My brother hosted Mother's Day over at his place this year. It was a nice, low key, gathering. My Mom is a breast cancer survivor and in lieu of stuff she asked that we make a donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which all us "kids" did. She still got cards and flowers of course, but she was happier about the donations.
Being at my brother's house also gave me the rare opportunity to read the NY Times on dead tree. One story that stood out to me was about people who are now bringing their pets with them to restaurants and other public places as "emotional service animals":
ON a sun-drenched weekend last month, cafes from TriBeCa to the Upper West Side were swelling with diners, many of whom left dogs tied to parking meters in deference to Health Department rules that prohibit pets in restaurants. At French Roast on upper Broadway, however, two women sat down to brunch with dogs in tow: a golden retriever and a Yorkie toted in a bag.
They both said that their animals were emotional service dogs," said Gil Ohana, the manager, explaining why he let them in. "One of them actually carried a doctor's letter."
Hmmm. I've no doubt that there are some people out there that really do need an emotional service animal in order to do routine daily tasks. If you read the whole article though, some of the examples given strike me as people who are, to put it bluntly, assholes. Do they really need that animal at the table with them or are they just being self-indulgent pricks?
I love my dog but she was absent from my brother's house last night. Why? Well he likes Sammy just fine and she's well-groomed but he doesn't like the dog hair or the dirt getting tracked in etc. and that's fine by me, it's his place. If I truly needed Sammy just to be able to cope with the drive over there or the visit I'm sure he would accommodate me. I have to believe that such circumstances are extremely rare though and they don't apply in my case.
As much as I like dogs in general, I don't want to eat with them in a restaurant. I can certainly tolerate the presence of a true service animal but the descriptions of some of these other people makes me wonder. This one cracked me up:
One 30-year-old woman, a resident of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., said she does not see a psychotherapist but suffers from anxiety and abandonment issues and learned about emotional-needs dogs from a television show. She ordered a dog vest over the Internet with the words "service dog in training" for one of the several dogs she lives with, even though none are trained as service animals. "Having my dogs with me makes me feel less hostile," said the woman, who refused to give her name.
"I can fine people or have them put in jail if they don't let me in a restaurant with my dogs, because they are violating my rights," she insisted.
Yeah, good thing she's working on that hostility issue. Actually, it seems more like she's just got a good old-fashioned case of the red ass combined with a little too much self importance. What she should do is leave the dogs at home and go see a real mental health professional. She sounds like she could use one. And leave the service animals to those who really need them.
Recent Comments