Serenity Now!

I don't usually jot down diary-type entries in my blog but something upset me enough today to allow for a slight bend of an unwritten rule.

I took Stormy out for a walk after school. She was, as always, sniffing everything in sight and taking her sweet ol' time. As I was watching her walking around aimlessly by a hydro pole, I saw a car backing out of a driveway out of the corner of my eye and thought nothing of it. But after a few seconds, the car was still there so I looked up to see what was going on.

There was a lady in the car making "What the hell?" gestures at me. At first glance, my brain could not interpret her signal. Then I quickly realized that she didn't like Stormy sniffing around on the lawn.

Time out

I understand that not everyone is a dog lover. Whether that is the case or not, I'm always a responsible dog walker and try to be sensitive to the needs of my neighbours. I always pick up after Stormy and never let her do her business on the actual front lawns in my area. I restrict her to the tiny piece of grass belonging to the city (between the sidewalk and the road). At that time, Stormy wasn't even on the city lawn that was at HER house. We were at her next door neighbour's city lawn.

Time in

When I figured out what she wanted. I looked down. Great...perfect timing...Stormy decided to take a dump right then and there. But wait a minute, I'm not doing anything wrong and neither is Stormy. So I look up again and shrugged my shoulders to give her the "What?" signal. She repeated her "What the hell?" gestures three times after that and I shrugged my shoulders in response each time. When Stormy was done her business, I took a bag out to pick up after her. When I look up again, I noticed that the lady's window was down. At this point I'm fairly ticked off but made a point to speak calmly [for effect].

Me: Can I help you?

Lady: ~silence~

Me: Excuse me, is there something I can help you with?

Lady: Why don't you take your dog and do this on your own lawn?

Me: She's a dog and she can't help where she goes. This is not your lawn. This is public property. I pick up after her so there is no issue.

Lady: She is on my lawn.

Me: No she isn't. She is on public property. You are being very rude.

At that point, I realized that I was not getting through to her so I walked past her car [which was blocking the sidewalk...now how rude is THAT] and went on my merry way. She drove off, stopped in the middle of the street and rolled down her window.

Lady: Should I learn polite lessons from you?

Me: You're being rude again.

She steps on the gas and zooms down the street.

OK. I can forgive innocent ignorance. You simply don't know better. But when you're wrong, rude, and inarticulate in your argument, you're 0 for 3. What have you got going for you? Nothing.

And yes lady, you should take some "polite lessons" from me.