There’s entitled, and then there’s ‘find space because I won’t take no for an answer,’ entitled.

What would you do if you showed up for a packed holiday shift and a walk-in owner tried to force her dog into boarding, like you were holding a spot just for her?

Would you send her packing? Or would you attempt to help her, regardless of how frustrating it gets?

In the following story, a kennel worker finds herself in this situation.

Here’s how it all played out.

“you can see why that was frustrating for me, right?”

I used to work in dog boarding, and saw entitlement all the time. But this one encounter takes the cake.

It’s the holiday season, and we are booked solid. Like solid-solid. Like Bassett hounds in upper kennels booked solid. Like dogs boarded in the bathing room kennels booked solid.

This lady walks in with no appointment and her dog in tow. Says she’s dropping off.

She starts trying to get the lady to leave.

I tell her we have no space until after Christmas. She yells. Apparently, the fact that she’s boarded A dog here before YEARS ago (before I even worked there) means she’s our best customer ever.

At this point (I was the assistant manager), the regular front desk person shifted away from the conversation. Their body language said, “This was always going to end with her talking to the manager, so I skipped a step.”

Anyway, I try to figure out some way to stonewall this so she will leave. I ask for vaccine records. She blows her lid again, asking why we don’t already have that.

They start calling the vet for info.

I explain that with RESERVATIONS, you know, dogs we KNOW are coming, we call their vets ahead and get the info we need, and then notify owners of anything missing. We can’t do that if you walk in off the street and try to hand your dog to me.

I recommend that to avoid this situation in the future, she should make a reservation for dog boarding as soon as she knows she will need it. She blows her lid again.

She insists the dog goes to a certain vet, so we call and give them her owner’s info. The dog hadn’t been there under her name in years, and all its vaccines had expired.

At this point, everyone was getting a little frustrated.

She tells me that the vaccines ARE up to date, but that her extended family has all been bringing the dog to the vet own by one so they get the “new client” free exam and only have to pay for the vaccines every year (which also seems to tell me the dog only goes to the vet for vaccines, which is another whole conversation…..)

I ask, “Okay, then, who took the dog to the vet last?”

Her response was, “How am I supposed to know that?”

“Well, unless you can tell me who did, I can’t call the vet and ask them for the up-to-date records. They won’t give me records unless I know who I’m asking for. I cannot call and ask for the most up-to-date records on a dog, that’s illegal levels of personal information for the vet to give out.”

She left, but didn’t take her dog.

After SIX phone calls to the vet with different people’s owner information, we finally got the records. That poor CSR at the vet’s office.

Then she hit us with the kicker.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it? I’m trying to catch a flight! You can see how that was frustrating for me, right?”

And then walked out without her dog, which we then had to find space for.

Eek! That’s some next-level entitlement!

Let’s check out what the fine folks over at Reddit think about what happened.

Excellent point.

Here’s what this reader would’ve said.

This person thinks she’s just as bad as the woman.

Yet another reader who thinks she’s just as much to blame.

She should’ve stood firm.

If the boarding facility was at capacity, she should’ve never allowed the woman to leave her dog.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.