Civility

Last week, we found a lost dog...he was tiny and there was a storm coming so I took him in. It wasn't the easiest thing as our home is not huge and he was essentially terrified of our big dogs though they did their best to be welcoming. Even the boy was very gentle with him which considering that he's used to literally wrestling with the big boys, I was pretty proud.

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We took all the typical steps to find his owners...left a message with our town's animal control guy (yup, we live in a town so small we have one police officer who is in charge of animal control, Quinton, everyone knows Quinton...), took the little guy who didn't have a collar to the only vet in town to see if he was microchiped with no success, posted a FOUND dog ad on craigslist and searched the paper for a missing dog announcement. All to no avail.

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He didn't fit in with our family and as the boy and I are going out of town Thursday and I didn't want to pay for a 3rd dog to be boarded, I started putting feelers out for a new home. I found a great new home but was going to wait until the last minute to drop him off because I wanted to give the owner every chance possible.

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Then this morning, before anyone in house was awake, someone began POUNDING on our door. I am NOT a morning person so I ignored the first set of pounding hoping it was just neighborhood kids being bratty (although I knew it had never happened before). With the second set of floor shaking pounding, I got out of bed...mostly in hopes that I could dismiss the person before they woke the boy. It was a woman about my age with a school-aged boy who was crying.

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The woman: "Are you the (our last name)s?"

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Me: "uh, yeah...?"

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The kid: sob sob sob

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The woman: "You have MY dog, give him back to me now!"

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Me: (still not totally awake) "uh, the little thing?" (thing was not the word going through my mind as it was the most clingy, whiny, annoying dog in the world

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The kid: gasping looking at his mom with hope

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The woman: "Yes, hurry up, I have to get my son to school" (as she proceeds to enter my home without an invitation which is a BIG no-no in my world)

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Me: "We have large dogs that are not stranger friendly, please stay on the porch and I'll bring the little dog to the door" (not knowing his name was super frustrating)

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The woman: "It's my dog and I'll come in and get him if I want"

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Me: thinking: ...not a good idea woman...I grab the little thing and before I turn the corner I ask "can you tell me a distinguishing mark so I know it's your dog?"

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The kid: excited "YEAH, he has a white..."

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The woman: interrupts to yell "OH MY GOD, I DON'T have time for this sh**, I'm coming in to get him or I'll just call the police"

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The kid: sobbing again "PLEASE mom!"

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Me: "Seriously??"

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The woman: rolling her eyes, "He has a f***ing diamond on the back of his neck"

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Me: "Great, here you go."

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The kid: "OH Bo, I've missed you" (oh it's named Bo, good to know)

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The woman: to her son "Get in the f***ing truck NOW!"

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Me: "you're welcome...no, don't worry about the dog food or kennel I had to buy because he couldn't eat the big food and when left out he ate my son's toy...your thanks is more than enough..." (of course everything after welcome wasn't heard because they were already in the truck and speeding away)

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I'm pretty sure that she got my address and name from Quinton (who, btw, never actually called me back himself) but the whole ordeal was disheartening. When did it become ok to treat people like that? I know this was an extreme case but every time I go to the store or the library, I see rude people. People who don't seem to care that the words "Please and Thank You" are missing from their vocabulary. Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of days when I was irritated about one person or situation and took it out on another but as a whole it seems like our "connected" society has become so accustomed to getting exactly what they want, when they want it that they've disconnected from civility.