Propriety? What's That?

I'm used to clients ignoring me at work. At least once a week I need to explain to someone that this is not, in fact, Jiffy Lube, and when their dog comes in for its annual exam, and I ask for them to come into the room, they do have to come with the dog - they don't get to sit in the lobby and watch TV while I take the dog away, examine it, give it a tuneup, and then drop it off at the other end of the reception desk.

I'm used to that. I'm used to people reading, or talking on their cell phones, or carrying on side conversations with their spouses, children, friends, or pets while I try to ask them pertinent questions or explain what I'm learning about their animal's health. It's lousy, but it's part of life, and I've mastered my Pointed Look such that I can usually get their attention within a minute or two.

But nothing I've been through before prepared me for the client today who gave herself a pedicure while I was trying to examine her pet.

I walked into the room to find her sitting on one chair, with her foot propped on another, a wad of our paper towels and kleenex nearby, and an open bottle of nail polish, halfway through touching up her left toenails. She must have noticed my odd glance, because she grinned and informed me that I shouldn't worry or mind, that she was just giving herself a pedicure, and that I was welcome to go ahead with the exam. She did, in her defense, pick up the animal and engage in the exam once she finished, but I still have to wonder what on earth made her think that would be even vaguely appropriate - or whether people do this sort of thing at their doctors' offices.....