No Pets, No Empathy

One time, my family (except for Dad) was traveling and got caught in a nightmare of a storm in the mountains. With heavy freezing rain, slippery mountain roads, high winds, and almost zero visibility, driving conditions were very dangerous. My mother decided that she didn’t want to drive her six kids — ranging in age from toddler to mid-teens (me) — through that, even though we were only about a couple hours from our destination, so she pulled over at a little hotel as night came on. She did note the sign saying, “No pets,” but figured we could leave our half-grown dog in the car. (It was cold but not dangerously so.)

When the guy at the desk asked if we had any pets, my scrupulously honest mother admitted we did but said we’d leave him in the car. The guy still refused to give us a room because, quote, “he might bark”.

This vile excuse for a human being sent a mother and a half-dozen kids driving down steep mountain roads, at night, during a horrible storm, because he was afraid a puppy might bark.

It still ticks me off thirty years later.