When It’s Okay To Pet The Staff

I work in a dog-friendly café. One of our long-term coworkers is working her last shift, and the mood of the entire day has been bittersweet. My manager, the leaving coworker, a few other coworkers, and I are talking at the end of her shift.

Leaving Coworker: “Oh, look, my husband is here to pick me up.”

All Of Us: “Does that mean he brought Stitch?!”

Stitch is their huge and derpy German Shepherd. He’s a big, beautiful idiot who was named after the cute but destructive little blue alien from “Lilo & Stitch” for obvious reasons. 

Leaving Coworker: “Yeah, I just saw him jump out of the pickup.”

Her husband comes in, and Stitch goes wild at the attention given to him by all of his friends. We chat a little with our coworker’s husband while she goes to the back to change. She comes out with her uniform shirt in her hands.

Leaving Coworker: *To our manager* “I’ll take this home, wash it, and bring it back at the weekend.”

Manager: “Nah, keep it. We have plenty. Keep it as a souvenir.”

Leaving Coworker: “Thanks. I will.”

She then places the shirt over Stitch’s head, and he looks extra cute wearing one of our uniforms. To complete the look, we put one of our work caps on his head and take a few pictures.

After this, most of us go back to our regular duties, and a customer walks in, looking at their phone. The customer then looks up, takes a look at Stitch in the café uniform, then looks at me, and then looks at Stitch again.

Customer: “I know the news is telling me that nobody wants to work, but this is getting ridiculous.”