Unfiltered Story #100551

(I worked in a “team room” for a while at my company, even though those of us in the room weren’t all on the same team. Among the 7-8 of us in there, there were a few FTE’s and a few temps. Our company also has a very dog-friendly policy and *everyone* brings their dogs to work. One of the FTE’s brought her small pitbull most days. One of the temps in the room was an “older-side-of-middle-age” woman who loved dogs more than any human being should love anything. The following happened at least once a week.)

Woman: “Ooooooh hello puppy!!!!!!!! Sweet puppy! Oh you’re such a sweetie! Oh you’re such a good sweetie! Helloooooo! Ohhh!…”

(The dog, of course, adores this. The dog’s owner is visibly tense because she is very careful with how she trains and controls her dog’s behavior).

Woman: “… Ohh would sweetie like a treat? You want a treat? Yeah? A treat? Yeah you want a treat! You think mommy would let you have a treat?”

Coworker: “. . . sigh . . . yes she can have a treat. One.”

(The woman, who (keep in mind) doesn’t have a dog of her own, pulls a box of dog treats out of her desk drawer and gives one to the dog.)

Woman: “Ooh yeah it’s yummy huh! It’s so yummy! You like the treat? You like it? Oh, I know. Mommy said just one! Oh you’re such a sweetie! Oh you want another one? You want another one? Mommy said just one! You think mommy will let you have another one?”

Coworker: “No. One is enough. [Dog], come over here to your pillow.”

(The dog clearly knows what she’s supposed to do but the woman’s tone, plus the box of treats in her hand, is just too tempting)

Woman: “Yes is it time to go lay down? Did mommy not let you have another treat? Was mommy being mean? Is mean old mommy not letting you have a treat? Is mommy making you lay down and not have fun? Huh? You want to play don’t you? You want another treat but mommy won’t let you!”

Coworker: “Please stop. She needs to lie down now. [Dog], come lie down, now.”

(The dog would listen finally and the room would be awkwardly tense. Sometimes my coworker would call the woman out on it and tell her to not do that with her dog, other times she recognized how futile it was and just moved on with her day. Over the course of a couple months, all of the dogs on our floor figured out where this woman and her treats were, so they would “run away” any time they got a chance and come find her to get the treats and attention, which she would happily provide. She was told many times by many people to cool it down, and she would say that she would, but she never did. Even when we all moved out of the room and got put into cubes, for the remainder of her temp contract all the dogs every day would run off from their owners to find her to beg for treats.)