craziest customer ever

Anybody in a service or customer service industry has dealt with their fair share of crazy customers. Dealing with pet owners is no different. Most of them, myself included, feel that their pets are their children. So when you have to tell them something they don't want to hear, usually "You're dog is matted and needs to be shaved," sometimes they act a little crazy. Here is the story of the craziest customer I have yet to deal with. This happened six or seven years ago, toward the beginning of my grooming career. This is important to know because: A) In six or seven years, I have yet to deal with somebody as crazy as her again; B) Being inexperienced, I didn't know how to deal with her and I let her affect me more than I would now; and C) this happened at a previous job, not my current job, so things were handled slightly differently, and any current clients can rest easy knowing I am not speaking about any of them.

The dog, a bichon, was the last dog on my schedule for the day. I had plans for that night after work, and I was already behind on my other dogs. When she hadn't shown up by fifteen minutes after her appointment time, I thought I was safe. People hardly come later than that, and if they do, we have a right to turn them away. I started to relax, thinking that I might get out on time after all, and I was better able to focus on dematting a schnauzer that wanted to take my fingers off.

More than half an hour late, she strolled in without so much as an apology, six feet tall with eyes as cold as ice. I tried to tell her that because she was so late, I didn't have time to groom her dog and she would need to reschedule.

"Well you have to!" She snapped. "I'm a customer, I have an appointment, and you have to groom my dog!"

"I'm sorry ma'am," I replied, "But your appointment was more than half an hour ago, I don't have time anymore."

"Well you should have called me!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, we do reminder calls the night before; after that it's up to you to make it to your appointment on time."

"I don't care what your stupid policy is, you should have called to tell me I was late!"

Eventually I realized she was never going to back down, and, not yet having the courage to stand up to clients, I eventually relented and agreed to groom the dog.

She was telling me that she just wanted a light trim on her dog, but as I was feeling him, it was obvious that this dog was matted completely down to the skin. It would be impossible to brush out; the only option was to shave him.

"You can't shave my dog! I only want you to trim him a little."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but he's matted. I can't brush this out, so the only option is to get underneath the mats and shave him completely."

"I don't understand why you can't just wash him and trim the ends of his hair a little bit. You don't have to shave him. I just want him washed and trimmed."

"I'm sorry ma'am, it's against our policy to wash matted dogs. Water only makes mats worse, and these mats are already pulling his skin, which must be dreadfully painful. I can't wash him until I shave him."

"Well you have to! I'm the customer and the customer is always right! And I do NOT want you to shave my dog!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, it's the store policy, I'm not allowed to wash matted dogs because that would be breaking the rules."

"I don't understand, why can't you just cut through the mats and only take a little off? That's not so hard, is it?"

"Actually, that's impossible, our tools don't work that way. Your only options right now are to leave him here and let me shave him, take him home and try to brush him out yourself, or take him to another groomer who might attempt to demat him, which would be incredibly painful for him and would probably make his skin bleed."

"I don't understand. Why won't you just do what I ask? It's not that difficult! Just do what you're told!"

"Ma'am, I can not and will not do what you are asking; it is impossible. Your only options are to leave him here and let me shave him, take him home and try to brush him yourself, or take him to another groomer who is willing to attempt the the torture of dematting your dog."

"I don't understand."

Eventually, after more than twenty minutes, I finally got through to her. I had her sign the regular paperwork and the matted dog paperwork, which basically said I wasn't responsible for any sores under the mats or cuts that might happen while trying to shave under the mats.

She tossed the dog to me, and just to cover my bases again, I asked, "So, do I have your permission to shave your dog?"

"Yes, but under protest!" She hissed. "Now I'm going to have to get rid of him because he won't match my other dogs!"

I couldn't help but stare as she stormed out of the groom shop. Who says something like that? Even if you're joking, and I'm not sure she was, that is a terrible thing to say! Who would get rid of a dog just because he was shaved?

So I went to the back, but him in a kennel, and burst into tears. I felt weak, I felt humiliated, and I was certain she would complain about the groom and get it for free, meaning I would lose commission and not get paid for grooming the psycho lady's dog.

I was crying too hard to speak much, so the groomers in the back who didn't know what happened talked to the groomers up front who saw the entire thing happen. They decided to get the manager and tell him what happened.

A different manager probably would have told me to get myself together, groom the dog anyway, and probably apologize to the customer when she came back. Everything was the groomer's fault at this job, the customers were hardly ever to blame.

But I got lucky.

This manager said, "That's bull, nobody treats my groomers like that! I'm going to call and tell her to come get her dog; there's no way you should have to groom the dog for free just because she's a wacko."

I was in shock. Somebody would do that for me? A manager at this place? I thanked him profusely and hid in the back while he called her.

When he came back to the groom shop after calling her, he was steaming mad. "You were right, she is wacko. She kept trying to tell me I was bringing the dog to her. Excuse me? 'AFTER those lazy groomers finish my dog, you are going to bring him to my house personally! And I am NOT paying for the groom!' Are you serious? No ma'am, that is not going to happen. I'm going to need you to come get your dog right away. He will not be getting groomed today." He was appalled at how somebody could be so vicious and demanding. This was taking "the customer is always right" to the nth degree. But he eventually made her understand, and she was on her way to get her dog.

I hid in the back, not wanting to see her and her fury, so this is how I understand things went down when she came to get her dog according to those who witnessed it.

She started screaming from the moment she hit the door of the store, before she even got to the door of the groom shop. She came in demanding her dog and hollering about how terrible and lazy and evil we were because we wouldn't groom her dog. Somebody brought the dog up front, she snatched him away and stormed out of the groom shop. The she stood in the middle of the doorway to the store, pulling a Heisman, blocking any customers from coming in or leaving, and started screaming, "THOSE LAZY BITCHES WON'T GROOM MY DOG! DON'T TAKE YOUR DOG HERE! THEY'RE TERRIBLE! THOSE LAZY BITCHES WON'T GROOM MY DOG!"

Then the manager came running, and despite the fact she was probably six inches taller than him, he got in her face, put up his hand, and said, "Ma'am, you need to stop!" He escorted her to her car, gave her a card to call corporate if she wanted, and watched her leave.

I was still shaking like a leaf at this point. I eventually managed to finish grooming my other dogs, but at the end of the day, I made one of my coworkers walk me to my car because I was reasonably certain she was waiting for me with a shotgun.

The next day, everybody who saw what happened had to write down statements about it. Amazingly, the store manager decided that last night's manager and I had acted appropriately under the circumstances, and the customer would be told she was no longer welcome in our store, and if she tried to come in our store, she would be asked to leave. I had no idea the store could or would do such a thing.

I finally felt valued.