My first YT rant

I'm one of those people who goes through life trying to be nice. Life is too short not to be happy, and I consider it my civic duty to try to be cheerful. I don't care to associate with grumps, and I don't want to impose my attitudes on innocent people either.

But sometimes it's awfully hard to be cheerful.

My gripe today is with the Petco groomers. I've gone to them exclusively since we got Eddie 4 years ago. We're talking dozens of grooms at $50 a pop over that time.

I haven't always been happy with the cuts, but I've always been cheerful. I've always tipped generously, and I frequently send thank-you cards afterwards to let them know I appreciate the effort. That's a trick (Dan &) Corinne taught me to get them to make an extra effort.

Recently, Petco opened a new store 1 mile from my home -- as opposed to the one 8 miles away that I'd been going to. I went to the new one twice and wasn't happy with the cuts. So I decided to return to my previous groomer. She's the manager of the department, the one I've sent cards to and tipped generously.

She was delighted that I'd returned.

My experience started on a down note when she canceled our first appointment hours before. It was on a gorgeously sunny Memorial Day, but there was supposedly a family emergency. I wasn't happy, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and rescheduled to a time that was much less convenient (8 a.m. Saturday when I worked until 2 a.m. that day.)

The next downer was that when I returned to pick them up after 3 hours, she was halfway through Jack and hadn't even started Eddie. I asked her how long and she said 20 minutes. I waited rather than rushing off to a lunch engagement that I was close to missing.

An hour later, she finished. She did an OK job on the boys. Again, not exactly what I'd asked for but much better than the other Petco. I tipped her $20 on the $97 bill.

I had to argue with the cashier because I had been told earlier that I would get 10 percent off because of the cancelation. She called the store manager, and all was taken care of. My groomer didn't indicate it on the bill.

Through it all, I was bite-my-tongue nice despite missing my lunch engagement that had been planned a full hour past the time the grooming was supposed to be done.

So I get home and realize Eddie doesn't have his collar on. You would think that would be one of the first things they teach a groomer. You take a collar off. You put the collar back on. I remind you, this is the manager of the grooming department.

She called a couple hours later and told me about it, but I was prepared for her call. I happen to know she lives real close to me and even closer to my local Petco. Could she drop off the collar there that night so I don't have to do the 16-mile roundtrip in a gas-guzzling pickup?

No problem, she said. In fact, that's a great idea.

I gave her two days before driving over to the new Petco to pick it up. No collar. I called her from there. She was too busy to pick up the phone, but apologized profusely through another groomer and promised to drop it off last night.

I decided to call over there this morning. No collar. I was livid.

I called her again, and she apologized again and promised to drop it off tonight. I said no. I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and I can't take the chance that my dog doesn't have his tags. I'll drive over there and pick it up.

When I got there, she was busy grooming a dog and didn't bother to come up to the counter. I could hear her apologizing in the background, but I wanted none of it. She said "I gave you $5 off your next grooming for the inconvenience."

That was a slap in the face. I had paid her nearly a $100 for the grooming, I tipped her $20, I made two 16-mile roundtrips in a vehicle that gets 10 mpg, and one of those round-trips was because she forgot to put the collar back on my dog.

And she gave me $5 off my next grooming.

Some people just aren't worth the effort to be nice. I set the $5 off coupon on the counter and told her I wouldn't be back to use it.

But I will be sending a shorter version of this rant to the managers.