Kelsey Ann Sexton Is a Hoot

We have the wonderful Kelsey Ann Sexton with us this week! We talk about her gig as the host of GroomerTV, poop, shrinking, and her journey from a bad grooming client to an industry leader—with plenty of pit stops along the way. And, of course, she’s a hoot!

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Groom’d: March 12-14, 2007 - www.groomd.org 

SuperZoo: August 10-13, 2027 - www.superzoo.org

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_06 0:36

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SPEAKER_01 0:49

Okay, whatever. Who cares? It's still going. It's still going. It did it. Whatever. Technical difficulties. We'll blame Vegas.

SPEAKER_06 0:55

I wonder if it's like has to do with the sound. Everyone make a loud noise on the count of three. One, two, three.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Nope.

SPEAKER_04 1:05

Alright, Kelsey.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

No. Okay. Well, good thing we're doing it today.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry, you're a guinea pig. Am I doing it again? Yeah. Oh, okay. Welcome back to your favorite podcast, another grooming podcast. My name is Kelsey Ann Sexton.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

I'm Katie Austin.

SPEAKER_06 1:25

I'm Juan Rivera.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

I'm Kat Grainy.

SPEAKER_06 1:27

And I'm Nathan Austin.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

You know, I don't know why, but I was waiting for Ronnie to say his name. You know. Because he's in that order, so I was like, oh no.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Yeah, Ronnie's over there.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

He's not in it today.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

So our set looks a little different today. I don't know if you've noticed. If you're for the people watching.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

We are at Superzoo. Woo! At our booth recording on location.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Well, hold on, wait a second. Your first booth.

SPEAKER_04 1:57

Our first booth. Your first booth. Kelsey, how does it look?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

It looks amazing. Yeah. I think it's okay. Anyone that's watching can see behind me, but you guys have everything branded so well. I always love that. You guys have t-shirts, brands. We're just merge. Aprons merge. Yeah. Like, oh my gosh. It's so good.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

We're uh Raffles. We're new, we're new booth goofing goofing. Oh fuck, I fucked that up.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Okay. New booth. No.

SPEAKER_06 2:22

New booth goofing.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah. New booth goofin'.

SPEAKER_06 2:24

Oh, yeah, the super booth.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Super booth. Super booth. I love that. Okay, well, I was honored to like okay. We're walking down the hallway and it's like, you have time to do the pod. I was like, what? Yes. Who me?

SPEAKER_06 2:39

You've been on the list for a while.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Oh yeah, it's okay. I understand. I'm so busy. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

You are so busy.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I've done like 25 engagements this year. That's crazy. Insane. But you guys are busy too.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Yeah, but it's not 25 engagements busy. Oh, well, yeah. I guess I'm just going to be able to do that. Alright, what does that mean though?

SPEAKER_06 2:56

Does that mean like 25 like like teaching assignments? Like yeah, gigs.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Yeah, gigs. Yeah, she got a marriage people.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

That's that's more than two a month. Yeah, that was the goal. The goal was no no more than two a month. And how is that going?

SPEAKER_06 3:10

No more than two and no less than what.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

It's only August.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

So well, I kind of count it from like end of Hershey to the that's like the season. That's like the grooming year. Yeah, the grooming year for me is like after Hershey, and then that's the new year. It's but it's not, you know, but it is.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Yeah, yeah. No, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

So for sure. Like I've just been all over the place and doing groomer TV for Barkley shows, I actually incorporated it for Groom Texas, which is not a Barkley show anymore. And they gave me like access to everything, and I had to do the camera. I had to I had the Osborne. I saw that.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

It was so cool.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

I was like, I am all of groomer TV. Yeah. It's like I need a team. No, seriously.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

I think we've all really enjoyed it this year.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I really enjoyed doing it. And like, um, so I'll just go and ask myself how I got into it. Yeah, yeah. That was one of my questions.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Hey, later she's leading this episode. So she'll lead us wherever she wants.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

This is how I ended up with groomer TV. It's like I never shut up. So they're like, let's put her behind something so she can talk to the bird.

SPEAKER_05 4:14

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

So um, whenever I was going to Barkley shows, and I came out to a show, and the only class assignment I had was CPR. So I teach the CPR for Barkley shows, and they're like, You're gonna not come. You're not like a brand ambassador for anything, no one's paying for your way to go. Like, what do you do when you come out here? And I'm like, uh, I teach the CPR class and I hang out with my groomer family. Right. Yeah. I is that crazy? No. Okay. And they're like, we gotta find you something to do. And I was like, Yeah. And then another show, I had gone in because uh Evan had needed help with the extra work on Groomer TV. He had to do something else, he had to be two places at once. And I was like, Well, I can learn it. So I learned the whole camera setup at one show, and then the next show it was like, okay, you're on your own. And I was like, Oh what? So that's how I ended up with it. I just you're just there with nothing to do, and you're getting on everyone's nerves. So they give me a job.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

No, see, I understand that because I think I'm somebody who gets on people's nerves when I'm bored. So yeah, I just like sit there and talk either.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

They're like, you could actually be talking for a reason. Let's do that. Nice.

SPEAKER_06 5:24

Talking for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Well, I think all of us, maybe not you. Have you been on groomer TV with Kevin?

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I think you were busy competing every time.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Yeah, he's always competing.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah, you guys have all been uh on the room. I really enjoy doing it. Yeah, yeah, it's a good time. So when you guys are at Hershey, I'm just gonna be like, come over, talk to me. Let's do it. Yeah. So I love doing it.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

So I don't I don't go to a lot of shows, so I love when groomer. I was like, Groomer TV is there, yes, because I get to watch.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

That's what I love about it. Yeah, well, whenever I wasn't going to grooming shows, I'd started my home-based business in like 2016, and I was like learning everything I needed to like know to become a master groomer, and I was like obsessed with the trade shows. I was like, that's so cool. I had like show mo. Right. And so I was like, we need we need show mo to come back because when I watched groomer TV back in the past, it had like demos, and you could have like a QA with the speakers. That's cool, and like Jill Papino had done a lot with it, and so I'm like watching it, and it was about the Barkley staff, and it like made me feel like I was actually there, right? And then the contest and watching all of that, and then Victor Rizzotto was also doing commentary for quite a bit. Jay Scruggs did commentary for quite a bit, but it was like a nobody wanted to do it then, right? Right, like you're forced into it, yeah. And then I was just like, um I want to do it, I will gladly do this. Like, I want to be a news broadcaster for groomers. Oh my god, I could give everybody show. Bring all of that back. All of it. That's that's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

So we got to figure out like full time Halarcally, full time, full time, groomer TV, full time, hardcore. Okay, let Kelsey run it.

SPEAKER_06 7:03

And it would be interesting too if you talked about points and stuff that the open class is winning. Yeah, that would be. If you're like, oh, there's this many points on the board to be won. Like, like sports comments, who's gonna disaster who's gonna move up uh in the rankings?

SPEAKER_03 7:18

Yeah, you can be like, oh, that bumped that person into third place. That's exactly what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, but then I'm manning like three cameras and talking and like watching, and I'm having to scan and find the competitors for the comment, so I have the comment section. I need I need three assistants, yeah, at least. Possibly four or five. Yeah, one, two, three, or one Ronnie.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Perfect.

SPEAKER_06 7:41

Or one Ronnie.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Or one Ronnie, or one Ronnie. Yeah, he loves keeping score. Yeah. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah, he wants to know all the placements. I'm always like trying to, I'm like counting, like as it's like panning over, I'm like, that's an open person, that's an open person. I'm like trying to write it down.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Like everybody's question in the comments how many come how many open level competitors are there? They pop in, it's it shows so-and-so just uh is watching, and I'm like, okay, and then next thing I know, I have to get my camera ready to pan down to the open level competitors because that's all they care about. They're like, who all's in open? And then they're gone.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah, and then they're gone. Yeah, it is a sport.

SPEAKER_06 8:17

Yeah, am I getting pushed or not?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do I need to make plans to go to this next show or not?

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Yeah, that's really it. It's awful. I know it's awful. It's uh sometimes I'm like, this is a sickness.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Like, yeah, it's crazy. I can't, I'm so competitive. I hate it. Well, uh, you know, I don't I don't really like competing. I feel like it's purgatory. I'm trapped with my dog in the ring for how long and and I can't leave.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

One time I did, I was competing. No, actually, it's happened to me twice. One I don't think I've shared this story, but one time I was competing and I was doing a breed. I didn't, I had never done a Walsh Springer at this point. And like somebody offered it to me and like went over the groom ahead of time with me, and I was like, I guess I'll try. And I had to poop. I like suddenly was like, if I don't go to the bathroom now, I'm gonna shit myself. You're gonna end up. And I was like, You're gonna need a poop bag. I raised my hand in the middle of like the thing. I'm like a teacher. I'm sweating, you know, like you're I'm like sweating, and I'm like, somebody needs to come stand with my dog right now. And I'm like, I'll leave my phone. I am not cheating. Yeah, like I gotta go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah, I mean, that's what the assistant's good for. You just lose the time. Yes, you're gonna lose the time regardless of switching.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

It'll take longer explaining for poop we I just I tried so hard, and then another time I I fought through it, but I had to pee really bad, only to find out when I had got home I had a UTI. Oh but I had to pee so bad.

SPEAKER_06 9:42

You just gotta do it like a mountain climber, you know? Yeah, I was like, get yourself around and just shit on the floor and just keep grooming. Oh my god. How bad do you want it, babe? Do you want to win? Do you want it in your pants or not?

SPEAKER_03 9:53

Yeah. Both times I got second place. So it didn't.

SPEAKER_06 9:57

Of course you got a number two.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Just when you think Nathan's not ready to make a joke like that, he always has a poop joke ready.

SPEAKER_06 10:07

Boom. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not worried it's gonna shut off. You know, that's my real fart.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Is it really?

SPEAKER_06 10:14

Yeah, that mic.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Oh, no, it's not. He farted into his own microphone. No, it is his real fart, though. Yeah, that's a really skilled. That's it.

SPEAKER_06 10:23

Yeah. Well, watch.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

It's a little wet.

SPEAKER_06 10:27

That's what we thought.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

We're like, go wipe your ass now. He always leans toward uh leans it towards me. Enough of this.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

We deal with poop enough at work. Let's not.

SPEAKER_06 10:40

Oh, Max are Pomeranian in the class right now. Poop twice on the table twice.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Diarrhea twice on the table. We weren't even doing anything. We weren't like we're like just standing there talking, and then he starts.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

And we're like, no. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

It's reality though. It is. And the first the first class I ever taught uh that had a demo dog in it, it was Randon Lynn's dog. And her name was Peanut, and she's older, and I'm in New England, and I'm like really excited about it. I'm like doing it, and so was Peanut. No. Peanut was like every everything was like pee, poop, everything. And Lynn, if you guys know Lynn well, she was mortified. Like, she was like, I'm so embarrassed. I cannot believe she did that to you. And I'm like, it's fine, she's older, and like it happened. She goes, I took her for a walk, I did everything, and I'm like, Yeah, it happens. Yeah, it worked for the class. She goes, I'm just so sad for you because you had to deal with that in your class. And I'm like, nah, man, it was actually great because I was so nervous that whenever it happened, the whole class was like ready to get up. They all like it's like you know, you're a groomer. You see whenever they were really engaged enough to see, I have a paper towel, I have this. I'm like getting towels thrown at me. I'm like, oh, okay, we're all working together here. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:58

Any of you go through a day of work without a dog pooping? Like someone has to, like, we just know, right? Like, I feel like it is without fail.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

A rainy day means that are the worst. But it's been hot around us, and I feel like dogs are pooping a lot too. Like, they don't want to go out in the heat. It's too hot, yeah, yeah. Too hot.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah, the weather has a lot to do with it. Snow, ice, rain, heat. It has to be a perfect sunshiny day to have no poop.

SPEAKER_06 12:22

Yeah, it's a good thing that it doesn't snow where we're at. Can you imagine? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Does it snow where you're at? Um, very briefly, and then the next day it's like 70 degrees again. But we shut down. But because it's it's all ice, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we shut down. I was stuck at home for like 10 days this past January, like all alone. And at first as a mom, I'm like, yes, I'm all alone. No one's here. By like day five, I think I was actually crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, oh my god, this is reminding me of COVID. I don't know when this is gonna end. Like, this isn't okay.

SPEAKER_06 12:56

I was into it.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Oh, see, I like after one day, I was like, nope. Well, I was so go, go, go, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

So you you go, you guys all go, go, go. So it's like, uh I what do I do? I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_06 13:09

You go, go, go fishing. That's what I did.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

I'm like, Oh yeah, but like that was COVID, yeah. But COVID, I didn't get to shut down. Tennessee didn't think COVID was real. So like we kind of just were like la la la la. Yeah, everything you're the same. And then I'm online, like, sorry guys, that you're all shut down watching TikTok. I'm stuck grooming all these dogs today. Yeah, yeah. And then I was like, oh no, I'm part of like the rebel alliance and I didn't even know it.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

And I'm like, I still uh they're like, I'm gonna report you. I'm like, we don't, we don't we didn't get shut down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:39

So we were we got the groom though, still. We were only shut down, we were shut down for like a limited amount of time.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

We were, yeah, we were shut down for I feel like it was shut for a week. At least, yeah, at least a few weeks. But then even then, we were open very limited. Like it was like we kept our lobby shut, we would go out to the world.

SPEAKER_06 13:55

We were essential workers.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

That was my favorite part about keeping the lobby shut because we did do that. And my favorite thing is like, why didn't we come up with this thing where um you know how the bank tellers have like the drive-up and then you can shoot the money through the thing? Oh, that was like our prime opportunity. I don't even know, it has a name, but it I feel like that was well, yeah, but like humanely I've seen so I've seen maybe they could like walk.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

No, I saw some places that did it during COVID where they set up like a fencing type thing. Yeah, so you like the owner would put the dog in the fence and then shut the door, and then you would open the fence from the other side and take the dog so you were still so far away from each other. Yeah, and that that was beautiful, and it was just like bye. Yeah, we we're looking at each other at a distance, no small talk.

SPEAKER_04 14:46

We kept our curbside drop off and pick up after COVID. Because during COVID, I was like fantastic. Let's just continue. Why hasn't this always been? Why do people think the people walk in, the dogs get nervous, or not nervous but excited, or they just move or so much chaos.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Everybody comes in and the dogs are the dogs were sleeping, totally quiet. Everything's fine.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Someone opens the door, all the dogs are like, your your lobby might have been similar to ours because oh well no, but yours your stuff didn't close down. Well, because our lobby became a school.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

So for your kids, school shut down. Okay, the school did shut down. Okay, yeah. Our lobby became a uh schoolroom for my children.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I moved to a brick and mortar in the middle of COVID, so the kids, if that never they never went back, they had a classroom in my brick and mortar. Yeah. So I did the same thing. So the school shut down, but like everything else was kind of like loosey-goosey. It wasn't the same as everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:43

I have a question. So you talked about brick and mortar, but then you also mentioned you had a home salon. But then I know you started at Petsmart, like all of us. So can you give us kind of like a rundown of like of Groomer Kelsey's montage? Yeah, just like what you started and then this and then this and then just to kind of Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah, uh absolutely. So uh whenever I was in high school, I had a Bichon poodle mix and uh my boyfriend got it for me, and I took him to I know he was so great. So sweet. Um, we're not together anymore, but you know, shout out.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Um, but I hope he listens to this episode.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, he might, I'll send it to him.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

We're still funny.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Um, but so he got me the dog and I didn't groom it for like seven months because I didn't know any better. Like he was he was he had the legs of a mini poodle, but the body of a bichan and like the nose of a poodle. He was just a mess. We call those spider dogs. Yeah, he was a dog. Because they have like plump body, long legs. Yeah, he was just like um no. We went to some lady's house, it was sketchy, and it was only like 400 bucks. I should have known, but I didn't. We didn't know back then. Didn't know any back then.

SPEAKER_06 16:49

Especially when they're a puppy, they're cute.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah, and it was a cute little white dog, and that was in the era of like Paris Hilton having like a purse dog, and I have my knockoff Lou Baton bag and all that.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

So I've you were silent and violent. Facebook stocked your photos, uh-huh, and I was like, oh, we're like the same era. Like I see the the elder millennial. I saw your I saw your Paris Hilton-esque photos, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah, that time I had to remember that people can see like a lot as I became like a public figure kind of in a way. I'm like, I gotta hide that, I gotta hide that, I gotta go back and hide that. Like, you know, you can't be crazy online now. Um so but that era, like brutal. We created the internet, we should be allowed to do whatever we want. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:27

I don't know. There's some stuff on my Facebook that I should delete.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

You could just go through and like I saw that house party you guys went to and like Nathan somebody. I would go through everyone's Facebook picture. I went back to your like Facebook.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

I'm like, maybe I will.

SPEAKER_06 17:42

No, I that was a lingerie party. Oh, okay. That makes sense because you were in a corset or something.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Yeah, I think I went back and privated it on mine, but I don't know if I privated it on Nathan's.

SPEAKER_06 17:52

I'm gonna say completely teaching lingerie away at room.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

I wear more raunchy stuff now than then, but I just looked not as mature. I just looked really young, like a bite. It was just a biobee wear lingerie. Yeah, it's just a biobee. I was 18, I think.

SPEAKER_06 18:09

She was an adult, okay?

SPEAKER_03 18:10

I was an adult, but I didn't have I was I didn't have as good of style back then. I was ever you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

I don't think anybody did back then. I don't think I think the style was to not be stylish. It was like we wore like dress tops with jeans. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

Don't forget the chunky belt and the thing is coming back, though.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

It's coming back. You know what I seen? Oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_06 18:31

I seen at this we went to this skate shop for my son to buy school clothes, and there was a whole like half of the store was Ed Hardy stuff. It's back.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

And I'm like that needed to come back. No, it didn't.

SPEAKER_06 18:44

So to me, I think I don't think they like to me, Ed Hardy stuff was like never it wasn't actually popular.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

It was like the douchebag. It was like this is how you spot a jerk. Yeah, affliction. So I don't think they realized that like that's what it is.

SPEAKER_04 18:59

They had good smelling cologne though. They love smelling cologne. I see the look on one's face used Ed Hardy. Just the smell. Yeah, just the smell.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

Just the smell. So you you have boys, right? Yeah. So um our daughter is like getting at the age where like she doesn't want to like go shopping at like Target for her clothes anymore, or like she wants to go to like the little cheap mall places. And when I walked in and I looked and I was like, Am I a teenager again? What happened?

SPEAKER_01 19:28

I walked into Walmart in Gulf Shores, Alabama on our vacation because that's when I had free time to go shopping, and I was like, What is this? A lace cami?

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Yeah, there was like a button-up white, like crop top type thing with a freaking black tie. And I was like, Stop it. Avra Levine era is coming back. It's coming back. I wore the I was like, I would have worn the fuck out of that in school.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

And it's attainable. I have adult money now. I know.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

I'm like, I can wear whatever I want. My daughter walked up and looked at it and was like, ew. There's still they still wear that. They still don't think we're cringe.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

We they still don't like us yet.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

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SPEAKER_01 20:50

Oh yeah, where we'll get back on it because the elder millennial topic is so good. Um and I feel like a lot of us pet smart groomers like really relate to that because it was like the big boom. Yeah. Like whenever how do all these groomers come about? The big boom of Pet Smart.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

When did you start?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Um in 2004. Oh okay, okay. Yeah, and uh I started. Yeah, and so because I've stalked you, I know. So but um I started at Pet Smart. Um, after I got the spider dog groomed at this like sketchy home base salon, uh the woman had like a cigarette in her mouth and her parrot was in the back. And I'm scared of birds. Parrot? Yes, I'm terrified of birds. Like was she drinking Diet Coke? Yeah, I was like that was a I'm sure she was. It might have been even like the off-brand one or like the RC or RC.

SPEAKER_05 21:37

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

But she was just like no patience and looked like she hated me when I walked in and my Abercrombie. You know, like I'm sitting here like, this is my baby. And she's like, and he's matted. And I was like, no, he's not. I brushed him today. Today, yes. I found an old picture of him like a Polaroid or like an old film. Film uh Kodak, like those disposable cameras. I found an old picture of him where he looks absolutely petrified underneath the bed with a paper towel and like a blue harness over chunks of mats, but I didn't know any better. And like now that I'm like a professional, I look at it like oh my god, that poor dog. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And I he was my baby, and I watched him in the sink, like all the things, right? So, of course, she shaves him down.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

And I said, save what you can. Of course. Yes. And she leaves like a thin mustache, like a tiny, like honestly, I think it was just out of spite. Yes. Yeah. And so like she did that, and I was like, I will do this myself from now on. I even called like five times. Like, is he done yet? Is he done yet? No good. Like I remember sitting at one. Did he complain?

SPEAKER_06 22:46

Did he complain to the manner?

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Because they're home based a lot. So she was like the boss. She's like, okay. She was like, goodbye. Yeah. I want to find her now. I don't even remember her name. I don't know if she's still alive. I want to apologize to her.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Wouldn't that be the reunion? Yeah. Yeah. She'd be like, I'm actually a dog roomer now, and I realize I am so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

And I talk about you at every show. Lady, I don't know your name in Hermitage, Tennessee, off of the bonus. Um so uh after that, I was like working at PetSmart and uh I was cashier and doing all the catch-alls. Like at PetSmart, if nobody's worked there back in the day, I don't know if they still do this, but like you didn't just work in one department.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Whenever you started, you got put in everywhere until they just had enough staff or wherever you just stayed or left or whatever. And I worked all the time. So I was like good for that. Yeah. Well, I literally worked all the time. Like, and I didn't care. I was like, give me all the money, I don't care. And I had negotiated every time I got cross-trained, I'd get like a 25 cent raise. I did not do that. I did. And I ended up going to grooming school on like 1125 an hour. Back then, I think the minimum wage was 725. So like I was making bank, but they did not like that. No, of course not. No, no. They kept me on my hundred dogs for a very long time.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

But then you can't commission out if it's two. You can't commission out.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

So they kept me on my hundred dogs for a very long time. I think I was on my hundred dogs for like six months. Damn. Yeah. And uh it felt like forever, but uh six months.

SPEAKER_06 24:15

What is that? Like a dog a day?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

I mean, it was but I was doing everybody else's dogs, but they were switching over the commission to them. So that's fucked up. Yeah, but then back in the day they didn't care. So they did I was like made an example out of, so I was like, oh, so I can't get credit for this dog, but I did it. I even have a picture of me doing it, and they're like, eh, it's not on your hundred dogs, it's not on your commission report, it's not yours. And I was like, oh girl. But you know what? I was still making $11.25 an hour. And you know, and so that was cool, but um, I didn't really want to become a groomer, I really didn't. I'd worked in rescue, um, like done uh well by default, I got in trouble when I was a sophomore and I had to work in rescue, so but I love dogs. Like who who who doesn't, you know? But we weren't a dog family growing up. I had a weenie beagle that never never went to the vet or like got nothing. Yeah, like so probably live forever, too. Yeah, it did live forever. It really is.

SPEAKER_06 25:07

The weenie beagle, is it like a Dotson Beagle mix?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

So yeah, yeah. Are you interested in the breed? No, I just I just couldn't get past Weenie Beagle.

SPEAKER_06 25:17

You said Weenie Beagle.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Her name was Pudding. Oh, that's cute.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Pudding.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Very southern. Yeah, my dad called us pudding heads, so pudding was the last pudding head. So but anywho, so uh I the cashier, I was a big I was a cashier, and then the groomer came through and she was buying like a Snickers and a Pepsi, and I just remember that. And she was like, This will get me through my day, and I'm like, that's all you're eating. And she's like, Yeah. And I was like, Do you want badass? Yeah, well, I was like, Do you just not make any money? And she slaps her paycheck down on the belt, and I was like, that's one week. And I was like, So this grooming thing, she just had it in her pocket ready. She just picked up her stuff and it just worked out because I was such a smart ass. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:01

I was a I was a manager in the store, uh-huh, and the on Sunday the manager came and brought the commissions, the whole thing, and I saw the commissions report and I was like, I'm doing this.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Yeah, I used to print my commission reports and hang them on the fridge like I got an A. It was uh I stayed there for like four or five years. It was like the kind of the best time of my life. Same, actually. I really loved Pet Smart.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Yeah, we did too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

I I loved Pet Smart.

SPEAKER_04 26:26

People always rag on it, but it's a great place to start.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah, it was wonderful. Um, I was clueless. I've got so many stories that are helicopters are flying through my head of times I really should have had a better education, but honestly, education is up to us in the grooming industry, anyways.

SPEAKER_05 26:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

So like even a good groomer that goes to a good school, quote unquote good groomer, you know what I'm saying? Like a person that gets like a traditional education, even sometimes they're not making the same choices that they should be, you know. So it's all up to it's all up to us as a responsibility with education. And you know, so I always blamed the academy for me not having skill. But honestly, like I had I had everything I could have possibly needed. I just had my head up my ass. Yeah. Like early 20s.

SPEAKER_06 27:09

Oh yeah, that they're they're closing the loading dock, so they so for me it's I I what I learned from uh Petsmart was like safety stuff, and I think they were good at that.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

They were so good at that because they didn't want to get sued.

SPEAKER_06 27:20

Did they teach me how to do a schnauzer? No. No.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Did they teach me how to not get they did, but they didn't the right way. The thumb on the tuck-up, and then you take it to the Wait, let's see everybody's thumbs.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Mine had a really hot tall one. Look at that.

SPEAKER_06 27:38

Oh, you got to get the things.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

Kelsey's yours are the tiniest thumbs. Yours was probably the most accurate.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Which thumb are we doing? Does it matter? No, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 27:46

Is one of your thumbs longer than the other?

SPEAKER_01 27:48

I don't know. Could be. We could find out here today.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

Yeah, because my my skirt was really high. Look at that. Yeah, yours is. But it's got long thumbs or your short.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

But I also like, I would like to hella long. If this was a dog's checkup, I feel like I'd be like this. What I was doing. Even higher. Yeah, I would like shove it up there. And it was always like I'm like, wait, here I have a small thumb.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

Small hands.

SPEAKER_06 28:08

You do got a small hand.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

I have a little hand. Wow, I'm finding things out.

SPEAKER_06 28:11

Either you got a small hand or Katie got a big one. Big old man hands.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Oh my gosh. I don't think you have I wouldn't look at your hands and say they're more.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Well, the the Scotty, the average man hand. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

That was pretty impressive. I'm I'm petite. You're so cute. Wow, I'm adorable. Oh, wait, okay. How tall are you? I okay, that's actually funny.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

Whenever I was I'm laughing. Sorry about you.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

I for the longest time thought I was five, five. Like completely convinced I was five, five. Okay. And I go and I do like this health check, and a lady's like, you're actually like five, five and a half. I was like, wow, Cindy Crawford, who? You know, like I'm so tall, I shouldn't even wear heels. Oh my gosh. And um, so then I go through my whole life thinking I'm like five, five, five, five and a half, you know. Right. And then with my Nikes, I'm like five, seven, you know. So like I'm thinking I'm just this tall woman. And um, I'm on the cruise recently. I went to Cabo. I know. I wanted to go so it was it was so much fun. But we're standing there, and I got my my soul crushed because I find out I'm like five four.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

You've been lying to people this whole time.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

I'm like 39 years old. Like you know what the 39 in September maybe you're shrinking. Maybe you're shrinking. I think we're old.

SPEAKER_06 29:24

Doesn't that happen?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

I'm 39. I'll be 39 in September. Oh, September 4th. September 4th. Yes, yes, you remember? Yeah, two days after his. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_06 29:32

I just turned 40, so I was like, is my spine compressing? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

I only ask because since you're short, I'm 5'6. Uh-huh. Well, I I think I've always thought it was five's now. I'm concerned. Quick question. I always thought it was five, six and a half, and now I'm worried.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Why on the cruise? Did you see it? Yeah, how'd you find out on the cruise?

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Extremely passionate about exactly how tall they were, and I trusted it. Oh, okay. And then we're like head to head, and they're like, There's no way. There's no way you're that tall because I'm that tall. And I'm like, You're not sure that you're that tall because I am that tall. And then we found a way to measure me.

SPEAKER_06 30:07

Oh, how'd you do it? I need details.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Oh, where they measure you like if you're like gonna commit a crime, like when someone walks out a door, like the measuring thing. I was like, Oh. But how accurate is that? You know, that's what I need to know. Like maybe with maybe that's what I need to know. Okay, we need a finite tape measure. I need a wicket.

SPEAKER_06 30:23

Yeah, aren't you? I mean, you were on a boat.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Human wicket.

SPEAKER_06 30:26

You were on a boat.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

What if you were like this?

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:28

You've been measuring yourself in like knots or something.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Yeah. Yeah. I don't even know what the knots do a joke thing. No, wrong one.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Do the symbol.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Do we have one? There it is. There it is. There it is.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Nathan doesn't know where any of the things are.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

No, they do have a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

I liked that. I liked that.

SPEAKER_04 30:51

Um, so back to your small thumbs. Are we still?

SPEAKER_01 30:56

I learned safety. What Nathan said about safety, yeah. We were required to like pass all these safety tests. Stay out of the bite zone. Yeah, the bite zone. And like I'm in the bite. Hands-on pet. Hands-on pet.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Always had to handle it. Hands on the pet. Yeah. Except for we did. So at our Pet Smart, once they found out we were dating and we got new management, they tried to get us fired. So they would write us up for anything. But my write-up file was this thick, and I never got fired. I never got fired, but they tried.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

But I was really trying.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

They literally I took in a sedated dog, like, and I knew it. And I was like, they'll fire me over this one. And they didn't. I was like, what?

SPEAKER_03 31:33

They literally wrote him up though for changing the blade on his clipper because his hand wasn't on the dog. I'm like, how do you have your hand on the dog and change the blade on the clipper?

SPEAKER_01 31:43

You have to rest your forearm on top of their make sure you answer the phone within three rings while changing out your blade drive or not blade drive, your blade on your clipper while hands on pit. Yes. So you just need four hands.

SPEAKER_06 31:59

Hold on.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

Okay. Think.

SPEAKER_06 32:02

The store manager was like, come into my office and sit down. He tried to make me sit in the corner. I was like, no, I'll stand. Because I was like a foot and a half taller than him. Yeah. I was like, no, I'll stand here. So he's like writing me up as he's sitting below me. And like, I knew he was trying to do the power trip too. Yeah, the power. I love the power trip. I'll stand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Um, whenever Nathan was like the office. Nathan was like, change the change the screen to the um grooming room right now because I bet nobody's got their hands on their pets. Yeah. And he was like, no, I'm not doing it. And he was like, I'm not signing that paper. Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:32

All right, but I signed it.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

I signed everything.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

I was like, gladly. Does this mean I'm getting fired? They were like, nope. Nope. I had to quit. Um, so um later on, I get uh, I get my head up my butt. My manager uh like they had a change up and I didn't like the change. Everything, I mean, like I even lived in North Carolina for a little bit. I helped open a bunch of different stores. I liked that. I think they shipped me off because I was being a problem child, but I would open a whole bunch of stores in the Southeast region, and then I'd always go back to my home store. So I was gone for like six months. I come back and there's a new manager, and I'm like, who are you? And I didn't like it. And so I went to cosmetology school and quit grooming for like three months, but then I came back because I was like, I like I like dogs. Um humans aren't fun. Um, so then I uh stayed for like a year, and then after that, I was like, Yeah, I'm done with Pet Smart, I'm sick of all these changes, and I have like and then I go work at a commission-based job and made like nothing at the time of like the really brunt of the recession. And so I went from having a corporate job that had so many benefits, pay, health care. Just because I didn't like change. Yeah, like oh my gosh. So I do miss the vacation, yeah. I miss the health care, I miss the health care too. Yeah, and after that, I just worked at a little chop shop for a little while, and it was traumatizing. But well, and then I shop hopped quite a bit. I worked at really like awesome places, really horrible places, doggy daycares. I worked mobile, blah blah blah blah blah. Fast forward, I started working at a vet, and I realized that like what the vet does, and I'm not discrediting any vets, vets like they do they do what they're supposed to do, you know? Yeah, but when I realized that's what you do when I cut a dog, I was like, oh, okay, well, that's cool. Um, it's not that deep whenever I accidentally nick an animal. Oh wow. Okay. So I they were like, You're the best groomer we've ever met. And I was like, Everyone always says I'm not. Like everyone always says you're the worst groomer we have. And I'm like, oh, yeah. But I didn't know how to bathe. Like, I still like I'd been grooming for like 12 years and didn't know how to bathe properly. So whenever a lot of us have done that, I got mad one day and I came home and I was like, I'm quitting. I hate that place. Like blah blah blah blah blah. They canceled this, they won't quit booking dogs. I was doing like 17 dogs a day at the vet.

SPEAKER_04 35:02

This is all before like uh uh like continued education and everything.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Oh yeah, yeah, 17 dogs a day. Yeah, that's insane. Yeah, I mean, I just did it. You just you just did it. You know, I worked at a chop shop, you just did it. When you know better, you do better. And I don't know how I did it, and I kind of want the years back. Yeah, okay. No, I I feel you. When people say I look young, I'm like, how young would I look if I didn't go through that? Yeah, it's like could they like front me like a Botox?

SPEAKER_06 35:25

Imagine asking a Gen Z. I mean, no hate on Gen Z.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:28

Because I love all my Gen Z employees, but imagine asking a Gen Z groomer to groom 17 dogs.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

My Gen Z groomers can barely do four. Like, um, and and I'm fine with that. Like, as long as they're like happy, yeah, show up for show up for just show up, please. God, just show up for work.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Well, I think I think it's definitely like, you know, you're like, I'm so happy for you, and also fuck you.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Yeah, I also maybe if you went through a 17 dog day, you'd be more efficient with this. Well, I'm back in art, eh?

SPEAKER_00 36:00

I know I feel really old about it. I do feel like PetSmart did teach us speed too. Because we were having to juggle so much and do so much. Yeah, you can multitask.

SPEAKER_03 36:09

Efficiency.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Like it's not really it's and you know what's crazy is you can't really multitask, but you could do multiple tasks at once. Like you can't do the same task at the same time, but you could figure out what's the most important way to get this through. It's almost like working in a restaurant. You know that this has to happen this way. It was like a flow, and it was it was demanded of you. Yeah, you know, and nowadays I don't feel like I love the back in our day because that's exactly I feel like old folks. We're so we're so old.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

Like, oh my god. For all of our Gen Z listeners, we love you. We're just fucking around.

SPEAKER_06 36:43

He's literally just driving around in circles.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

I know on his phone, yeah. Yeah. You guys should take a video of it and we'll insert it. Somebody take a I got it.

SPEAKER_06 36:51

I'm on it.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

They're on it.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

They're on it. This guy is please don't quit, guy. Please don't guy. No, no, no, come back. Oh, got that way.

SPEAKER_06 36:58

Oh my god, he's hitting tricks. Blow bubbles on it.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Do a wheelie.

unknown 37:04

Crash.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

We're watching. I was really like, he's gonna fall. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

I held my breath.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Yeah, I was like, he looked like he's he looks like he's done this before. Yeah, maybe a few times.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Oh, I used to drive the forklift at Pet Smart, and I got banned from doing that. I ran over my manager's foot. No.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

The ones they have here are cool. They have like this ring around them.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

So you're like, that's like Yeah, it's got like this red ring. So the danger. Yeah, the bite zone, yeah. Yeah, the bite zone. Well, I got yelled at when I got in here today because today is setup day, so it's not open to the public yet. And I'm wearing flip-flops, and they were like, You should rethink your shoes. This is a construction site. And I was like, My booth is two steps in and I'm not leaving it.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

When I pulled up the map, I was like, Oh, I gotta go on an adventure. And I pulled up the map and I was like, Oh my god, not a fat, not a like a not a far adventure. You guys are like right when you first went in there.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

We got the, I think this is like the primo booth. So thank you, WPS. Thank you. Thank you. We're very happy.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

We're also right by the new innovation stage. Yeah, I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

This is the best spot. I think it's absolutely the best spot.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

I think so. Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Agreed. So like the best podcast. Well, sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah, true. Even if it even if you guys were in a different corner, I think you'd make it the best podcast. It would still be the best spot.

SPEAKER_05 38:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:24

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SPEAKER_03 39:06

Anyway, okay, where were you on your journey?

SPEAKER_01 39:08

On my journey, I came home one day and I was mad, and my husband's like, Well, you always have a problem with all of your bosses. Maybe the common denominator is, you know, like your bosses.

SPEAKER_05 39:23

He had like wide eyes.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

He had like wide eyes. He is like, he's like, Maybe the problem is not you at all. Like he's a husband in here. Everyone else sucks.

SPEAKER_04 39:33

Everyone else sucks. Everybody else sucks because you're perfect.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

It's like, yeah, I don't know if he wanted to get laid that night or what. But that's what started it. And I was like, you're right. And he was like, I am. Oh crap. And all of a sudden I'm like, I'm doing it here. I'm doing it. And then he's like, he was so supportive. He was like banging. I got this old beat up tub from one of my ex-employers. I've been sitting in the garage forever. He busted the rust out of it, put like boat paint on it. Like, I didn't, I just wanted something. It was a nice tub. It just had been like not taken care of. And so we set it up in my basement, my sketchy little basement comfort dungeon with like it was just so bad.

SPEAKER_06 40:08

And it was in a go drop my dog off at someone's basement.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Yeah, my uncle comes over, he goes, The fact that you're booked here must mean you're good. And I was like, Oh yeah, because this is not like a warm welcoming, I want to leave my dog here. That's how and it it took off, and I like I just became manic when I showed up at shows, and then I was like, I've outgrown this stupid hole. I'm too good for the and honestly, I miss a home base so much.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

Um, I loved the fact that you know you just roll out of bed when the kids were little, I can roll out of bed. The kids could just sleep. Like Jax was like one. Yeah, that's amazing. And he's he's gonna be 12 this year. So time flies. Oh my gosh, it's just it's wild. I cannot believe it. They're taller than me. And so, yeah, I got a brick and mortar. That's because you're so short. I know, I didn't know that. That's just kidding. I'm sitting here like, they're like five, they're gonna be like six foot, and they're actually like five four.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Yeah, my son's like neck and neck with me right now. Like every time I see him, he's like, I think I'm taller than you. And I'm like, No, you're fucking not. Yeah, yeah, no, you're not.

SPEAKER_06 41:13

We gotta measure him on the wall.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

He's uh he just turned 13, so I'm like, you fucker. So Jaden's dad isn't Derek and uh my my current husband. And um, so Jaden's dad is like five, six. He could even be shorter now that I know that I'm shorter. Um yeah, was he the same height as you or tall? Yeah, well, I couldn't wear heels. So like he well, he was of that variety. You know, I mean I could have, I totally did whenever he would make me mad, and we go out because we were like we were dating whenever it was like club in time, you know. So like when we go out and I was mad at him, I'd wear heels and be like, What do you gotta say? What do you gotta say? Because I was taller than him in heels. So like I'd pick a fight with that, and um, so I was like, oh no, I procreated with like a short person, like my poor son. And now the fact that he's tall, he's taller than his dad, he's been taller than his dad. I'm like, yes, jeans, these jeans are short. But now I found out I'm short, so I don't know. Maybe he's just maybe it's the chicken. Did you guys watch the chicken documentary? No, is that new? It's new on Netflix.

SPEAKER_04 42:16

Is it gonna make me sad?

SPEAKER_01 42:17

I don't know. It's about fast food chicken. Oh, yeah, then it's sad. Yeah, don't watch it. If you haven't watched it, don't watch it. It's it's ruined everything for me in my life.

SPEAKER_06 42:26

Yeah, but I bet you're still gonna eat chicken.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

I'm totally, I totally still eat chicken. Yeah, I was eating chicken while watching it. While we watched it is crazy. It's not even about the welfare, it's like what it does to us. And I'm like, uh-oh. This is like the Alpo of Yeah, of uh the human world. Yeah. This is the Alpo. They still make ALPO. They still make it, yeah. Walmart sells it. Yeah, there's a lot of things Walmart sells I would never put in my dog. Yeah. So like, and then I think about it, I'm like, oh my god, I buy all my groceries at Walmart. What if it's the same thing? And I'll like put on a tin hat.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

I was like, I um my dog's probably healthier than I do. Oh, ours too for sure.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Yeah, for sure. I think it happens.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

I'm always looking at their ingredients of their food and stuff, and me, I'm like McDonald's, chicken nuckies.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah, give me like is there food at Dollar Tree?

SPEAKER_04 43:12

Like, yeah, I literally Ronnie loves Dollar Tree like food.

SPEAKER_06 43:16

I just goat yogurt. Alright, that's a line I will not cross.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

I put I put goat yogurt on all of my dogs' food. Like goat yogurt. That's I go and buy this expensive vest for the dogs.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Or the dogs. I only have one dog so she can live the bougiest life. Yeah, because I think I don't know how many dogs do you guys all have?

SPEAKER_04 43:34

We have five. No. Five? We have five. You guys have five.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

You have five.

SPEAKER_03 43:39

And there's you don't want to talk about it? There's two of us, so I believe we have eight right now. Yeah. I mean, like, let me think. But one's fourteen, so like she's basically dead. She has a seven and a half. She's a couch ornament. She's a couch ornament. Oh, a little j j. I'm like trying to think.

SPEAKER_06 43:56

We walk in the house and she lifts her head up and then we pet her a little bit and she just puts her head back down. I'm not dead yet.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

You're missing somebody. Three poodles.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Are you counting Jane?

SPEAKER_03 44:04

No, three poodles, three Scotties, an English caulker, and the last one. Who's the third Scotty?

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Here, I forgot about him. My new baby. So you guys, you guys have like gourmet meals for these dogs, though.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

So like it's it takes me at least a half an hour, if not longer, to set up everybody's bowls at night. Yep. My dogs get supplements. Yeah, everybody's got something different, too.

SPEAKER_06 44:31

I told Katie, I said, you can have whatever dogs you want, but don't ask me to feed them.

SPEAKER_03 44:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:35

Like that was like the stipulation.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

That's our deal. I can have whatever I want, but I have to feed them because it's like a big thing.

SPEAKER_06 44:42

A lot of people will be like, oh, that's fucked up or whatever. But like the way my mind works, like it literally freaks me out. When it's food time, I'm like, I just will like have a fucking freak out and panic. No, not that. It's just like it's there's too many different like this food for this dog, it just This is what I sent to the dog. It just makes my brain unhappy.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Where I'm like, This is what I sent to the babysitter. Wait, where is it?

SPEAKER_06 45:03

See, I looked at it and I'm like, fuck that.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

This is the list I sent to my babysitter of what every dog gets.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

You guys basically have a dog hotel. Yeah. Like that's that's the equivalent of like running a boarding facility, like a like a boutique one. Eight dogs in house today. So, like, let's get the meds run, let's do the lunch run.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

Let's well, when I worked at a daycare, I would have to feed the dogs, right? And we would write like the instructions on the bowl. Most of their food was like pre-measured and stuff, but we'd have to write like, oh, this dog gets half a cup of this food and you know, this on top and this medication, and we'd write them on bowls with like special markers and stuff. So everybody got it fed correctly.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Yeah, you gotta do something. So that's what you'll have to do if Nathan ever does it, is have it like no kids are now.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Yeah, he has our child. Both of our kids know the dog's things. So both of our children are the best investment in the whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 45:57

Once it starts paying off, you're like, yes. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

Literally, our daughter all summer was trying to prove that she's mature enough to have a ferret. So if anybody knows of where we could get her a ferret, she proved herself. I believe we gave her impossible like I felt like we gave her impossible means. We were like, you have to like do all the chores we ask you to do. You have to like have a good attitude, you have to feed the dogs every night. Every night she would put all of our, we only had seven at the time, all seven dogs outside, potty everybody, and they all have to like some of them are on separate things, and then she would come in and set up every single bowl exactly right and put them all in their kennels for bedtime. That's that's no small feat. No, that's no small feat. That's like for an 11-year-old girl. For an 11-year-old girl, that's insane.

SPEAKER_01 46:44

Especially one like her. Freak out about hey, somebody walk Danny. Somebody Danny needs a good walk. They're but if they want something, they're like fighting over who gets to do it. Like, I think actually one's got decked over it. Like sitting here going, boys, boys, calm down. Okay, my kids will do that.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

Yeah, he's old. We'll go toe to toe with Owen. She'll fight him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

Jaden will be 16 in a couple. I know these guys are just doing it. Um, Jaden uh will be 16 this year, but he had no interest in driving at all. Um, whenever he has drove, he's like, uh yeah, I can do this. So I take him to go get his permit test and he fails because he didn't study. And he's like a straight A student. Like, yeah. Like the lady comes out and he's like, he's like ready to fill out the paperwork, and she's like, So you're gonna have to retake this. He got and I was like, Oh. And he's like, Okay, so when do I take my picture? I was like, when you pass the test. Yeah. And he goes, he goes, Oh no. And I was like, Yeah, you're gonna have to study. He goes, Oh god. Good usage. He's so smart, but then everybody loves to throw in my face that I had to take the permit test three times. You know what? I didn't study either, and I didn't want to drive either. I didn't drive till I was 18 because of it.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

I didn't drive till I was 18 because of it, and he's like, There's Uber. My dad has a fleet of Teslas. Like, I don't have to do like any of this yesterday. Like I do.

SPEAKER_06 48:04

Wait, you guys have a fleet of Teslas?

SPEAKER_01 48:06

No, it's not me, it's his dad. They have they they do the Toro where you rent the cars. He's got a couple of Teslas he rents out. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

But I feel like the younger generations don't want to drive as much. No, no, they don't. Like half our employees don't drive. I would rather be a half. Yeah, but you're uh you can't.

SPEAKER_06 48:26

I mean, um Ashley's not younger generation. Is it that's true? But she's younger than us. Most of them do, except for uh Jeanette and um it's only Jeanette and Madison. No, Madison drives.

SPEAKER_03 48:38

Zach didn't drive for a little bit, yeah. But he does wasn't by choice.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

I think the motivation has to be like financial gain or a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

Yeah, that's a good boyfriend or a girlfriend, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

Um, so like, but other than that, he also comes to me, he goes, Mom, I don't mind the idea of driving. I just don't want to be y'all's gopher. Oh, of course. Of course, of course that's what it is. Already make me do all of this stuff. And I don't mind. I'm just not adding more. I'm not adding any more to my list.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

That sounds like a teenage boy.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

He is so he is so much like that.

SPEAKER_06 49:09

And then Jack That shit would just piss me off so much.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

Yeah, I'd be like, you're getting it now for sure. Yeah, he's ja Jaden's got it made. Like he's got he can kind of get away with anything. So but Jax has been driving since he was like one, basically. He's drove a tractor, he has a he has a four-wheeler, he's like, he's all about it. So I've got one kid that's gonna be 16 in like four years, and then I'll have my guy.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

I I I waited till I was like like 17 and a half. So yeah. But I took the the driver's course and I passed on the first time because I studied.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

Do they need to bring dude? I got I got my permit when I was 15 and a half. I studied and I yes, I studied and I took the safety course, but I got it like actually I started driving when I was, I think, 15, but I just didn't get a license.

SPEAKER_06 49:55

I just started driving.

SPEAKER_01 49:56

That was it. Yeah, I just drove. I didn't have a license because I didn't want to take the test again.

SPEAKER_00 50:01

Well, my anxiety-ridden mother, she made me drive in parking lots for a good six months before I took my behind the wheel.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

My my dad was a mechanic, and he uh he was like, You have to learn how to change a tire and drive a stick before any daughter of mine is getting her license. And I was like, Okay, and so I learned and I did it, but I just I don't know how to do either of those things.

SPEAKER_04 50:19

Kudos.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

I mean, yeah, you could hold a gun to my head right now, I'd panic. I'll be like, grind it till you find it.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

I have changed the tire, but it's not easy. I could do it if I had to. There's people for that, and then yeah, I'd rather just pay someone.

SPEAKER_00 50:33

Also, YouTube for that.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

I was taught how to drive stick when I was 16, and I haven't done it since. So I'm sure push comes to shove, I could figure it out in a couple of minutes because I understand the concept, but it's been a long time.

SPEAKER_06 50:44

All the dads are like, My daughters have to drive stick, but none of the boys like I never learned.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Ronnie learned. We both learned to drive stick and nobody else. Okay. Like a man will never be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 50:54

Actually, no, have you abandoned in a parking lot? My dad didn't actually, my dad did not teach me how to drive stick. No, it was my boyfriend's mom.

SPEAKER_06 51:02

Oh, fuck that. Oh that's it. We're fine. Turn the camera off. She had a Jeep.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

So my dad drives stick, but he never taught me. Um, but I'm calling him. Well, it's funny because I actually I was really into the amazing race and wanted to be on it so bad. And I was like, I have to learn how to drive a stick because all the racers all the racers were having trouble with the stick, and I was like, I gotta learn. I never became it.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

I I loved it. I I haven't driven a stick in a long time, but I loved it because you feel like you're like involved in the car, like you're part of it, you're part of the adventure.

SPEAKER_00 51:35

I don't even get the concept really.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

But now I'm like, I know there's why would I why would I want to do this whenever I could just not? But you have to ask.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

Yeah, it's actually not as complicated as complicated. Like you lift one as you put it in. You can feel it when it's ready to start shifting.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

It's like it's like going on a dog with the clippers and you like come off the edge. You know, you know when you're supposed to go, you know?

SPEAKER_03 51:59

You can feel it, and all you do is you just press it and shift. It's not, yeah, it's really not that complicated. So you know how like when the art so when you have an older automatic vehicle that does not work that well, and you can you're you can feel it trying to shift and it's having a hard time and the RPMs are like going up and then they'll come back down. That's when it shifted. That's whenever it goes. So you would just feel those RPMs going up and it needs to shift, and you would just yeah, press the button and my scion.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

I had a 2007 Scion TC, and I thought I was so pretty.

SPEAKER_06 52:32

Not the XB dude.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

No, I had the coop. I had the coop. It was like the quote unquote Toyota Celica or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It says the red light. Uh I had that. I had that, and it it was an automatic, but it behaved at like after it would get like 40 miles an hour, it would behave like a well that's that's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 52:53

It's like don't run our table over. He's got his red light. He's gotta he's gotta shove it in the hole.

SPEAKER_06 52:59

Yup. Oh my god, he's about to penetrate it.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

That's what she said. He's gotta get he's gotta get maximum speed.

SPEAKER_06 53:05

I've learned uh I drove stick one time and it was by accident. This I don't impress this. I was trying to impress this, like I was just not mad at me about my stuff.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

I was trying to get at this girl. Oh, he had to bring like an eye for an eye.

SPEAKER_06 53:17

And I was like, my cousin was like, You could I was like, I want to drive this girl home, and he's like, You could use my car, and I'm like, right on. And I get in the car, and it's uh it's an autumn, it's a uh manual. Yeah. And the girl, she goes, I can drive it if you don't know how. And I'm like, I know how. I stalled three times on the way to her house.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

And they were like, I know how.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

Wow, this trend this clutch needs to be replaced so bad. Do you get to use this your stick shift when uh you got there?

SPEAKER_06 53:46

Well, not after that day, but after a couple more, like, you know, I had to recuperate from that.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

Yeah, you had to lick your wounds.

SPEAKER_06 53:53

I was thoroughly embarrassed. I bet. Um I would be too.

SPEAKER_04 53:59

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SPEAKER_01 54:40

Where were we at? I think I was talking about my kids and how one doesn't want to drive. And I think this is what happens.

SPEAKER_06 54:48

You're at your house, you opened your home salon.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

Well, and then I I went to the grooming education, continued education, went to trade shows for the first time.

SPEAKER_04 54:55

How long from you started to when you went to your first like trade show continued?

SPEAKER_01 54:59

So it was late 2004 when I started, and I went to my first trade show in 2017 at Lena Pet Fair. So 13 years, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

We were I feel like we're all in a somewhat similar ish. We well, you started 2004, but we started 2007 and then we didn't go to our first. We did one small local competition. Okay. That was 2019, right? 2019, yeah. But we did some continued education before that.

SPEAKER_06 55:31

Who are the people that you witness that you seen that were like, oh my god, look who it is.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

And then now you're friends with them. Lindsay Dickens or Lindsay Barry. Yeah. You know? Oh my god, I I bought a dog from her. I'm like, I think she may know this. Um that I'm like obsessed with her. Oh, but like and not a creepy swim fan, like looking through her window where um swim. Watch out, Linda. Yeah, like Lindsay should should watch out. She sometimes rooms with me and Jill, and I just look over and I'm like smiling. I'm like, that's Lindsay fucking dicking. Barry, yeah. But it's still, you know, she was Lindsay Barry when it was the groomers lounge. So I was at my house in North Carolina at the time, um, and I'm like looking up how to be a better groomer, like online, like on this forum. Like and I'm reading all these things, and this girl, Lindsay, keeps on popping up, and she's just she's just going hard. Like that's that was, I guess, 2007, 2008. Yeah. So that was that time frame. And I just kept up with her. Like, I got the groomer to groomer magazine because of the show Groomer Has It. Oh, yeah. Groomer has it.

SPEAKER_03 56:38

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_06 56:40

Well, I remember I was happy to see uh um Jonathan. I remember when we seen Jonathan for the first time, I was like, oh yeah, I was so struggling with him.

SPEAKER_03 56:49

No, he was the villain.

SPEAKER_01 56:50

Yeah, he was my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 56:51

Yeah, and then but seeing him in real life, you're like, I watched that.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

So I was like, I was like in love with him, but like in a straight way, like a straight woman loves a gay man kind of way. We understand, yeah. And so, like anything he would have like tried to sell or anything, I would buy it my whole career. Like, he, I mean, he could tell me I needed like anything, it didn't matter what it was. So I would be like, All right, I'm going to go to this show and Jonathan David's gonna be there with Kenshi. I'm gonna go buy all of the Kenshi shears just to be able to talk to him. I go over to the booth, he's not there, so I go away. Yeah, I'm like, I'm not buying it from whoever you are. Right, right. I want to speak to Jonathan David. I want to speak to the manager. Um, so I was wearing the same shoes as him. That's your end. That's your in. And I was like, we were walking, he looked at my shoes at the networking event in Atlanta, and I was like, I okay, I'm gonna talk to him. And so I was like, nice shoes. And he goes, thanks, and walks away, and I'll take my so it wasn't the edit, you're really mean. I was like, What kind of shoes? Don't meet your heroes. Very Jonathan. No, I'm just kidding. No, no, no, no. I'm just joking. No, it was funny. It was funny because I was like, I I should have been, I should have been more like I think you're great. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Look at burning the shoes. But they were like the Adidas that were popular back then with like the little like stripes were played through the lines or whatever. Oh my god. And so I was like everyone wore. Yeah, no, I didn't have them.

SPEAKER_03 58:16

I had brand one.

SPEAKER_06 58:17

The painless, I know.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

And I got made fun of in school for it. Rightly so. And rightly so, stripes off my shoes. That was smart. I didn't realize that was the difference. I didn't know how they could tell.

SPEAKER_01 58:30

But now it didn't look like the Tommy Hilfiger sign, the sign off of a tag of one of my other shirts, and I like safety pinned it to another shirt just to have the logo because the logo was such a vibe back in our day. Um, and now my kids don't care about logos. But um, so another person, well, later on, whenever I met Jonathan, it was my first time I was competing for trying to certify, and I cornered him. Oh no, and I wanted opinions on my dog, and he's just desperately waiting for these chicken tenders to come up. He hadn't eaten all day. And he this this, I don't know if anybody's ever been to Atlanta that champions, it took forever in the kitchen, and this poor man is just sitting there like dying of hunger and like dealing with me, and I'm like, and this, and blah blah blah. And it's like whenever you're doing that whole thing, like where you're making up excuses for your own ego because you're insecure, right? Yeah, and I was doing all of that, I was doing all the things, I was making excuses for things I didn't need to, and um, now looking back at it, like he was so nice, he was like the nicest person, and I was just so uh Jonathan David is awesome. No so he is. I was messing around because I know he watches sometimes. Yeah, so I well he asked me to be on his like kinchy uh sheer joke or something. Yes, whatever is whatever, whatever they were talking about, and I was like, I'm going live with Jonathan David, what a full circle movie.

SPEAKER_04 59:50

I know, I know. We were all on that cruise together, remember? Oh my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

Oh no, whatever. Oh, and Jonathan Davis whenever I saw that that was like Jonathan Davis on it, I was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:03

I forgot we were all on that together. That was a lot of fun. Did you see they posted that they're doing another one? And it's now it's for business owners, dog burning business owners.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

Like, I won a free ticket last time.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

Time to pay the piper.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:19

I know, but I don't know if I want to go on their cruise again.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

I it how they handled the last one. I had a lot of fun. I had so much fun on the first one, but how they handled the second one.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

Us that all made it fun, not pause at sea that made it fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

They were very, very lucky. Um that Royal Caribbean took care of everything. That, but I mean, like even like the Barclay cruise that we went on, Royal Caribbean is just fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

Well, okay, so you were a teacher. We were there to enjoy ourselves. So tell us from behind the scenes. From behind the scenes, tell us the trauma that you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:53

Are we gonna keep this in? Yeah. I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:55

I mean, if you're comfortable talking about what happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:57

I don't mind talking about it because I mean, like, I I don't really have a bunch of negative things to say from my end. Okay. Um, so I'm fine with it. Fair enough. But like whenever I got approached about it, I was just really excited. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know anything about the inner workings of it. And they were really, they were really excited and really passionate, but they you could tell that they weren't like one of us. Right. Wow. You can always tell whenever it's somebody coming into the grooming industry trying to like sell to the grooming industry. So they come to all of us, and I'm like, well, yeah, they got a good, they got a good mixed vibe. You know, they got Jody as the lead runner, Jonathan David, uh me. But I was just like, wow, that's so cool. And like Gibbs, uh Wellis, Alyssa Caseiba, my my my love Alyssa Caseba. Like the they got some really good up-and-comers and front runners, you know. So like I'm sitting there, did I forget anybody? No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:50

I think it was you remembered more people than I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:53

Well, so the hard thing was the lack of communication in the very beginning of it. And I think that there's this thing that happens in the industry, and I definitely want to talk about this. People assume that they're not getting paid for something or assume that a company's trying to screw them over when you don't actually just ask them and give them a contract yourself. And you have to be your own like advocate for whenever you're doing any type of brand deals or any type of contracts or anything like that. You can convince yourself that someone's ripping you off very easily without any knowledge. And it's like a common thing in our industry, like, oh yeah, they're scamming me. Oh, but like, no, I'm not saying like as a consumer part, but like whenever you're being like a speaker or a or dealing with a brand, you just have to know what you have to receive from that. Right. And you have to communicate that. And sometimes you have to be assertive with it. Um, I think that if back looking back, if I would have been more assertive, like we require this contract. This is typical industry, like this is industry behavior. We need this contract and we need this settled right away. We need clear communication and no, we cannot do a one-hour class in 15 minutes. Right. Um, so there was some things I think they just like were clueless about, uh, but they were really excited. Um, and you know, so it was a really good time. It was just a lot of things getting thrown on us at the last minute whenever they realized the groomers were mad. So like I had to hustle and get with different brands, and I wasn't sure that I didn't know I needed to get a whole bunch of raffles. Right. So, like I'm sitting on this cruise ship texting people, like in the little area. Right. Like, please help me. Like I'm outside watching the water, watching the ocean, drinking. Trying to enjoy yourself. And I I'm like, can you donate this for blah blah blah blah blah? Can you do this? Can I get this code? I got like how many, I don't even remember. I think it was 22 vendors sitting on the cruise. I hustled so hard so they could have some type of giveaway to give and a lift doing their job, doing their job. Yeah, yeah. And um, I put my neck out there and got with a lot of different brands and shout out to all the brands that listened to me hustle with it and believed in me to give away all of those things for those groomers because a lot of people paid a lot of money for things that we didn't know existed. Like we didn't know there was like a VIP lunch where we could talk to people.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

Because we all signed up VIP and we didn't know the lunches.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:11

Like all of us even collectively said, if I would have known I needed to be at a lunch, or if I would have known I needed to be at an event, if I would have known that I was supposed to like if I would have known I was supposed to do anything, like I would have done an excursion with everybody. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:25

I do wonder where the like lapse was. It must have been just communication.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:29

It always comes back to communication, it's always coming back to communication and planning. Like if they if something happens and there's no communication, and I think that that happens a lot with new events. Yeah, they get really excited about ideas that don't have any follow-through because nobody's assigned to the follow-through. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:45

Well, but then they I remember one thing everybody got really upset about was they had the tickets and they had the VIP and then the regular, but then when it got close because they didn't sell enough, they dropped the price. Oh, sign up for this price. I think that's such a bad move. And I was like, that's awful because we all paid full price. We should all get the discount promotion price as well. We were early birds, yeah. It's the panic sell and it's tacky. It is bad because then it it estranges you from everybody else. And because now we're upset because why did we pay more? That's bad business.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:15

Because we got the checks mix. Remember the VAP that we got the checks mix.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

Yeah, oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:21

And we got there a day early for the launch party.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:23

Remember that never happened to the launch party that never happened, but then I never got told anything about. Yeah. So that's I, you know, I think it was like a well-intentioned idea. I don't, I think it's tough. I do agree with you when it's like, you know, this isn't a dog person. And it is tough. Like I'm sure they're nice people, but then the other part of me feels like, Are you just capitalizing on groomers?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

That's how it feels sometimes. And it's it's hard because our industry almost always we almost always feel like what I just got a vision of you.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:54

No, we're keeping I didn't want to No, that's so bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

We gotta cut that part out.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:59

I Wasn't even looking at it like that. I was just like, I'm doing what? I'm doing what? You need me to do this? Alright, I'll do it. Later on, I was thinking about it and I was like, uh oh. Like I'm sitting in Coco K, like, uh oh. And you're like, there's videos of this. That's bad. That's bad.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:18

I don't think you meant anything. I didn't mean anything bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

It wasn't your idea. It wasn't your idea.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:24

So is Barclay doing? I know Barclay does the cruises, but have they been doing them before? Um positive or positive C was like the original.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

No, they they did cruises. Judy Wheeler's done cruises for my whole entire career. I remember I remember getting an advertisement for it and then PetSmart saying, No, you can't go. Super cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:44

They never want us because I wanted to be on Groomer Has It. And I tried, and they're like, Pet Smart's like, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:49

They put a whole sign out and said, No, you cannot go on Groomer Has It.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:53

And they didn't want me to. I asked them about competitions. They didn't want me to compete. And then like I start competing years later. They have a team. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:00

Yeah, they start a whole team after that. Do they have a team still?

unknown 1:07:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:04

I think so. Yeah. Yeah, they're pretty good. They're pretty good. I mean, um uh Jamie. Oh my god, how do I say her last name? Battle Tinglia, something like that. Oh my god, yeah. I know you, Jamie. She was my manager in the Jacksonville, North Carolina. Oh my god. Yes. When I lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina briefly, uh, I met her and Casey Humphreys and uh a couple other of North Carolina groomers, and I was just like, so when I full circled came back to another show, I was like, I know you. They're like, oh, you.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:36

Okay, that's it. We're gonna have to have her on next. I love secrets about Kelsey.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:42

Well, they they saved my career because I was like not showing up because PetSmart would not fire me. So I just no-showed. I was like, screw it. And then um Casey shows up because we lived in the same subdivision. She sees my car at home and she comes over and she like knocks on the door, and um she's like, I want I want to make sure you're not dead. Like you're not answering anybody. And she's like, Don't quit like this. Like, you've put in a lot of work here. You you got a lot of potential. Like, don't quit like this. Just come in and finish your shift.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:10

Why did you want to quit so bad? Um, because you wanted to collect the point.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:15

No, I don't know. I don't know why I want to get fired so bad. I would just stay mad, but I loved it in retrospect. I would just stay mad about every little thing. It was like to be young. Yeah, I just had my head up my butt. Really? I was angsty, I was very angsty. I was emo. I listened to a lot of like the used.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:35

The most emo music I listened to was Ashley Simpson. Oh, she was like.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:38

Oh my god, I loved her. That was a vibe. Until she was it her that messed up on SNL. Yeah, poor thing. And then after that, I stopped listening to her.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:49

Everybody did. Uh I don't think you ever saw it. Poor thing hard. Uh, but no, I wanted to try out for Groomer Has It so bad. And I like watched it like crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:00

It only had two seasons, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

Yeah, it got canceled. Yeah. Well, some of that.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:03

All the doggy shows got canceled.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:05

Well, because I feel like they're good ideas, but same thing, right? We just talked about when dog, non-dog people are trying to do dog things. So then, like, they're trying to do these like hate when they come in, you almost wonder what their intentions are.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:18

Did they just read Forbes magazine that we're the billion-dollar pet industry and grooming is where it's at because they have a doodle. So I've talked to them, and they have to pay more than they think that they should have to pay for a doodle to get groomed. So they think we these people are obviously making money not realizing the work that it entails.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:37

And there's probably always some executive that's like, it should be about creative.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:41

Yeah, yeah. Always.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:42

Because that is what everyone will want to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:44

And nobody, nobody really like I love creative, and I think I think it's hard work. And it's beautiful. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:51

But I want to show, I want to educate the everyday person about what we do every day in our salon, not the extreme thing that you only get to do. Yeah. About dogs pooping on their tables and biting us.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:03

Almost make it like how could it be in this moment where like everybody's got pets? You know, like make it where it's educational. Here's how you don't piss off your groomer. Yeah. Something. They gotta do something. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe we make a show. Well, another grooming show. Another grooming show. Another grooming show. It's the gift that just keeps on giving. He's he's co-signed on it. Yeah. We got he said another grooming show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just another task for a while. Will it be reality TV or will it be a competition?

SPEAKER_06 1:10:33

Like a like a competition show.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:35

Both reality and go to five different salons and see who has it, who has what it takes.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:42

Well, just think about it. What if it was like big brother and we all just like live together for like a month? And then like say, what if you have a drama? You have to work in the grooming salon every single day, and they have like at the end of the day, they like check in with you like how was your day?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

And there's a confession booth. Yeah. How much you hate the other groomers?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:59

Fucking pissing me off today. This bitch said this. Bye. This client and I just chat on me.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:05

I love it. Let's do it. Let's do it. We bring five different groomers. How many groomers do you think? Twelve? Or is it ten, maybe? Ten, ten. We brought ten groomers to this elite high-class salon. And we are opening it to the public.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:21

The most uh yeah, the most absurd client. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:25

Oh my gosh. And then like it has to be scored on the ground. I think we're all too old now. I want to be able to agree with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:32

Do you think we're older now than Jonathan was on Grimer Has it? Because I remember him being like super young in it. Shit, I don't know. We'll ask him.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:39

Yeah, we're gonna have to ask. How old are you, Jonathan David?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:44

I think he just turned.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:44

Hold on, let's see. Let's see if it's on his thing. It might be private. Somebody call him.

unknown 1:11:50

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:50

I know. We need to know now.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:52

The Jonathan David episode. It just says June 9th.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:56

He's not gonna put his age on there.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:58

I think it's I think it's just because he didn't have a lot of hair.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:01

To me, he looks he looks young, but I think he's older than he looks. I think he's takes really good care of himself.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:07

I think you're right. Well, ask him on the secret, and then we won't tell you guys. Yeah. So now we're gonna know. And you won't.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:14

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:15

Um he's gonna be like 10 years, he's gonna say 10 years younger than he is. Yeah, yeah. That's gonna, that's how that works.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:22

So I wanted to be a group. That's I loved him. So when I started coming to shows, it was Lindsay Barry and Jonathan David and uh Judy Hudson. Oh. Which ironically lived like 20 minutes away from me. Oh my god. So, but I was too scared to talk to her. But she was in all like my Oster videos and like all of the dogs.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:43

Okay, so is that how you're supposed to say it?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:46

Oyster?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:47

I've always said Oster. We've always said Oster. Maybe it's a California thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:50

I don't know how you're supposed to say it. I say we're gonna do it. Yeah, they make blenders. Oh, okay, okay. They make blenders. I was at Walmart the other day. I was buying a blender, and I saw Ordnance.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:01

Were you thinking of shears at first?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:03

Wonder shears? I was thinking of clippers. Like actually like smoothie makers.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:09

Oh, like blender. I thought you were thinking of like chunkers.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:13

No, like making smoothies. That's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:18

I still think they make human clippers. I don't know if they're much in the grooming world anymore. I don't know. Don't they make some sort of like uh recirculator? They used to.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:26

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:28

So I I wanted to meet Judy really bad. And so I actually traveled here to Super Zoo just to meet Judy. I came to Super Zoo to compete and rescue round it because I saw she was gonna be a judge, and she judged my dog and shoes. And I was like, she goes, Oh, Nashville, or what part? And I was like, Oh, Judo Caddy. And I was like trying to play it cool, and she's like, You're right in my neck of the woods. Good luck. And like she just like walks away. Like she was and it was just like that's Judy Freaking Hudson. That's Judy Freaking Hudson. Oh my god, that's so funny. That's Judy Freaking Hudson. And uh later on, whenever I got with her, uh I was trying to learn my breed standards, right? And uh one of my one of my friends I had made had a private lesson scheduled with her, and they're like, Can I spend the night at your house? And I was like, Yeah, why? And they're like, uh, well, I'm coming in from North Carolina and um or Georgia, they're coming in from Georgia, and uh I I'm gonna have a private lesson with Judy Hudson, and you live like not far from her. I was like, Oh my god, yeah, but I've never been to her house. She's like, No, and she goes, Can you take me? And I was like, Yeah, I can take you. And I bring my book, I bring my uh AKC book, and I bring my um, I bring the National Dog Groomers book, the little blue one with all of the uh all of that, and I bring that over and I have it flipped to a cocker spaniel. But this was a poodle lesson, but I was working on a cocker spaniel. I didn't have a private lesson, I was just the ride. So I was just the ride, and I'm sitting here like ready, and she goes, Why do you have it open to cocker spaniel when we're studying a poodle? I was like, Oh, I'm not in this class. She goes, Um, you should be. And I was like, Oh, oh my god. You're like, I'm here then. I'm right here right now. I'm actually asking you um if you can help me with a cocker spaniel. And so, like a couple days go by, and I'm like, idiot, idiot, idiot.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:08

Oh wait.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:10

And I get a phone call from her and uh she's like, um, you're working on the cocker spaniel, right? And I was like, and she was so fast-paced, like, like go, go, go. And she's like, You're working on the cocker spaniel. Yeah, very straightforward. And I was like, Yeah, and she goes, I got a cocker spaniel, I don't want to groom. You come over every Monday, you'll learn how to groom a cocker spaniel. And I was like, Okay. And I was like, oh nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:33

I wish somebody would do that to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:35

Yeah, she took me in, man. Like she took me in, and she just it was it was the best of times. It was the scariest of times. And I mean that. I mean that we all can here. I was just like, I love that woman so much, and like we're like best buds. Like, she texted me the other day, she goes, What should I wear for best in show for uh Chicago? She's gonna be best in show with Schomburg. And she's like, Would this be fancy enough? And I'm like, sh send me your options, girl. I'm like, I'm sitting here with Judy Freakin' Hudson, like talking about what to wear. Yeah. It's like the cold, like what little baby groomer me out of body experience is this?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:09

Yeah, you know, and it's just wild. I mean, that just proves that like no matter where you start, yeah, like you can get to where you want to be if you put in the work.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:16

Yeah, you just gotta show up. You have to put in the work. Like, it's not just being at the right place at the right time. Like, I've gone through so much, like so many years of just I mean, not making any money, doing education, being in on the these different brands, learning about different things, educating people on different things, and just passionately there. And you learn so much if you have an open heart and an open mind. And it's just that that's what it takes. That's what it takes to be where you're where you want to be. You have to show up.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:46

Yeah, you know, sometimes people put in a hundred percent and then it still don't work for them.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:52

Yeah. That's a private chance. Yeah. You know, then that's sometimes life just shits on you. Yeah. Anyway. Are we ready?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:01

I'm gonna cut that, but I'm I think I think we're ready to wrap up.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:05

That was a nice wrap. That was a nice ending. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:07

So if you want to sign us out, Kelsey.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:09

I I love you guys so very much. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:12

Yeah, it was very interesting listening to your story.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:15

Literally, talk about so much more. So, you guys are gonna have to have me back. Yes. All right, well, so we wrap this up. Until next time. Thank you guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:24

Thank you. Superzoo came and went, but mark your calendars for WPA's first show of 2027. Groomed is happening March 12th through 14th in Atlanta, Georgia. Join more than 4,000 pet professionals for three days packed with education, networking, shopping, and grooming competitions. Explore the trade show floor, learn from industry experts, or compete for your share of more than $29,000 in cash and prizes. Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills, discover new products, connect with your community, or test your talent in the grooming competitions, groomed has something for every pet professional. Groomed, March 12th through 14th, 2027.