Friday, September 06, 2013

Irritable

I don't know what's going on with me, but little things have really been getting under my skin. Most of all, the way some people view pet owners and their decisions to have animals instead of kids. Let me tell you a story to highlight my disgruntled state.
"Most landlords don't allow pets because they are messy." A man speaking to a random woman said as I walked past with Hermione crunching loudly over an empty chip bag and crushed soft drink can.
"Animals tend to destroy things." He continued on just as loudly as I stumbled over two random box springs some human decided to leave on the sidewalk because they were too lazy to call the council to come and get them.
"All pets stink and so landlords really don't like having them." Loud talking man blabbed away as someone who smelled of unwashed hair and clothes tramped past me and another smoking breezed by on the other side. I can't express to you the amount of people here that smell of mildew clothes and unwashed hair. It's shocking.
"They're also really too noisy." He blared from half a block away. I wondered if he noticed the music blasting from a flat window across the street and a child screaming mercilessly in yet another. I wondered if he noticed the volume of his own voice.
My point is, humans can be  just as stinky, messy, noisy and destructive as animals and human noise, stink, mess and destruction are tolerated as socially acceptable. I am horrified at the amount of garbage people just toss on the ground when there is a bin not five feet from where they tossed their empty food containers, drink bottles or cigarette packages. There's even a random chair sitting in the middle of the green space along the cycling trail. Someone just dumped it there because they couldn't be bothered to dispose of it properly. Last fall, a garbage bag of dirty clothes sat on the side of the trail, spilling over, for nearly the whole winter. These are just small examples of the littering problem that seems to be rampant.
It's become commonplace, at least here, for children to scream, dump sugar/salt all over the place and have their prams and/or bikes take up aisle space in eating establishments. We watched in horror as a mother out with a friend for breakfast, let her toddler dump the entire sugar container all over the table and floor because if she took it away he'd start howling. He started on the salt too, but the breakfast date was over before he got the entire container emptied out. This is not the only incident of such behavior that we've witnessed.
Just on Saturday, I had to argue with a pub employee about Nala being allowed in the dining area of the pub. He was adamant that she was not allowed because she was a "dog" and wouldn't back down. He said we could sit in the bar area where the dogs were allowed, but we were not going in the dining area. I finally got it across to him that she was a "guide dog" and that it was illegal for him to deny her, and by proxy me, access to the dining area. While I argued with him, Nala sitting quietly at my side, I couldn't help but notice a two year old screaming insanely in the dining area while his drunken aunt squawked just as loudly at him. Then, just as the employee finally caught my drift about it being illegal to deny a guide dog access, crazy aunt sprung up from the table and began chasing screeching two year old around the dining area. This behavior, by the way, continued throughout the entire meal until crazy aunt and crew left. Nala lay quietly tucked under the table for the duration of our stay.
Anyone catching my drift?

2 comments:

torie said...

I know if we spilled the whole container of sugar over a table we'd get a slap and that was the long and the short of it. And the running up and down the restaurant? Just plane rude. Some people don't know when to say no to their little darlings. Our pups are better behaved than most people. xxx

Dexter said...

That all makes me very grouchy too. Before I owned my own home, I had to find rental units. Some of them were so nasty that I just took a pass even when the landlord swore he or she would clean up.

I walk along a busy street most days and I am amazed at the trash I see by the side of the road. Not to mention the furniture that is dragged down the wooded path behind our house. Somebody made a real effort to dump their stuff there (when a pickup sticker only costs a few dollars).

Being denied access to the dining area is totally unacceptable. That said, I know how feisty you are. That pub owner better watch out.

Mango Momma