About Me:

I am a professional Pet Groomer. I have been grooming for 28 years. This Blog is a kind of diary of my work. I wish I had started years ago, writing some of the experiences I have had while grooming. Most days are fun, some can be sad, some can be just down right crazy. If you are a pet owner and come across this blog, I hope it helps you understand how your pet is groomed. If you are a Pet Groomer, I hope you can relate to some of the stories. Maybe even learn a grooming tip or can leave a friendly grooming tip for me. There is always something to learn, no matter how long you have been grooming.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Tuesdays Tip # 54....Runny Eyes

Oh, and I may just add a small rant to the end of this post.


First the tip for today.

You know how you get those dogs with the really runny eyes?
Most of them tend to be Shih-Tzus or Shih-Tzu mixes.
The eyes and face tend to stink from the constantly moist hair and skin under the eyes.
So, you spend a little extra time shampooing and cleaning up really nice around the eyes.
You get the face all nice and clean and smelling good again.
You get the face all nice and dry and ready to scissor.









Then, you go to scissor up around the eyes and the face and the hair is wet again.

Sometimes it is really soaking wet.

That can sometimes make it hard to scissor.










So I keep a roll of Ultra Soft Toilet Paper next to my table.

The toilet paper is nice and soft to rub a round the eyes, and it is also nice and absorbent.

It does a really nice job of removing excess moisture and drying the hair a little.











Wrap a small sheet around your finger and rub the hair under the eye to help dry before you scissor.











It does not get the hair totally dry, but it does help to clean up under the eye and lift the hair for scissoring.








The roll of toilet paper also comes in handy for wiping off blades, cleaning out ears, cleaning slobber off of a mouth, picking up accidents on your table, wiping cut hair off of your face, and wiping off your scissors.







Now for the rant.

Sometimes you just get those customers that you seem to always go out of your way for and then you just feel like they step on you.

This particular customer has two dogs.
He is very picky about the grooms.
We go out and get his dogs out of the car when he brings the dogs, and we take them back out and put them in the car when he picks up.
That is not a big deal for us, because we do that for a lot of our older, or disabled customers, but this customer tends to tie up my husband and one of my kids for quite a long time, as if they have nothing else to do.

The main thing that bothered me this time with this customer was the fact that he came to pick up the dogs and forgot his checkbook.
He had credit cards with him, but did not want to use them.

Don't ask....it didn't make any sense when my husband explained it to me.

He asked for the shop mailing address and said that he would mail the payment as soon as he got home.
This customer has been coming to us for awhile, so my husband told the customer that that would be no problem as long as the check arrived by Saturday so that we could close out the books for the week.

By Thursday we had not received the check, so my husband called.....he forgot.....would send it out that day. (the dogs were groomed on Tuesday)
No problem, it would still get to us by Saturday.

Saturday mail...no check.

Fast forward to today's mail....no check!

Phone call today....no answer.

Has now been 8 days since the dogs were groomed.
My husband is kicking himself for not making him use the credit card.
I hate chasing people.
My husband will call him again tomorrow.
I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was not home today and is not just avoiding our phone call....we will see.

You try to trust people and do something nice for someone, and then they do something like this.
It ruins it for trusting other customers.
It is also like a slap in the face after you let someone do something that you don't normally let customers do.

Okay, rant over.  

Happy Grooming, MFF

7 comments:

  1. I used to allow a lady to make post dated checks to me after I groomed her dog. She never had any money for that since she lived on disability. But then she started calling me to say that she didn't have the money to cover those checks when I was about to cash them. The last time it was nearly a month before she finally got around to paying me. I told her I can no longer take post dated checks from anyone because they screw up our bookkeeping. I haven't heard from her since. Makes me feel bad-her dog is probably sitting completely matted in her house now.

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    1. Hi Kristin,
      I have a customer similar to yours. At first she would ask if it was okay to post date her check. Now she just does it without asking, and the dates are getting father and farther away. I don't mind it once in a while, but not every time. AND at least ask!
      I hope that she is having someone groom her dog.
      Lisa, MFF

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  2. How unfortunate and frustrating! That almost appears to have been planned! Have his address on file? "I was just on my way to the bank and wanted to save you the postage of mailing the check!" Is your customer of low income? One of our senior customers has his dogs groomed 2 weeks apart, not so hard on the wallet! Hope you can collect soon!

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    Replies
    1. I thought that it sounded planned too Carolyn. I understand if there are financial problems, just let me know. Still no check today. :(
      Lisa

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  3. I just recently started my own grooming blog and wondered how you get followers or new comments? This is completely new to me and I feel like I am writing to myself lately. I have no feedback on anything I have wrote so far and kind of would really like to have some. Thanks for your help. I love your blog by the way-I have found a lot of your advice and tips very helpful! :)

    Kris Miller

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      It took a while for feed back, and to be honest, I really didn't expect any. For a long time I was just writing for myself. I started getting followers after I posted about Groom Expo and put a link to the pictures on my blog on one of the grooming forums. I only have 132 followers and it took a couple of years to get them. :) Can you put a link to your blog here?
      Lisa, MFF

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    2. My blog link is: http://pamperedpuppies03blogspot.com

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