Glasgowian for “I’m exhausted and tired” (thank you, Moving with Mitchell)
And I am.
It’s long weeks of very early mornings. By early evening, all I want is to have a light dinner, shower and turn in. But it was Friday meaning... errands.
I am going to make a statement, and I know it is going to annoy some followers of my blog, but… as I am growing older, I have come to realize that I really do not like dogs or their owners.
I am very much over people ignoring the “Service dogs only” signs to parade around stores with their dogs, either leashed or in the shopping cart (usually sans blanket, meaning that any dog germs are now contaminating a cart meant for human food). I see it… everywhere. All the time. No longer a rare occurrence.
I discovered last night that it has become a trigger to me.
We went for our usual Friday night errands including a stop at local wholesale club last night. I was exhausted and tired by the time we got there (5th of 5 stops on the round-robin of Friday night errands). BIG SIGN on the door “SERVICE DOGS ONLY”. Got in, got the cart loaded (a shopping list helped), got in line to the self service checkout kiosks.
Not one, but two dogs.
One puppy in a cart, the other, a young Golden Doodle, loose. The kiosk docent was all “What adorable puppies! [blah blah blah]” with the owners just oblivious that there was a line waiting for the kiosks. As I am scanning my cart, #2 dog owner let the dog loose to “play” with the docent.
The dog promptly ran up to me. I glared, gritted my teeth and hear myself stating, “I do NOT like DOGS!” and… I began to shake. Almost uncontrollably. Did the owner retrieve his dog? No. All I heard was “Such a beautiful dog!” from the docent as she continued to play with the animal. I missed scanning a few objects in my cart; caught by the door staff as I went to exit. I was still shaking, “...they have dogs running around…” I mumbled. He just nodded. He guided me to the service desk to ring up the missed items, then the desk manager walked my past the line at the exit.
I owned dogs; several in recent years. Enough to know I do not want another one. We made sure when doing ANYTHING with our dogs, that they only went into dog-accepting / dog-friendly environments, and we always made sure that they were under control at all times. I never, ever considered taking our dogs into a supermarket! If it was hot out (above 70f), the dogs stayed home and in the AC. I never see that courtesy with dog owners today.
The event last night really wiped me out; I was comatose for the ride home.
From now on; just keep you damn dog away from me.
R
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