone at some other poor person. When she came inside, she took her dog and said she’d never be coming back, and neither would her stepmother.

We already knew the stepmother pretty well because the customer had cheated on her son, so the stepmother didn’t even talk to her anymore. She ended up paying full price and just leaving.

Related:
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 2
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets

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