Special Snowflake Stories

[AngelicGamer]

I was taking a walk around the neighborhood and someone posted a sign on their tree that said "Do NOT leave your dog poop on our property!!!"

I have been tempted to put up a sign myself.  If you can't take responsibility for your dog, you shouldn't have one.

We ran into a person who yells at us about letting our dogs poop at all, even though we clean it up.  Little dog was pooping on the grass Not in his yard. It was yard, sidewalk, grass strip, curb, road, and little dog was on the grass strip. We looked at him like he was crazy, big dog looked at him like he was crazy, little dog kind of twisted while pooping to see who the crazy was.  He kept yelling even as little dog finished up and I bagged his poo for disposal.

Am I a bad person for making this the unofficial pooping spot because I like poking the crazy with a stick? He still yells 2-3 times a week even though we clean up.

My next door neighbor actually asked us not to let our dog go on the grass strip next to the curb.  She believes that all of the property belongs to her, while the grass strip near the curb is public property.  I just turn right instead of left when taking the dog for a walk.  If she wasn't my next door neighbor, I'd probably just shrug and let my dog do his business there.

This is all past tense now - our dog died December 13th.  We are getting a new puppy - she comes tomorrow! - and I'll still probably go left.

[Shalamar]

Hee hee.  Others might disagree, but I don't think you're a bad person at all.  Sometimes it's fun to poke the crazy.

For some reason that reminds me of when my husband and I had a garage sale a few years ago.  We did the usual thing people do to advertise a garage sale; i.e. putting signs around the neighborhood.  These signs were on stakes that we hammered into the ground, and they were professionally lettered (a friend did them for us so that they'd be eye-catching).  Well, I guess they caught someone's eye, all right - when we went for a quick walk to make sure all of our signs were still up, we found that several were missing.  We'd been very careful to put them on public property, so I don't know if someone thought that we'd used their lawn (we hadn't) or if they just objected to garage sales in general.  There was no wind that day, so there was no way they'd blown away.

[Moray]

I was taking a walk around the neighborhood and someone posted a sign on their tree that said "Do NOT leave your dog poop on our property!!!"

I have been tempted to put up a sign myself.  If you can't take responsibility for your dog, you shouldn't have one.

We ran into a person who yells at us about letting our dogs poop at all, even though we clean it up.  Little dog was pooping on the grass Not in his yard. It was yard, sidewalk, grass strip, curb, road, and little dog was on the grass strip. We looked at him like he was crazy, big dog looked at him like he was crazy, little dog kind of twisted while pooping to see who the crazy was.  He kept yelling even as little dog finished up and I bagged his poo for disposal.

Am I a bad person for making this the unofficial pooping spot because I like poking the crazy with a stick? He still yells 2-3 times a week even though we clean up.

I wouldn't say you're a bad person, and I wouldn't find anything wrong with allowing your dog to do his business if he just happened to decide "It's time!" right there. However, I'd say it's kind of rude to make this your "designated pooping place" just to spite the guy.

[Shoo]

I was taking a walk around the neighborhood and someone posted a sign on their tree that said "Do NOT leave your dog poop on our property!!!"

I have been tempted to put up a sign myself.  If you can't take responsibility for your dog, you shouldn't have one.

We ran into a person who yells at us about letting our dogs poop at all, even though we clean it up.  Little dog was pooping on the grass Not in his yard. It was yard, sidewalk, grass strip, curb, road, and little dog was on the grass strip. We looked at him like he was crazy, big dog looked at him like he was crazy, little dog kind of twisted while pooping to see who the crazy was.  He kept yelling even as little dog finished up and I bagged his poo for disposal.

Am I a bad person for making this the unofficial pooping spot because I like poking the crazy with a stick? He still yells 2-3 times a week even though we clean up.

I wouldn't say you're a bad person, and I wouldn't find anything wrong with allowing your dog to do his business if he just happened to decide "It's time!" right there. However, I'd say it's kind of rude to make this your "designated pooping place" just to spite the guy.

I tend to agree.  I think your dog's designated pooping place should be your own grass, not the public's.  Do you not have a yard for him to go in?

[MissRose]

Customer: I am having this Y issue with my special type email address

Me: *researches issue, gives a few possible things she can do, and while giving possible things - I ask my resource people for additional solutions via instant message/chat system*

Customer rudely interrupts me as I am trying to give a possible solution from the resource person/expert on her issue that I had just obtained, and says: I want a supervisor now, your answer is not acceptable, this should not be happening... etc etc

Me: One moment please, let me locate an available supervisor

*I explain situation and supervisor agrees to take the call from here*
 

[MindsEye]

My next door neighbor actually asked us not to let our dog go on the grass strip next to the curb.  She believes that all of the property belongs to her, while the grass strip near the curb is public property.  I just turn right instead of left when taking the dog for a walk.  If she wasn't my next door neighbor, I'd probably just shrug and let my dog do his business there.

I would say that the bolded really depends on where one lives.  Where you live, that strip may indeed be public property. 

Where my parents live, the sidewalk is considered a public easement, but my parents own (and are obligated to maintain) all of the property up to the curb on either side of the sidewalk.  So that little strip is their property and not public property.

And of course where I live there is no sidewalk (and thus no public easement) and I own (and am obligated to maintain) all of the property up to the curb. 

[Moray]

Customer: I am having this Y issue with my special type email address

Me: *researches issue, gives a few possible things she can do, and while giving possible things - I ask my resource people for additional solutions via instant message/chat system*

Customer rudely interrupts me as I am trying to give a possible solution from the resource person/expert on her issue that I had just obtained, and says: I want a supervisor now, your answer is not acceptable, this should not be happening... etc etc

Me: One moment please, let me locate an available supervisor

*I explain situation and supervisor agrees to take the call from here*

Certainly the customer has the right to ask for a supervisor, don't they? It sounds like all parties involved handled it appropriately. You found a solution, the customer declined it and requested a supervisor, and the supervisor took the escalated call. Seems like a perfectly standard interaction. What's SS about that?

[MindsEye]

I was taking a walk around the neighborhood and someone posted a sign on their tree that said "Do NOT leave your dog poop on our property!!!"

I have been tempted to put up a sign myself.  If you can't take responsibility for your dog, you shouldn't have one.

We ran into a person who yells at us about letting our dogs poop at all, even though we clean it up.  Little dog was pooping on the grass Not in his yard. It was yard, sidewalk, grass strip, curb, road, and little dog was on the grass strip. We looked at him like he was crazy, big dog looked at him like he was crazy, little dog kind of twisted while pooping to see who the crazy was.  He kept yelling even as little dog finished up and I bagged his poo for disposal.

Am I a bad person for making this the unofficial pooping spot because I like poking the crazy with a stick? He still yells 2-3 times a week even though we clean up.

I wouldn't say you're a bad person, and I wouldn't find anything wrong with allowing your dog to do his business if he just happened to decide "It's time!" right there. However, I'd say it's kind of rude to make this your "designated pooping place" just to spite the guy.

Heck, I will go all of the way... you are continually and deliberately doing something that you know angers this guy?  Because you think that it is funny to provoke him?  That's not "kind of" rude... that is flat out rude.  And mean.  And childish.

(And, as I mentioned in an previous post, depending on where you live, that little grass strip between the sidewalk and the curb might actually be his property and not public property.)

I will admit that this touches a real nerve with me because when DH and I first moved into our house we had a real problem with neighbors letting their dogs poop in our front yard.  No, they didn't always clean it up either.  Yes, I always yelled when I saw people letting their dogs poop in our yard.  (Our house was empty for a while before we moved in, so I guess that people got used to the convenience and got really lax. Not that that is any kind of excuse.) 

[Winterlight]

If your neighbor parks along the street, they might not be thrilled to have to walk through the remains of a mess.

[Shalamar]

What's SS about that?

I think it's pretty SS to ask for a solution to a problem, rudely interrupt the description of the solution, and demand to talk to a supervisor.  I bet the supervisor gave exactly the same answer MissRose would have given, too.

[Moray]

What's SS about that?

I think it's pretty SS to ask for a solution to a problem, rudely interrupt the description of the solution, and demand to talk to a supervisor.  I bet the supervisor gave exactly the same answer MissRose would have given, too.

That's not being a Special Snowflake. That's being rude. There is a difference. It's like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

[SiotehCat]

What's SS about that?

I think it's pretty SS to ask for a solution to a problem, rudely interrupt the description of the solution, and demand to talk to a supervisor.  I bet the supervisor gave exactly the same answer MissRose would have given, too.

The customer didn't ask for a solution to the problem. The customer only stated the problem.

[MissRose]

What's SS about that?

I think it's pretty SS to ask for a solution to a problem, rudely interrupt the description of the solution, and demand to talk to a supervisor.  I bet the supervisor gave exactly the same answer MissRose would have given, too.

I have no idea what answers my supervisor would've gave the customer (then again I got part of what I wanted to tell the customer from that same person!)

[Ceallach]

What's SS about that?

I think it's pretty SS to ask for a solution to a problem, rudely interrupt the description of the solution, and demand to talk to a supervisor.  I bet the supervisor gave exactly the same answer MissRose would have given, too.

That's not being a Special Snowflake. That's being rude. There is a difference. It's like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

I agree.  That's not a SS.   It's a customer who is possibly impatient and possibly rude, and possibly actually making the process longer by insisting on escalating it.  So annoying and perhaps counterproductive.    But nothing even vaguely SS unless we're just going to start applying that term to anybody who does anything we don't like or don't think is right.   

[Lauds]

What's SS about that?

I think it's pretty SS to ask for a solution to a problem, rudely interrupt the description of the solution, and demand to talk to a supervisor.  I bet the supervisor gave exactly the same answer MissRose would have given, too.

That's not being a Special Snowflake. That's being rude. There is a difference. It's like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

I agree.  That's not a SS.   It's a customer who is possibly impatient and possibly rude, and possibly actually making the process longer by insisting on escalating it.  So annoying and perhaps counterproductive.    But nothing even vaguely SS unless we're just going to start applying that term to anybody who does anything we don't like or don't think is right.

It is a bit SS to think that they are so special that they need a supervisor to fix their problem when that is not the supervisor's job, especially when MissRose is still working through the issue with her. Stupid, too, because if MissRose's workplace is anything like mine (I work in a call centre) her supervisor would have had to ask MissRose or someone doing the same job for help with anything more than the most basic of fixes.