Strange Week

This is what I woke up to this morning.

This is what our driveway looked like this morning.

The snow had stopped right before I took this picture at 7am.

It was only an inch up my way, and a dusting down at my shop.

We have a 40 minute ride to work.

The roads were a mess, as we ran into accident traffic 5 minutes after leaving the house.

We had to detour, and that caused us to be 20 minutes late opening up the shop.

Thankfully we learned long ago to take customers files home when they call for snow so that we can call them if there is a problem.

There is always a problem, because people forget how to drive here when there is snow on the ground.

Today was a fairly uneventful today.

All of the dogs were good.

I did have another strange conversation with a customer today.

It has been that kind of week.

I have learned over the years to just listen to my customers with a smile on my face and keep my mouth shut when they make strange or funny comments.

This little girl was a new customer today.

When her Mom dropped her off an hour early for her appointment, my husband came back to get me so that I could talk to the owner about what kind of cut she wanted on her dog.

As I went to leave the grooming room, my husband said; "She is using our phone to call a friend about picking up the dog."

"Picking up the dog? I asked.

"Ya, she has a doctors appointment at 3pm and doesn't think she can be back before we close."

It always amazes me that people seem to schedule things on the same day.

She brought the dog in early hoping that we could get the dog done early.

Of course that is because their dog is the only dog I am grooming all day. :)

I stood at the counter for almost 10 minutes listening to her trying the get the person on the other line to either, pick up her dog or pick up her child, (who she was going to leave at the doctor while she came back to pick up her dog) before we closed for the day.

The person on the other end of the line did not seem to want to help her out.

I finally went around the counter to go meet the dog while she was still talking on the phone.

As I bent down to greet the dog, I heard her say; "I'll call you back. The groomer is taking the dog, and you know she hates the groomer."

Oh, great! I thought.

Of course I felt bad for the women, and I defiantly did not want her to leave her child at the doctors while she came back to pick up the dog.

"Your appointment is at 3pm, right?" I asked.

She nodded yes.

"If I put her in front of the other dog I have, I could have her done around 2pm for you," I offered.

"Would that give you enough time to pick her up and get to your doctors appointment? I asked.

"No . That's okay, I am going to go ahead to the doctors right now and see if they will take him now," she said.

"Oh, are you sure?" I was trying to help her.

"No, no. I am going to the doctors now." she insisted.

Oookay, good luck with that, I thought.

I just knew she was going to keep me open past closing time.

We talked about the cut she wanted on her dog and she got ready to leave.

Oh, here," she said, handing me a diaper.

I shifted the dog in my arms to take the diaper from her.

I looked down at the diaper with what I guess was a quizzical look on my face.

"She has been in heat, but she came to me this morning and let me know it was over." the owner informed me.

She let you know?

I had this sudden visual of this Shih-Tzu walking up to her owner and whispering in her owners ear.

"Mommy, Mommy, I don't need the diaper anymore."

The owner continued, "If you still notice any blood, you can put that diaper on her."

Well, I have to say that her Mom must have misunderstood her dog today, because she was bleeding all over the place.

All over the kennel.

All over the tub.

All over my hands.

All over her clean tail. Grrr.

All over my table.

I have a intact male coming in tomorrow that I know, no matter how much I clean my table, he will be sniffing it and slobbering all over the place the whole time I am grooming him. 

I put the diaper on her when she was finished.

Her Mom was 50 minutes late picking her up.

I called that.

One more day.

Let's see what my customers say to me tomorrow.  :)

Oh yah, if that Shih-Tzu hated the groomer, she sure didn't act like it.

Happy Grooming, MFF