I took Winston to get a bath today. Winston has to be "expressed" - that is, he has to have his bath and then leave. That's because he's too big to fit in a kennel. The groomers at Petsmart prefer to do it early in the morning, and, to help them out ( because, lets face it, I don't imagine that Winston is their favorite customer. The last time he planted a goober right on top of the lady's head while she was trying to dry him) I took a 7:00 a.m. appointment.

Not only am I not awake at 7:00 a.m., Winston isn't either. Nevertheless, he bemusedly hopped up in the back of the PT Cruiser and I got him to his appointment on time. But it didn't register with me that the manager of the place meant for me to come back in "exactly an hour". She said, "he'd be done in an hour" and, since I'd been asked for my phone number when I made the appointment the night before, I assumed they'd call me like they did the last time.

They did call me after about an hour had passed and I came to get him about 15 minutes later....

....it only goes to show how out of it I am in the mornings that I only just now realize how terribly rude the "manager" of the Westminster PetSmart grooming department was to me. When I went to get him, the lady who grooms him ( who seems to genuinely like him, in spite of the spit situation) was trying to get his collar back on him. I was going to wait, then take him to pick out a bone for him and pay for everything all at once up front. But the manager gave me the invoice and instructed me to walk up front and pay, so I did. When I came back, the groomer was returning Winston to me, and she kept saying "phone number! get a phone number!" for which the groomer did ask me once again.

"He was done 45 minutes ago, and she had to wait with him. They can't be left alone when they're expressed, so she had to sit with him all that time! That's why I told you to be back in an hour." the manager said, in no where near a polite tone of voice.

I apologised, but if I'd had my head on straight I'd have told her, "Oh, excuse me, I assumed that was what the $10 extra 'express' charge is for. I get home at midnight so I only took this darn 7:00 am appointment to try to help you out - it's a real hardship for me. It's early for both of us, so maybe one of us misread the clock, but it seems to me that if she was sitting with him for 45 minutes she could have managed to get his collar on in that amount of time!"

Witch.

I realize that it's no fun being a PetSmart groomer, and no doubt way less fun managing such a department, but I am so sick of people looking at my "kind face" or getting my "gentle vibes" or whatever and then stomping on me with both feet just to make themselves feel better. I'm inclined to find another groomer - I think I will look around. PetSmart is in a convenient location for me, but I'd rather support a local business person anyway.

Of course, every once in awhile, someone misreads my willingness to be stomped on and they get a whole lot of squalkin' from this Winged Creature. Surprise! But that's no good for anybody, so I'm glad I was more than half asleep and let the whole thing go.

At least the dog smells better. I think he finds getting a bath a little stressful. Maybe I'll try taking him to one of those "do it yourself dog wash" places. He doesn't mind getting wet, and he's much more stressed out by going to a strange place and being handled by people he doesn't know well then he is by the actual bath. It might be easier, and certainly would surely be cheaper, if I could do it myself. In warm weather, I might be able to bathe him outside if I could get him to stop chewing on the garden hose. Lots of times those "dog wash" places are in with car washes or launderamas. I don't suppose I could train him to run through the car wash, and besides, a car wash wouldn't do the ears.

Anyway, he got one of those big natural bones as a reward. He took it home and went back to sleep with one paw draped over it - I guess in case the parakeets tried to steal it from him while he was napping.

A dog's life indeed!