Lifestyles of the Rude and Entitled

I was working in a fancy highrise one morning and I was riding the elevator down to to lobby.  The elevator stopped after a few floors and a woman and the cutest little dog walked in.  The dog came right up to me and she told me that that dog doesn't like many people.  As more people got on the elevator, the dog his behind me for safety.  The owner and I got to talking and she asked for my card.  Excellent.  

About a month or so later, I receive a call from this woman asking me about dog sitting.  When she called, I was already out working so I asked her to please email me all of the information (the dates, what times she needs visits, etc) and that I would get back to her later when I got home.  This was about 8:30/9 am when she called.  I skimmed the email a bit later and realized that I had some questions for her, but didn't want to call until I was home and didn't have a dog in my hand. 

This was the email:

Good morning Debbie,

We will be away for an overnight next weekend and would like you to check on Esther while we are away.

I shall feed her and walk her the morning of the 10^th, so if you could:

Walk her around 2-3:00 and feed her on the 10th

Walk her around 9-10 at night on the 10^th

Walk and feed her 7-30-8:00 on the 11^th.

We should be back for her afternoon walk.

Please let me know if this works for you. Then we can discuss details.

Thank you,

 I got home at my usual time, about 3 pm and I had just enough time to eat something, sit down, and take a deep breath.  Then my phone rings and it's her. Perfect timing!  I say, "Hello!  How are you?"  Her reply was, "This is (insert her name here)."  And I say, "Yes, I know. I have it saved in my phone, how are you?"  She replies in the coldest, most annoyed, snarky tone I have ever heard, "Were you going to respond to me?"  

I was taken aback!  I told her that I had just gotten home not too long ago and I was planning on calling her in a little bit.  She said, "Well, I called you early this morning."  And I said, "Yes, and I told you that I was out working and that I would call you when I got home.  I just got home."  She replied by saying how she didn't expect me to be out so long!!  (Um... I WAS WORKING ALL DAY !)  I I told her that there were potentially a few problems with her request.  One was that I had already sent out an email that I was taking off from the 7th to the 10th and she wouldn't have known that because she is not on my email list.  She immediately dismissed me.  Then I said, for the future, the other was that I do not do visits past 7pm because I allot myself 12 hour days.   I was trying to ask if we could switch the time around and she gets literally angry and haughtily says, "Well no!  She NEEDS to go out late at night so I guess that's it isn't it?!"  Again, taken aback.  I don't even know this woman and she is already angry at me for not being able to accommodate her every need.  I was about to offer her a referral for someone that I know that does do late night walks, but she essentially hung up on me.  I was angry, but I let it go for the night.

The next day I rethought it and realized that it was completely uncalled for and I didn't even get to finish my sentence!  So I sent her an email that said this:

Hello there. I'm sorry to disappoint you with my lack of availability for this particular trip, but you hung up before I could get a few things out.  

#1  It is tough to find a dog walker to come for walks after 8 pm, but I could put the word out to try to help you find one. We all normally work 12 hour days as it is and there has to be a cut off somewhere.  I personally am in bed by 10 as I am up at 6 everyday.

#2 You must allow at least 24 hours for someone to get back to you regarding pet sitting/dog walking.  Things come up that are unexpected and days are long.  I was not ignoring you, I literally did not have the time to sit down and reply to an email until 6pm last night.

#3 I have a lot of family from ******** with the last name *******, might we be related?

She replied almost right away to this (which I was not expecting) and it was pretty bad!

Got someone to sit. She called

Me back in 2 hours and she is available for the times I needed.  No issues. 

I don't have time to listen to excuses. I need a service, you can't provide it so I was done. I need to work with Serious business people no matter what their product or service. I have been around a little

Longer than you and have a decent understanding of dependability and availability. It is time for me to move on. 

Btw you wrote this email in a much more timely manner than you returned my call. 

Let's just move on. 

Sigh.....  I replied and just told her that I was trying to keep it cordial since I do business in her building and we would inevitably run into eachother again on the elevator. Told her to have a great weekend and called it a day.  I later found out that she is just as awful to her other neighbors in the building as well as the staff.  Do I feel a bit better about that?  Not really....  

If I can't accommodate someone, I will always try to give them another option.  When they insult me and my business because I didn't have time to get back to her until after my workday, well, that's just below the belt.  I am one person.  I do not have a secretary to schedule my life.  I know I lucked out by not having her as a client (Thank you universe), but  I hate to know that there is someone like this treating people terribly for no reason.  Literally, no reason.  

Charlie Waffles: Squirrel Extraordinaire

I haven't had time to write as much, but I wanted to write about Charlie Waffles a few months ago.  I figured that it would be an uplifting change from the "man hits dog" post.  There must always be a balance.  Here is the story of Charlie Waffles:

I was in the car with Terry headed down 3rd st to walk a dog.  I got out of the car, crossed the street, and when I hit the sidewalk in front of the dogs house, I saw a small furry gray ball by a car wheel.  I bent down and picked up a small cold and stunned little 7 week old squirrel.  The nextdoor neighbor was outside and kindly offered me a small towel to wrap him in and a piece of her Eggo waffle which he readily ate.  Now I had a squirrel and had still had to walk the dog.  The first rule of baby squirrels is "keep them warm and hydrated."  Luckily Terry squirrel sat in the car and my client had some pedialyte that I could use to hydrate the little guy.  After the dog went back home, we took the squirrel back to my house to give him a hot water bottle and some fleece to cuddle in while I finished my day.

I was hoping that he was just stunned and needed a little warmth and food and that when I returned home he would be raring to go out be a squirrel.  When I first checked on him in the house she was going NUTS in the carrier that I had him in.  He was biting at the door (and my finger) trying to get out.  My immediate thought was, "YAY!  He was just stunned and now he can run and go be free!!"  I optimistically took him out on my 2nd floor deck and opened the carrier door.  I expected him to bolt and climb down the side of my house.  Instead, he timidly walked out and jumped in my lap and them climbed on my shoulder.  (Damn!) From then on, he was my little buddy and I had to deal with the fact that I could only keep him for so long.  He stayed with us for a week and after taking him out on the deck every day, he was getting more and more bold.  He wasn't the best eater, so every morning he got a piece of waffle with peanut butter and jelly (hey, it WAS a nut) and he would eat baby food.  He enjoyed his carbs, but I knew that he needed to be a real squirrel with squirrel friends.

There was no reason for him to stay (no major injury, nothing to stop him from fulfilling his squirrely duties).  He was very attached to me and I was attached to him.  He didn't care for any other human really, he was my guy.  That just made it even more difficult to take him to the wildlife rehab and hand him over to strangers.  Instead of being Charlie Waffles, he became Gray Squirrel 3599.  I did call and check up on him a few times and he was acclimating quite well.  I secretly hope that he will find me one day in the world and jump on my shoulder so that I know it's him.  I know that I did what was best for him, but it was still tough! I'm happy that I got to play "mom" for a week to him and have a sweet bond.

Do NOT Hit Your Dog In Front Me - Trust Me

After 2 full days of pouring rain, I was so happy to walk dogs on a dry and brisk morning.  I had 2 dogs with me in the neighborhood and we were crossing the street.  I saw a man walking a large pitbull towards us who saw us and smiled and seemed excited.  Given that I had an older pit and a puppy in my hands, I just let them cross the street and we backed up.  It seemed that the owner was not happy with the dog being happy ( I can only assume) and as soon as he passed us he flattened the dog to the ground and raised his hand and hit her hard in the head. She did NOTHING wrong.  Even if the dog did do something wrong, there is no excuse for hitting.  But this was pure abuse just for the sake of control.

My immediate reaction was to say, "Hey!! There is NO need to hit your dog!"  That was met with (kids cover your ears) "Mind your own fucking business! I'll do what the fuck I want! Mind your fucking business. I'll get my brother to come and get you! Don't fucking follow me!."  He had some more things to say, I was struggling for my phone, he was daring me to call the police, etc.  I followed at a distance to his destination and I called 911.  I gave a description of the man, the dog, and an address.  (Mind you I still had 2 dogs with me) I then got cut off from 911 - it just hung up.

I walked the dogs home, got them settled, and then headed to my next dog. While walking, I called the 3rd District to see if they were indeed sending someone out, considering we got disconnected.  They told me that they don't dispatch from there and that I have to call 911 again to check.  Sigh.  So I called - no answer.  I called again, it disconnected me with no answer.  I called AGAIN and after 10 rings a 911 operator picked up (Appalling!!!). I explained the situation and she asked if I was at the location that I called about.  I told her no.  She said that the police needed to speak with me in person before they go find him!!  I told her that no one told me to do this and her reply was, "Well that's unfortunate."  I told her where I was and she said that she would send a car out to me and that I should wait for them.  I waited 45 minutes.  No one showed up.  I had to get to the next dog, so I left and just looked for an officer on the way. I didn't find one until 17th and Pine.  He told me that I needed to file a report in person and call the SPCA.  The SPCA needs an address of the dog, I don't have that. I had what I thought was an address, but it seems that he was just "doing some business behind a gate"

So, people of Queen Village. Keep an eye out for him.  I saw him at 6th and Carpenter headed to 5th.  Tall white male, thin. Approx 65 yrs old. Longish gray/blondish hair.  Female pitbull, long torso, light brindle, large nipples as if she had a litter not long ago.  Please keep an eye out for him and and see if the dog is ok.  She does not deserve to live like this.

Yes,I know what everyone is going to say:
Be Safe
Be Careful
You don't know what he will do
Don't Engage

I get it, I am aware. But I cannot watch a dog get abused in front of me and just walk away.  I can't.  Hopefully someone knows him and can get the dog into a safer place.  I have to do whatever is in my power for the safety of the dog.

Update 12/4/16

Got an address with help of neighbors/clients/friends (GO TEAM DOG SAFETY!)
Filed a report with the police and the SPCA animal cruelty. Spoke to the officer and he will be having a chat with the owner (who btw has 3 dogs) on disciplining dogs by way of hitting.