The desire I have to rant and rave about this is greater than the heat of a thousand burning suns. And it is because of this that instead I will merely relay the facts, further pontificating on the subject may come later. But it’s also just as likely that I’ll cool off and cease caring. Time will only tell.
Today, like any other, I took the bus home from work. Having done this routine more times than can possibly be counted, Yara has her own method when it comes too taking a seat. While I position my rear on an available seat, she stops about two steps behind me so that she can move in the moment I am seated to position herself out of the way. When she did this today, she was standing in front of another passenger on the bus, who swatted her several times on the rear end. I witnessed this shocking event with mouth agape. No one on the bus said a thing, but I did screech “excuse me” to the swatter. She ignored me.
Words? At the moment, I have none.
Situations like this is why I’m glad I carry a crutch. It’s a great time to go “oops” and nail them in the shins. Screaming and calling attention to them is always good too. I’m sorry you guys had to deal with this. There is no excuse for that type of behavior.
In the end, I’m glad I didn’t make a big deal of it. I’m still quite peeved about it weeks later. But making a scene wouldn’t have done anything except to get the whole bus riled up — and possibly not on my side. And if I’d touched the woman, odds are I’d have been the one being accused of assault, whether provoked or not. Plus, in this instance I’d have had the advantage, since I was still standing and as small as I am, the woman was pretty much skin and bones. I’d have probably broken her.
I will admit I did fantasize about beating the tar out of her that night.
I wouldhave told this person that if they didn’t stop swatting my dog, I would swat them!
I really wanted to make a scene and scream at the woman. But for whatever reason, I just didn’t. I think the fact that the event seemed to go unnoticed by the other passengers was the main reason. It was after a horrendous day at work and the last thing I needed was to battle a busload of people as the crazy blind woman yelling at some little lady.
How rude and mean of this woman to do such a thing to Yara. She could have politely asked you if you can move Yara if it bother her so much.
She could have done about 3,000 other things than hit my dog. Definitely. I get fired up enough when people pet her, so you can imagine how furious I was that she got smacked. To me that’s akin to hauling off and slapping someone else’s kid!
My sympathies. I just go through life assuming I will run into some of the inevitable idiots (or people just plain old having a rotten day) out there and let it slide off my back. However, like you, when they express idiocy towards my dog, my hackles go up!
Know that there are a lot of folks who see you each day and quietly admire your dog without interfering in her work. I know this because I’ve seen them admiring other working dogs – some because it’s a thing of beauty to watch a good dog go about their job be it guide, service or sheep herder, and some because *they* never took time to train *their* dogs and they marvel that dogs can do anything!! ;-)
P.S. I found your blog while googling “EPI”. I’m glad Yara is doing well!
Hi Robbin! Thanks for dropping in. :-)
Yes, I’ve long since come to the understanding that people will do lots of things regarding my dog that will infuriate me. I’ve worked in my office, which handles state services for the disabled, for over a year now and I still have to remind colleagues they can’t pet the dog.
But the smacking was a first for me. After 15 years of working dogs, I’ve never had someone ever give my dogs any negative physical contact. I’ve had them be petted at the worst opportune moments (i.e., midway in an intersection while crossing) so it was pretty ailen to me and I just didn’t know how to react. I was roiling mad, though, and I had the strongest desire to haul off and belt the woman. The scenario of that, however, quickly played out in my head and I was pretty sure that her infraction wouldn’t be deamed nearly as horrific as my obvious assault.