Grooming hours

[howlingbutterfly]

I have been grooming for a little over 3 months and I was wondering what the average daily and weekly hours that groomers work. The shop hours I work at are 8:30-6pm but I am there every night til atleast 7pm and later...is this normal? what about mobile hours?

[PoodlePal]

I'm mobile. My first appt. is usually 8:00 am and I get home between 5:30 -6:00 pm. I almost always take 1-1/2 hours lunch break (that includes driving time to and from my house) every day. I work Mon. - Fri. only.

[baddog]

My shop is open from 8:30 to 3:30 we groom approx 20-25 dogs in that time.

[kaitash]

I am open from 7:30am - 4:00pm...out of there by 4:30 at the latest.

[Woof_x_2]

7am to 6 pm Monday thru Friday and 7am to 3pm on Saturday

Most days I am done somewhere between 1 and 3 doing about 10 to 15 dogs. And I don't let anyone in after 3pm during the weekdays and 11am on Saturdays unless I'm in a really good mood to do more hours lol.

[Boxerfan]

Our shop is usually open at 8:00 am but we don't get there much earlier than that unless someone has arranged an early dropoff. We try to send out the last dog no later than 5:00 pm but we do what we can to close at 4:00. We don't have 'set' hours since we work by appointment. I'm ashamed to say I don't stay and do bookwork like I should in the evenings, I'm always in a hurry to get my son from daycare and get home to the rest of my family. I usually end up going back to the shop at least once a month after putting the kids to bed to do major paperwork.
A couple times a month we have evening dogs in which clients 'just can't' get to us during the week, those dogs arrive at 4:00 pm or later so we don't get to leave until 6 or 6:30pm. Soon we will be sending those clients a letter that we will no longer take dogs in that late and if we lose them, oh well, it's just not worth the hassle of staying that late. One piece of advice, don't do anything starting up in business that you don't want to do later on when you are successful, it's to hard to retrain the clients

[wet noze]

I have been grooming for a little over 3 months and I was wondering what the average daily and weekly hours that groomers work. The shop hours I work at are 8:30-6pm but I am there every night til atleast 7pm and later...is this normal? what about mobile hours?

That is a long day. It sounds like your boss is taking dogs in too late so you are finishing late. Then you have to factor in clean up time. Doesn't sound quite fair or legal. I hope you are getting the breaks you are entitled to and lunch. You should be able to leave at 6pm. If the owner wants to stay until later and finish up, that's fine. Sounds like she is taking advatage of you. Maybe you should talk to her. Are you happy there?

Is a legal work day supposed to 8 hours long? If it is, you should be entitled to an hour lunch, and two 15 minute breaks. You must be exhausted!

I am mobile. In terms of hours, everyday is different. But I could never work those long days on my feet, wrestling dogs. At my age, it would be too much for me.

[Dawn125]

We work Tues thru Sat (I only work occasional Saturdays) from 8:30 to 5:00ish. Our goal is to be done by 5:00 but it varies from as early as 3:30 to as late as 7:00. Just depends on how things go. I can take whatever breaks I need but rarely stop at all. My boss and I are often saying "remind me to go pee after I finish this dog" and then we don't remember to go. I know I should take more breaks but it's really hard to stop when the darn clock just keeps moving so fast. Sometimes I bring a sandwich and find myself eating it while I am driving home at 6:00 that night.

[PAWS]

I am mobile and usually arrive at my first appt at 8:30 or 9:00am. I finish by 4:00 - 5:00pm, and take an hour and a half or so for lunch. I also come home if I finish an appt early and am too tired to take the next one early. This may be my only chance to pee, ha ha! I am definately still in the development of my hours. I would like to take the first at 8:00am, but it is hard not being able to park my trailer at my home. This makes for a loooong day sometimes!

[c.c.]

I start at 8:00 am and work until the last dog leaves which is usually between 1:00 and 4:00. I work mon through fri and every other sat. I do six to eight pets/day.

[Gracy Rose]

Hi we are 8-5 Tues-Sat.

[Plexi]

My hours are 9:00am-12:00 (sometimes at 8:00am) then 2:00-5:00pm. Mon-Thurs. ( I do 6 dogs a day.)
I give myself a 2 hr.lunch time. Then 8:00-12:00 on Sat. doing 4-5 dogs.

[Arrooh]

Sounds like poor management

I worked, very very breifly for two different shops that sort of didn't get around to starting grooming till 9:00 or 10:00 (opened earlier) and both usually did not have groomers leaving till 7:30 or even later. Lost any evening events for that time period. They need to schedule better ans as said allow for clean up time after.

I am Housecall Grooming now and work whatever hours I choose, often working on free evenings, but not week-ends.

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

I work from 8:00 am until I'm done which is normally 4:30-5:30 pm, lunch included. But I am pretty much my own boss.

In your situation, however, it sounds like either you are being over-booked for a new groomer, or your boss is taking advantage of you (or maybe of everybody that works there?), and you need to put your foot down.

Good bosses know when to say NO! In a polite manner, that is.

Tammy in Utah

[Pixie]

I work at home and schedule from 9:00 am until I'm done. Sometimes I will schedule a dog in at 8:00 am and work until I'm done. I'm usually done by 1:30-2:00. I only groom about 4 dogs a day, maybe even less.

I think someone "you" need to talk to your boss. He/She is scheduling too many dogs for the hours that you work. You shouldn't be staying that late after hours to finish up. If the boss wants it that way let them do everything after closing hours.

I've worked in a couple of shops and there where very few days that we ever worked after closing time. If we did it was because we had to bring in that one last dog.