General Discussion & Chat: Coffee and...for Monday, February 13, 2006, 1 by mornin_gayle

mornin_gayle wrote:
Morning Gobs and 'Ettes!

Really really long post follows, read at your own peril, lol.

I have been keeping up with the daily posts and I will continue to pop in with a post every now and then. But I have to start cutting back on my computer time. I have been letting everything else around here slide way too far and now I'm in a real heap of trouble. One of Nathan's caseworkers made a comment recently that made me realize just how lax I have been with my housekeeping and I have never been all that great with it to begin with. She wasn't being nasty or anything, she understands my medical conditions and was concerned that I was getting overwhelmed and wanted to try to help me before everything was too far gone. I guess it is just way to easy for me to become immune to the mess and hide on the 'puter.

Susan, has your daughter talked to her doctor about Lithotripsy? It sure saved me from alot more pain. Altho my stone was a bit more complex, I would highly recommend finding out if she is eligible. Did she have a CAT scan done to find out if she has more stones too?

Kelly, have you ever "fired" a client? I still do some grooming in my home, and my clients are great about working around my limitations. I have had all of them for over 4 years. But the last 6 months I have had more problems with one "mom". Her dog "Babe" is a Bichon and I absolutely love him. He is a dream to groom, very well behaved and has a decent coat that shows off my work. But his mom is becoming a PITA. I raised my rates $2 last fall and she fussed. She refuses to schedule an appt in advance, stretches my 6 week recommendations to 8 or more weeks and then calls me wanting to get him done tomorrow. Two weeks ago she called me on Friday wanting me to do him on Saturday. I told her I don't groom on Saturdays and I could get him in during the week, so she settled for Monday. But since DH bowls on Monday mornings I told her she would have to drop him off around 9 instead of me picking him up like I normally do. Then she didn't show. I called at 10 am to see if she was coming and got her machine. She finally called at 2pm to say she was sorry and on her way. I told her it was too late in the day for me to start him as it takes me 4 hours to groom him on a good day (and sometimes 6 hours on a bad one, lol) and I would have do him on Wednesday. She wasn't happy with that, said she didn't mind waiting for him to be done that evening. When I told her *I* minded working that late she kind of got huffy with me. I told her I could do him on Wednesday and I would come pick him up as usual. When I got him here he was a mess. It had been 11 weeks since the last groom and she obviously wasn't brushing him at all. This is a lady I spent over an hour with showing her how to brush and comb him at home. She had always been better about brushing and I was really surprised at his condition. She wasn't at home when I picked him up (I use the hidden key) so I called her cell phone to find out what was going on before I ended up shaving him down to skin. She told me she was just sick of brushing him, but she wanted to keep his coat long. I asked her if she was going to brush him at home at all and she said probably not. I gave her some options, clipping his coat shorter, bringing him in weekly for a brush out, bringing him in bi-weekly for a bath and brush out and keeping him on a 6 week schedule for sure. She said she would do every 6 weeks with a bath brush out in between. I told her I didn't know how short he was going to end up since he was so badly matted, it would depend on how he tolerated de-matting. If he protested too much or it was painful for him I would have to clip him short since I have to get the clippers under the matts. I also told her that de-matting runs $10 for every 15 minutes. She fussed about that, but wanted him kept as long as possible, so go ahead and de-matt if I could. I worked on him for 6 1/2 hours and of that I spent 90 minutes de-matting. He was pretty good about it, and I used enough products on him to get thru the matts that he ended up having 2 baths. But I saved his coat and he looked good. I called her to come pick him up and told her the total bill was $75.00. By all rights I could have and should have charged her $97. $37 for the regular groom and $60 for 90 mins of de-matting, but I was trying to be nice. She flipped out at the $75! She came and picked him up and I tried to talk to her but she said she was in a hurry and would call me later to schedule the bath and brush out. I told her it would be nice if she could call a week ahead from now on and she just blew that off and sort of laughed and said, "Well, you are home all day anyway".

Now to make everything even more complicated, she is Liz's mom. For those that don't know...this is a whole 'nother story. The reader's digest version: Liz and I were very good friends for 20 years, so good in fact that when she got married last August I made her wedding cake. I bragged about that here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/538868/ I don't know what happened, but Liz quit talking to me in October. The last time I talked to her she was supposed to bring her son's Boyscout popcorn order form over so I could place an order. She didn't come, and she won't return the many phone calls or emails I have sent to find out what is going on. I have gone to her house twice when her car was there, but the first time her new hubby (who I thought I liked) said she was sleeping and the second time nobody answered the door. I didn't feel right using my key to go in, so I left it in her car with a note practically begging her to talk to me. She hasn't. Her mom refuses to discuss it, says it is between Liz and me. When she sent my Christmas card back marked "refused" I gave up. I have absolutely no idea what happened to make her so upset with me. I called one of Liz's other friends and she doesn't know what happened either but Liz is still talking to her but not as much. I'm seriously thinking it is the new husband, but I don't know for sure.

Anyway...I'm ready to wash my hands of the whole family. Liz's mom (Babe's owner) should be calling me this week to schedule Babe's bath and brush, but I doubt she will. If she does or when she calls in a month or 2 for his next groom, what should I tell her? Should I call her first and just tell her to find another groomer? Send her a letter or a card? Not answer the phone if I see her name on the caller ID? It's just not worth the hassle for the $37 every 2 months or so, and she never tips me either, but she did used to bring me a plant or something in the Spring. No compliments on how he looks anymore either. If something is going on with Liz or something and it has her worried or upset I might be more understanding, but she would have to tell me about it, I'm not psychic!

Wow, I'm sorry about the length of this post. I'm not going to edit it down tho, lol, I guess I needed to get it off my chest.

I have to run over to the school and give Jenna some more cold medicine. You guys will love this one: She was trying to tell me her nose was only stuffy on one side, so she said "But only one nozzle is plugged mom!" Nozzle! I was rolling and laughed so hard I had tears running down my face. Gotta love that kid.

mg

ps. Here is a pic of "Babe" from 2 weeks ago, before: