Have Shears Will Travel

Currently Reading: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

After several slow weeks at the clinic, it became pretty apparent that it's going to take longer than we hoped to build up a steady stream of grooming clients. Originally we'd all hoped that after a month or so, after word got out that the clinic was offering grooming now and after the coldest part of winter that more customers would be coming in. That just didn't happen.

There are several reasons why it didn't quite come together as planned. First off was the rather unusual snowfall we've had up here. In fact, I read an article in the paper this morning that students in the area haven't had a full week of school since January. We've had iced roads, cold temperatures, canceled school and work. Naturally that's going to trickle down to my little corner of the universe. And let's not forget the big giant-killer: the economy. Much as I'd LIKE to believe all the happy numbers coming out of Washington, there are still too many people who are out of work and cutting back on their spending. Let's face it, I provide a mostly luxury service.

Anyway, we can only dip into savings for so long so the need to bring in a little more bacon was getting more and more obvious. I tried to wait it out but that just wasn't going to happen soon enough SO I contacted some of the other clinics again, clinics that were interested the first time I was looking for work, and I managed to land a second grooming job. So now I'm working 3 days at one clinic, 2 at another.

This works out rather well in fact. Right now, neither clinic has enough work for a full-time groomer. However, if I put the two together, plenty of work. I've even let both clinics know that if there are clients who wish to come in on a day I'm scheduled to work at the other clinic, they're to call me and let me know because the two are close enough together that I can drive from the one to the other and do dogs at both locations. In fact, due to a scheduling problem on Wednesday, I did just that. 3 dogs at one clinic, 4 at the other. It's good to be busy like that.

Of course, the real trick is going to be balancing these jobs once things pick up. Both clinics are staffed with very nice people and they like the work I do. I'd like to keep working for them both but that might not be possible. We'll have to wait and see.