Does anyone have a secret decoder ring handy?

I get interesting notes from clients.  You may remember this example.  People just like to write things down for me,  in case I forget, I guess.  Maybe it's so they don't forget what they wanted to tell me.  Most of the time, the owner is standing right there, and then they pass me the note, which I read, then I go on to interpret what I think it says.  At that point the owner then tells me if I was right or very wrong.  Sounds easy, right?  They are always in english (thankfully) and most of the time they are legible.  However, the trick is that they are sometimes in code. 

Sometimes, someone other than the owner is dropping the dog off.  In these cases the notes are much more important.  I prefer, that they are accompanied by a phone number where the actual owner can be reached so they can help with the decoding, however,  I don't always get that lucky.  You can be sure the drop off person knows absolutely nothing about the dog or it's haircut.  Today, it was the wife dropping the husband's dog off for his haircut.  He had these specific instructions regarding the length of his dog's haircut. 

Seriously?  

I just did the same haircut we have done in the spring on this dog for the past 10 years.   I hope I got it right, and that the length I chose was average to a little shorter than average, but not too short.