For the record, the dog was great. The mom was great. Dad was the asshole.

They show up at 12:30pm with their dog. I check them in, dad already seemed like he had a stick up his butt, but I mostly talked with mom. Anxious dog. Only his second time grooming. PP (Pet Parents) were told 3-4 hours because it's Saturday, and I work solo in the salon and it's always busy on Sat & Sun.

PP don't tell me that they need to pick the dog up by a certain time either. This is important for later in this story. So, I take the dog in. Have to pre-shave it because it's long and quite matted on the chest and feet because he's a drooler. Np. I shave him down. Get his nails, ears, and teeth done. Put him in the tub and bathe him. My next dog shows up.

New dog, new PP. No warning or information that this was a 4 month old mini poodle puppy that is extremely matted. This is it's first groom and the PP JUST picked it up yesterday. Normally when they just picked the puppy up, I tell them to wait a week or two before grooming, but when they're matted, things change due to a health factor involved.

Keep in mind, when I get severely matted dogs of any kind. I put my other dogs on hold to at least get them shaved down so they're more comfortable and able to relax a bit. This puppy was no different. I get it shaved, bathed, mostly dried, give it a break cause that was a lot. Go back to my other dog who was from the first PP. Get him dried.

While I was working on the puppy, anxious dog has gotten a break to relax more, but he gets worked up again after the dryer. I give him another break, move to finishing up the puppy while he gets a break. Finish the puppy, immediately my other dog who might I had is only about 1 years old so better able to handle waiting as well.

Start really working on his haircut, PP for the puppy shows up. Have to put the other dog away to check in the next dog, because as I said, it's just me in there. Same scenario when my last dog of the day shows up or when I have a nail trim, or whatever is going on, but most of my focus is on this first dog.

I get a call from mom at about the 3 hour mark checking in. I tell her he'll be done within the hour and he is so I let them know. Takes them another HOUR to pick up their dog, but then the dad is yelling at me telling me I should have called them and said something if I was running late because the dog took 5 hours.

I politely correct him and tell him that I contacted them an hour prior, which was exactly at the end of my time estimate for the dog being done. He's still yelling at me saying I shouldn't have taken so long, that they have plans to get to and now they're behind, that I should have called and told them the dog was going to be late and that I was

unprofessional for not calling to tell them. I remind him that they had been quoted 3-4 hours of time for the dog, his wife had called at 3 hours, and the dog was done at exactly 4 hours so because the dog was still in the alloted time frame plus his wife had called and been informed of the dogs progress that I would have had no reason to call because

the dog wouldn't have been considered late.

What's bad, is that mom had to step in and politely tell him to knock it off he was being so nasty and hostile about it. I'm just politely taking it, but I'm shaking at this point too because I was working overtime and hadn't taken a break and had had no food, ect. Either way, he asked "What was the problem?" And I responded that another dog came in that

took priority because of severe matting, and the reaction was along the lines of "Why would you do that? My dog should have taken priority over the matted one." I'm just staring at him like "Asshole, your dog got priority when he arrived too because of matting. You want an express service (straight through) then you should fucking pay for it because you're

dog is getting standard service, standard time. You did not pay extra for me to do your dog straight through with no interruptions. If you had, then your dog would have been my priority from beginning to end and I wouldn't have had any other dogs scheduled at that time for that fucking reason." Not quite in those words of course. That part was all in my head

Please tell me if I'm the one in the wrong here guys cause I'm baffled.

Also, sorry for the book.

no, you definitely weren't in the wrong

I personally feel that a dog's health state (matted specifically) takes priority over healthy (not matted) in all circumstances. It's not fair for a severely matted dog to sit in a kennel in pain. Not to mention, there's no telling what's under the matting until I shave it, so I feel even less comfortable not addressing in with shave, & bath first.

I've had a lot of matted dogs come in and need a break after shaving or time for the blood to rush back to the skin, or even sores or fleas. Relieving them and knowing what's under it all is super important when they come in.

draconic: I didn't think so, but sometimes people and situations are really good at making you feel like you are.