Need to vent

I have a client that everytime she comes in, all I hear is all the things I do wrong. She talks down to me, now she is saying I do not clip the nails short enough, I always go to the quick, I can not go any shorter unless the dog bleeds, now she whats nail clipping for free, she is saying I am not doing my job. I have said maybe it would be better for her to go somewhere else. She said no she likes me, we just have to work on a couple of things. I feel I have to lay out the red carpet for her and it is a law suit waiting to happen. I have thought lots on a weird haircut and changing the color, it would make me feel better. She told me she comes every 4-5 weeks, I am good income for you, it is not worth the stress. Now I have told the vet, I do not want to do her dog anymore. Everytime, to short, then to long, one ear a little longer than thee other. I have had her since Nov, and it is still not getting better. How do you deal with this?

Ughh....i have some like this too, never have anything nice to say!!! But they keep coming back. I just put up with them and keep doing what i do.

You could: A) Raise her price until you don't mind listening to her. Just pretend she is saying, "Take my money, money, money, money..." as she condescends to you. B) Fire her. Really mean it. Life is too short and this is the path to burnout. C) Feel your blood pressure rise every time you see her on the schedule, bite your tongue when she complains and repeat this, every month, forever.

Guess which one I would pick? Especially if she said I was not doing my job!

We have a couple like that too. Like Stephanie said raise her price. Let all her negative comments roll off your back and do the dog exactly the same way each time you'll be surprised when they say oh it was too short, too long whatever when you know you did nothing different. People like this just like to hear themselves complain and think that is going to make you treat their dog better than everyone elses.
Either that or show her the door.

I had a similar experience this past week. I do these two little Yorkies all the time, must have been the 10th time at least that I had them. The husband always brings them in. This time he told me to do the faces "really short". So I did. The male Yorkie is really unpredictable and I never know if he is going to let me groom him or not. The female is good. This day, the male went absolutely crazy as soon as I put the clippers on. He almost bit me when I was bathing him. I had to muzzle him for the rest of the groom. He won't every let me trim his nails and doesn't like his behind, legs or chest being touched. He was worse than usual. Needless to say, he didn't look very good, but I did my best. The female looked fine and I groomed her as I usually would. Later that day, the wife calls and leaves a message saying how disappointed she was with the grooms (plural!) and that the dogs "looked a mess, there faces were too short". I had explained to the husband about the male Yorkie, and he agreed that he was a handful. They try to do his nails themselves and can only do one here and there and then it is a wrestling match. I felt really bad. I called back and got their answering machine and explained why the male looked the way he did. The next day the husband called back to apologize, saying they overreacted, that he did tell his wife that he instructed me to go really short on the faces. I told him I would give back the $30.00 for one of the grooms, or else give the next one free. He said, no, it was okay. I'm glad we sorted this out, I felt miserable for a couple of days.

Oh i wish that the owners new what eachother was asking for!!! I had a lady with a doodle bring in the dog, told me to take some length off so i showed her exactly what i was going to do. Well dad came in the next day complaining that the dog didn't look the same and that was not what they wanted. I explained that i did exactly what the wife told me to do but of course she would never say that!!! He left in a huff and i've never seen them since!!! Oh well, good ridance. Doodle people, sheesh.

Yes, the problem seems to be miscommunication. Though, I usually find if the wife/girlfriend brings the dog in and gives instructions, everything is okay. It is when the wife/girlfriend sends the man that there is problems .

Lady, is gone, she called and cancelled, that was nice of her to call and cancel. I feel like a great weight has been lifted.