Crazytown

Smack dab* (sorry, smack dab is just fun to say, and also type, as it turns out) in the middle of the week of Christmas when I had plenty of time to deal with the crazy people (don't you just wish there was a font for sarcasm?)  I had the oddest exchange with a client.  I feel the need to share.

In the door came a recent request client.  I had groomed her dog twice before, according to the paperwork the receptionists had given me.  Yes, I could do the same as last time, I was glad she had liked it.  No problem.   The little dog was named Leah Jones**.  Leah, is one of those names that you never quite know how to pronounce.  Is it LEEa?  Or Laya (like the princess in that famous movie)?  No time for figuring that puzzle out on a day like this one, so we just pretend we know, and move on.  Take the dog to the back and get her groomed and return her. 

The return.  That's when the trouble began.  I have a million things on my mind as I run the dog to it's owner, hoping to thank them, and beat it to the back to finish the next dog.  Instead, the receptionist is making a huge point of telling me that "this is actually  LEEa Jones" ... Um.. ok... whatever... who cares? As I stood there with a very confused look on my face, the owner went on to say, that her Sister-In-Law also has a little dog, which she also named Leah, but she pronounces it Laya.   Oh...Ok.. yeah, I'm still confused, but really didn't have time for sorting it all out.  I say "we will make sure we put the phonetic spelling on your record for next time" thinking that this was the problem.. I'm saying her dog's name wrong.  I finally break away and head to the back.

5 minutes later, there is a phone call for me. It's from Leah's owner.  She wanted to clarify... Her Sister In Law's last name is ALSO Jones.. and the dogs are litter mates, both Maltese mixes.    My dog's haircut looks a bit different than usual.. could it be that I gave her the wrong cut?  Great.  I have plenty of time for this.   Really.   So, I move to the computer, and find... oh yes.. there are two dogs.  One is White, the other Black and Tan... and we've groomed them both.  I start to sweat... sure enough, I was given the "other" Leah's card.  The person who made the appointment just went with the first Leah Jones they could find (which who could blame them) and put it in the computer that way.  HOLY CRAP.  Thankfully, the haircuts were very similar.. it could've been really bad.. the other Leah could've gotten a shave or something... Yikes!  I explained our mistake, but the client still swore that her dog's head was left too long.  I apologized and offered her to come in and have me fix it later in the week.  She tells me that she TOLD her Sis-in-law not to name her dog that.. but she wouldn't listen.  That would be annoying.. I'm guessing there was no love lost between those two.  She finished off the conversation by saying that she hoped I hadn't charged her the other dog's haircut price as well, because that seemed a bit high too.  I told her I'd check.

Everything turned out fine.. I fixed the head, which I'm convinced she only had a problem with because she caught us at our mix up.  And.. thankfully the prices on the haircuts were identical.. Whew!!


*  I felt I should let you all know that originally I spelled smackdab as one word.  Imagine my surprise when spellcheck picked it up and let me know it's actually  TWO words!!  Silly me.
**You guessed it, names, first and last, have been changed in this blog entry, you never know who reads this thing!.