They're the Same! (Not)

There's multiple reasons why I chose to go more into the Product side instead of the Customer Service side when choosing what manager position I wanted to go into when corporate revamped their leadership tiers last year.

And that main reason was?

Grooming. The Salon. 

Because the Salon is nonstop drama in one way or another. Whether it's the associates themselves stirring up trouble or Karen customers...Grooming usually is a headache that won't go away. There's always something going wrong there.

And I wanted nothing to do with it. 

I already have enough stress in my life that I don't need to add the constant Salon problems on top of it.

That being said....

with our EL on LOA for the foreseeable future, that means that those tasks that go to he EL now fall to other people.

Most the time it's the head manager who deals with the major crisis and the el (little el not big EL) that deals with the day to day things. 

Unfortunately....Head Manager wasn't in today or tomorrow.

So as being the next highest manager ranking in the store with the EL gone....it got left to me to deal with a Karen that called yesterday and terrorized my closing manager. 

Who told me today that they'd never come close to crying before last night. 

So what happened?

Apparently this Karen shares a grooming account with their child.

And for the past little while they've been getting their dogs groomed and both of them have paid the same price for their dogs.

However, that changed this most recent groom -two weeks ago- where Karen was charged more because the price of grooming changes as the puppy becomes an adult and Karen's puppy had reached the age where they no longer get Puppy Grooms but Adult Grooms. 

Karen was fine with paying for it at the time of service....

Until last night, when her child took in their dog to get groomed at a different location....and paid the same amount they always paid. 

So she apparently called freaking out that she was charged more while the adult child was charged the same for their dog. 

And she would not listen to reason.

That 

1. The breeds weren't the same.n -which influences the price-

2. The dog was old enough that the puppy groom no longer applied and therefore the adult groom would cost more. 

But Karen wasn't having it. She claimed the two dogs were the exact same breed. Poodles.

And while the adult child's dog was listed as a Poodle...Karen's dog was listed as a Labradoodle.

Which are two different breeds of dogs and therefore the pricing for those dogs would differ. 

My manager last night couldn't get that through to her...and manager wasn't actually sure what she wanted in the end. 

So it ended up being my job to call the customer today to either a) tell her "yes that's the price you will have to pay" or b) if the breeds were actually the same as she claimed then give her a refund for putting the wrong breed in the system. 

And it's one of those stupid things where it shouldn't stress me out, but I hate talking to confrontational customers and Grooming Karen customers are the WORST to talk to. And this lady sounded like a beast because she was yelling and screaming over the phone to my closing manager. 

So I didn't really sleep well knowing that I'd have to call her in the morning. And potentially get an ear full of yelling. 

Lucky me though...the customer didn't yell at me. 

I think she did mute me at one point but I stayed on the line until the 'connection cleared up'

In any case.

The first priority was to clear up what breed the dog was. If it was a Poodle or Labradoodle. 

And the lady legit never gave me a straight answer.

"They're the same breed."

And what breed was that?

She never said directly. I couldn't get her to tell me if both dogs were poodles or labradoodles. She just kept saying that they were the same breed. 

The closest I got to her admitting anything was when she said "They both have the same hair why does it matter?" 

Because Labradoodles DO NOT always have the same hair as a Poodle because sometimes the Labradoodle's hair ends up more Labrador instead of Poodle. So they have different needs. 

Which I explained to the customer and also explained that the price increased in the first place because the dog is no longer considered a puppy in the salon and therefore it costs more to get the adult groom.

The final bit of conversation was her asking "So will I always have to pay $$ now?"

To which I said "IF the dog is a Labradoodle then Yes." 

Because again she hadn't said if the dog was a Poodle or Labradoodle yet.

Her response?

She hung up on me.

Which kinda proves the point that the two dogs WERE NOT the same breed. She was just hopping to try and pay her original price by acting like her dog was the same as the other one when it's not.

And this is why I hate grooming customers because a lot of them try so hard to get free grooms or get discounts and such.

Like yes it's expensive to get your dog groomed. I get it. But if you don't want to pay the money then don't come get your dog groomed.

At least I didn't get yelled at by this customer. So yay. 

But yah.

I hate dealing with Salon. So. Much. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi