See What Happens When You Don’t Apologize?

Allow me to set the scene:

In the middle of the afternoon on a bright and sunny day, we were getting ready for a trip to the store.  I, being the responsible pet owner that I am, put Teller on his leash, and opened the door to take him for a quick walk before we left.
As I opened the door, something caught my eye….it was a black nose.  I instantly thought it was a coyote, and threw the dog to my mom and slammed the door.  I then slowly opened the door to find my neighbor’s very large dog trying to get in my apartment.

I kicked at the dog and it ran away.  I followed it, because I knew who the owner was.  This particular pet owner also has 2 other small dogs (chihuahuas), one of whom attacked Teller just a few days ago.

The owner was outside, with all three dogs off of their leashes.  I yelled at him, told him his dog tried to get in my house, scared my  kids, and that his other little dog attacked Teller last week.  He denied the charges, and acted like I was a lunatic for being scared of his “very friendly dog.”  I came back in the house, got Teller, and took him out.  The owner then started yelling at me for not giving him time to get his dogs inside.  I told him that I don’t have time to deal with irresponsible owners, as I’m trying to leave.  We got into a big argument before he stomped off, leaving his dog’s droppings in the middle of the sidewalk.  I, again, being the responsible one, picked up after both of our dogs, and came inside.  I then called the leasing office.  No one answered, so I stopped in the office on our way to the store.

I talked to the assistant manager, told her what had happened, and that he had 3 dogs.  She said that the 3 dogs alone was enough for them to evict this guy.  She said she would look into it, call the guy, and start taking steps to get the situation under control.

Now, normally, I would not have called the office or went in to complain.  This time, however, was different.  For one, I don’t know that this dog is friendly or not, and The Boy is scared of big dogs anyway, so this was a matter of my kids safety and security.  Second, the guy acted like it was not a big deal, I was the one who was out of line, and he did not apologize.  It’s common courtesy to apologize for scaring the bejeezus out of little kids, and this guy was just rude.

What would you have done?

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It’s Starting Out To Be a Good Week!

First of all, we had a great 4th of July weekend.  We had some new friends over for dinner, and we got to see some good fireworks (though, admittedly, not as good as last year).  The Boy was terrified of the fireworks, but once he got passed the sound factor, he was fine.  Then, on Sunday, the kids and I just hung out around the house and pool and completely relaxed.

Now for the good parts!

Last week, Brian got offered a job, but he went this morning to discuss the particulars.  Long story short, this job will allow him to use his degree in German, give him control and autonomy, gets him away from working with young apathetic people, and gives him a significant raise in pay.  The only downsides are that we will have to find our own insurance (which I’m working on), there is a bit of a commute (though not that bad), and we will lose one perk from his current job that is currently saving us about $30 per month in entertainment costs.  But, the upsides certainly outweigh the downsides, so we are excited!

The other great thing about this week is that my mom is coming to California for a 2 week visit!  We haven’t seen her since January, so we are all very excited.  When she was here last, it was rainy and cold most of the time she was here, so we are happy to have some hot weather this time.  While we can’t do everything we would like to do (ahem, Disneyland), we are planning some time at the beach and other L.A. hotspots.

Lastly, we spent several days doing our (late) spring cleaning last week….and the house is STILL clean!  It’s a miracle!

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