Ignorant Bully with the dog in the car story
Well I did it again. I saw an injustice, a wrong, a person leaving a beautiful Australian Shepard in a truck with the windows only rolled down about 2 inches and the back window barely open. It was about 85 degrees and humid in the parking lot at the Atherton Street Wal-mart in State College this afternoon. And while the temperature may only be in the middle 80's in that parking lot it feels about 10 degrees higher than that.
I was putting my groceries away and I heard a dog barking frantically. I said to my husband in complete disbelief "Did someone leave a dog in the car???":eek: :eek: We looked around and sure enough there was this red and white Australian Shepard, panting extremely hard and drooling all over the window. I of course being the fireball that I am said that I just couldn't drive off and leave that poor dog. So I grabbed my cell phone that is covered in the fuzzy teddy bear and strode off back into the Wal-mart. I asked my hubby to stay in the car with the AC so that the ice cream had a chance not to be soup.
I went to the customer service desk and asked for the phone number of the local police because someone had left a dog in their truck outside. They said that someone else had already complained and it was being dealt with. So at first I was willing to walk away, thinking to myself that it had been properly dealt with and the owner would go out and take care of his dog. But as I started walking away I didn't see anyone doing anything, no one moving towards the door, no police, no security or anything. So I went back. I asked again "Were the police phoned?" She said "No that is the owner right there". I turned around and there was this huge, very round, very angry looking man about 40 years old standing there. I walked right over to him and started explaining to him how he JUST CANNOT DO THAT! I admit, I got confrontive. I was hot, miserable, worried about the dog and just plain annoyed that someone would be so stupid!
He started walking away from the customer service desk heading towards the door telling me that the dog was just fine. That he had the dog with him the entire day and it wasn't a problem and that I shouldn't worry about his dog. Of course he wasn't saying this in a calm manner. No, it was more in the bullying, abusive manner which just gets me riled even more. I do not take well to anyone trying to intimidate me or bully me. I just get my bulldog stance going and dig in at that point. Now you have to picture me. I am about 5'3" with shoulder length blonde hair, green eyes and weight about 220. But I will go toe to toe with any bully when it comes to saving an animal. So I tell him that someone has to worry and care about his dog as he certainly doesn't seem to and what was wrong with him, was his "ego" and I used the quote fingers, so small that he couldn't just leave his dog at home like he should. I was getting pretty loud at this point and I think I might even have almost slipped into squeaky dolphin speak. People tell me I sound way too young on the phone anyway. So he steps real close to me and puts his finger on my nose telling me to "Mind my own "f******* business and turns to walk further into Walmart!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:
I yell back at him that if he doesn't go out and take care of his dog immediatly I am calling the police. He tells me to do what I want. So. I called the police. I gave the dispatch his truck description, the license number and waited in the heat for the police to show up. Now an older gentleman came out, he had witnessed most of this and was worried about me and the dog. He didn't know my husband was waiting in the car and my husband didn't know what was going on in the store. But the older gentleman waited with me for the police. As luck would have it the bully came out about a minute before the police got there. I called dispatch back like they asked me to and told her he was leaving. She said the police were almost there but the only way I could have gotten him to stay was to stand behind his truck and I am not that crazy.
So I waited and talked to the local police officer. He wasn't sure if he would be able to charge him with cruelty about the dog. He was going to check with the local dog enforcement officer but that if I was willing to testify in court that he could issue him a disorderly conduct ticket for touching my nose. I guess that is assault. *shrug* I told the cop it wasn't like he injured me but he did invade my personal space.
So the cop went into the Wal-mart to talk to the people at the Customer Service counter and I left. I probably won't hear anything else. Who knows. I don't even have any faith that the people at Wal-mart will back my story. Although the elderly gentleman said that he came out because he felt the man spoke to me in an abusive manner and that he was concerned for my safety. How sweet. :)
I do wish however I had handled things differently. I wish I hadn't allowed him to piss me off so much and had said to him calmly that if he would go out to his truck and roll down the window and give the dog some water that I would stay there and make sure the dog didn't get away and the truck wasn't stolen. And perhaps that would have been better for the dog. Although he was pretty nasty so he probably wouldn't have done that anyway and I still would have ended up calling the police. I told the policeman that I would stand toe to toe with any bully to protect an animal. That someone has to do it. Numerous people were upset about that dog and a lady had complained before me which is why they had called him to the service desk. But I was the only one that actually pushed the issue and stayed there to fight the fight. When he talked in an abusive manner to the first woman she just left. Sometimes in the world you have to take a stand.
Denyce
Re: Ignorant Bully with the dog in the car story
Your a fiesty young woman. lol
I wish I was with you when this happen.
It's funny, what one is capable of, when you are
all fired up.
Good for you for doing the right thing.
Good thing you were at a busy Walmart, because
that idiot might have touched more than your nose.
(You did good, but to bad the police did not get
their 1 minute earlier)
