[Aidan]

Well...I debated about posting this to be quite honest, but I also am at a crossroads as to what to do about this problem I have and while only I can make that choice it never hurts to get feedback from other people.

Most of you know I work at a big chain store grooming salon. This is where I started as a bather and eventually learned how to groom. The past few months I have been building my portfolio with the intentions on going to a smaller independent grooming shop. They do a lot more technical grooms, very few "yearly shave downs" and they dont tolerate difficult dogs. If a dog is too much trouble to be groomed safely the dog goes home, and that's how I think it should be!

Well, it's looking like I might be able to start this job in the next few weeks!

My problem, however, is that while being at this store I have come to realize that many people treat dogs poorly in this shop. I am sure it's not like this everywhere. I have been wanting to leave because the other people I work with use the fact that I am gentle with animals against me. I refuse to hurt a dog, if it takes too much force to groom a dog I will send the dog home. It's not worth me getting bit and it's definitely not worth a dog getting injured.

One of the girls is worse then the others..she screams at dogs, handles them rough, sometimes placing them on the ground and sitting over them in order to groom them. This infuriates me and I have tried talking to the store manager only to tell me that without proof she will do or say nothing....

Well, don't tell that to someone with lots of camera toys. So, of course I caught her on tape. I have several instances of her grooming and mistreating dogs, nothing huge yet but enough to *maybe* get her fired!

My fear is that the manager still will refuse to care...as long as the salon makes money she stays out of our business. We don't even have a grooming salon manager...our manager was fired for drinking on the job oddly enough.

This salon needs A LOT of help..the management position was offered to me but I declined because well i dont want to fix all of their problems especially with a manager that seems to not take anything there seriously! That and I was already looking into my new job....

My main question is, what should I do with this tape? Do you think I should show the manager and if so should I wait until I leave?

I know this groomer is also thinking of applying at another major grooming salon in a big retail store, should I maybe show the grooming manager at that store as well?

My concern is for the animals. There are too many groomers who mistreat their clients dogs, I hear about it all the time and I am one of those people who believe that you can safely and effectively groom a dog without losing patience. I also believe that the dog picks up on your hostility and it will only make the grooming session worse the longer you persist.

I'm just not sure what to do! I don't even know if I have enough recorded to actually do anything. If I can't get my store manager to care the only other option would be to go to corporate... and I will if I have to, but i'm just wanting to know if im doing the right thing.

I will NEVER leave my dogs with a stranger to groom after working at this place... not without a nice folder full of references!

 

[Aidan]

That's one nice thing about being antisocial and not hanging out with coworkers outside of work, nobody at that place knows where I live and I don't drive I walk/run/skate everywhere I go for the most part so I don't even have a vehicle to worry about! So, i'm not too worried.

 

[Aidan]

I don't want to discourage anyone from using a big chain store because the fact is some of them have some wonderful groomers! It's just the few in between that can really ruin it for some of the good ones out there. I think that's what has me so frustrated at this point.

 

[Aidan]

If anyone would like to see a copy of this video let me know, i'd like to know if it has enough on it to send to corporate if I do decide to do that. I have no idea how much longer i'll be at this place..maybe a month or so tops and while im there i will continue to film and get what I can just because if she does what I have on video while i'm in the room...it's no telling what she does when she is there all by herself!

 

[Aidan]

I emailed the video to corporate using an anon. email. They said it would take about 10-14 days to investigate.

The store manager called me into the office this morning and asked what my opinion was on how this groomer treats animals. I told her my opinion, nothing far fetched just that she tugs on dogs is rough, yells at them with me in the room and that while i have seen her drag a dog to the back and sit on them while grooming i've never seen her physically slap a dog but if she's willing to do what is on that video in front of ME i have no doubt that without me around or when she's grooming by herself she does hit dogs, she hits her own dogs constantly and I don't want to get into a spank issue with dogs but even with hers its never called for when a simple "No" will work.

She will either lose her job or go on probation for a week basically being forced to take a week off without any pay and management is going to be watching her VERY closely.

 

[Aidan]

Well the manager assumes I went to corporate and is angry with me instead of the groomer so i'm out of there. I have some dogs that request me specifically to groom their dog this coming week so i'm going to stay until Thursday to do my dogs and i am telling all of my customers where I'm going most of them even have my cell number.

I start my new job at an independent salon on Sept. 8th!! I am SO excited.

 

[Aidan]

Unfortunately bad things happen at Petsmart as well, I was a bather for the company for awhile and left for the same reason.

Not only did they hurt dogs but they would constantly leave dogs unattended on grooming tables, took forever to get dogs in and out, etc... the company is a joke but petco isn't looking much better.

I know a great groomer who lives in IL but im not sure where you are at in IL

Also showing up randomly can be a good way to keep an eye on your dog but if your dog sees you it can make the grooming session go horribly. If an owner shows up inside the salon while I have their dog on the table I hand them the dog as he or she is and I do not finish the groom. It's not fair for the dog to see their owner and think they get to go home and then see the owner leave again..so I don't do that to a dog if owner comes into the salon where the dog can see them the dog goes home half done. I always ask people to call or to come through the main store and watch through the glass far enough away where they dont disturn their dog because it's almost impossible to gain the dogs attention again and a wiggily dog can be difficult to safely groom.

 

[Aidan]

She was fired today. I went into Petco to let the manager know it was my last day and was told to just go home.

So I went home and still nothing had been done so I uploaded the video to youtube and then posted it on craigslist-shreveport for the world to see.

People have been apparently calling up there all day long! She was called into the managers office and came back into the salon crying and packing her stuff up.

A good friend of mine still works there and called to let me know. I went ahead and called my new job and they let me come in and start today! So yay, it's so much better at this new place!

 

[Aidan]

I'll send you a personal link to it, i removed the video from craigslist and youtube now that it has served its purpose.

The sad part was the bad stuff I never could catch on video, sitting on dogs to shave their face, dragging them into the back and having to rebathe dogs because she would do somethign that made the dog poop and pee everywhere, it became pretty awful to even be around her.