Here enters the most intimidating woman I have ever met in my years. She will henceforth be referred to as "Scary Dane Lady". Why is she the most intimidating woman I have ever met? Because she is 10 feet tall, built like a lumberjack and is flanked by two Great Danes.
I arrive at the grooming school with my posse ( Mom, Dad, Sister-in-law) and there is nobody in sight. Noise is coming from behind a dutch door beside the reception desk, so I walk over and give it a timid knock. The top half opens to reveal Scary Dane Lady, an obviously active grooming salon and two very large Great Danes. Maybe I was naive to think that this would be a formal interview; that my posse would greet Scary Dane Lady and then she would ask me to step into a quieter, more privet area to conduct the interview. After all, I had made a special plane trip specifically for this interview at this woman's request. Instead she greeted me and then immediately sat back down at her grooming table where she was working on a dog. Shocked, I just stood there. I had no idea what she wanted me to do. Was I supposed to wait until she was done the dog? Did she want me to come in? But she hadn't asked me to come in! Finally she said something to the lines of "Well come on in then!" and, "Don't worry, they're friendly. Getting past the Dane's is the first test! HaHAAH!". Scary Dane Lady obviously thought that I was nervous of her dogs and that's why I hadn't come in. I wasn't scared of the Danes, I just hadn't understood that her "Hello! I'm Scary Dane Lady, nice to meet you" followed by a hasty retreat was apparently her way of inviting me to come in and make myself at home.
So, there I was, standing awkwardly in the middle of the salon while Scary Dane Lady whittled away on the dog and her assistant dried another with a very loud drier. This is where she proceeded to tell me all about how hard grooming is.
SDL- "Grooming is not for everyone. It's very physically hard work. Sometimes I make my students run around the block. Do you work out? Are you in a sport or something?"
Me-"No I don't, I was in sports in school but that's about it."
Awkward silence.
SDL- "Grooming means that you will be handling dogs all day long. You have to know what you're doing, and you will probably get bit, scratched, peed on and pooped on." *Waits for response*
Me- "….o..ok"
Awkward silence.
SDL-"Do you have any experience handling dogs?"
Me-"Well I grew up with dogs and the dog I have now, I trained her myself, and I had never trained a dog before. I'm very comfortable around dogs."
SDL-"So you don't have any grooming experience?"
Me-"….no."
The entire interview went on like this while Scary Dane Lady continued to groom, her assistant continued to dry with the loud drier, and the Danes wondered around like giant shadowy spectres . After a confusing 15 minutes of hearing all the cons of grooming and answering questions only to be given an "Are you serious?" look, Scary Dane Lady said goodbye and that she'd let me know by the end of the day if she thought I was right for her school. Then she continued on with her groom and we let ourselves out.
Everything Scary Dane Lady had said was totally correct, but the whole thing had just been so bazzar and not anything like what I had imagined. Needless to say I wasn't very surprised when I got the call letting me know that I had not been accepted into the school and that I was to get more experience and then try again.
This is not the end of the story, but it's a long story. This is just intermission. Check back for "How Did I Even Get Here?! Part 3". If you missed Part 1 you'll find it here.
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