Many children, dogs, horses and motor cars and lush green lawns were once 
the epitome of having arrived. It meant you were well-off. You could afford a
gardener, maybe a nanny or a cook. Or if you were really on the upswing a butler
and a chauffeur. 
  I think many of our preconceived notions comes from the British upper crusts
way of living. But we must all remember that the Lord or Lady of the Manor groomed 
their dogs or had a houndsman to do it. Those fluffy little lap pups were a class
act and kept to perfection. No matter how long it took someone on the staff or
themselves to do it. You never knew when the Vicar or someone equally important 
was going to drop by for a visit. Seems like no one worked and that is the bottom line
here. They had time to devote to their animals.
  In today’s world we want, want ,want! We want fluffy little lap pups which are
low maintenance. We want lawns with no weeds, we want children who will make
us proud. Hey! One or two out of three ain’t bad.
  When I was a child [ yes I know that was many, many moons ago! ] only the wealthy
had what was termed “French Poodles”.  Most people had low maintenance dogs
or mutts. They were for a purpose. Like hunting, herding or just to keep the citizenry
honest when you left things lying around the property.
  Today is different, people want whatever is popular in the movies, magazines or
who won at the Westminster Dog Show. This is why there are as many  grooming 
shops as there are today. It is also why a lot of grooming operations go out of
business.
  Unfortunately, like Rodney Dangerfield “they get no respect! “. People make
appointments and tie up their time and forget to show up. People tell them bald
faced lies about the condition of their animals or their temperaments. People
act surprised that it takes more than a half hour to correct coat conditions that
should have been corrected months ago. Then complain loudly about the fact
they had to remove the majority of the hair on the dog.
  People treat groomers like the “serfs” of medieval Europe. They expect them 
to jump, perform and say thank you for using me as your groomer and by the
way there is no charge for the extra time it took or the special conditioners, or
the bandages cause Cujo doesn’t like people or putting up with that horde
you loving refer to as the children.
  Please remember the common courtesies you know the ones you use at other
hair service establishments [ie...beauty shop or barber]. Call if you are going to
be late or call and cancel your appointment. Groomers groom because it is their
job. When you are inconsiderate it costs them money and time. They schedule
their time to earn a living and to be able to spend time with their families.
Remember they do more than play with puppies all day. It is a hard job but
someone has to do it.....why? Because you don’t want too! You tried, remember?