Day of Ash: Fat Tuesday

Woke up really slow this morning. Ash even jumped into bed and set his head on my ever fattening belly as if it was a pillow and started snoring. Sadly, even with it being Fat Tuesday, I still have to work.

We got ready, and headed out the door. Just as I pulled into my “spot” at work, I realized I forgot my badge at home.

Get inside, out of the cold wind, and I put Ash’s pack on while the security person makes me a temp badge.

We got on the elevator with someone else, and they asked me a bunch of questions and then before I had a chance to answer, they apologized for bothering me. I smiled and answered the questions anyways, as none are personal in nature and I’m ok with doing some education when I can.

Did our normal routine of heading to the kitchenette and getting myself a soda and Ash some water. He carried my soda back to the cube, but seemed to have an issue holding onto this time. He would drop it, and then look at me with a sad expression, and then pick it back up. He wanted to carry it, just didn’t seem able to get a good hold on it until we were almost at the cube.

I took his pack off, so the lump that is almost gone wouldn’t have anything pressing into it while he laid down.

Rest of the day at work was pretty uneventful.

On our way home, we had to run an errand for food supplies at home, so we stopped at the local Walmart near work.

Never have been to this location before.

As I walk in, the door greeter looks at Ash and then exclaims; “I have never seen one marked like that.”

Which garnered the in passing; “They actually don’t have to be marked at all.”

The greeter smiled and said she didn’t know that and thanked me. So far so good.

Going through the store, we got the normal ad nauseam of  “Nice dog”, “Pretty dog”, and “Oh look! A DOG!”. Yet, no one directly interacted with him, or tried to distract him.

That is, until I got to the milk.

Standing in front of the milk was two ladies conversing about what milk to get. A couple kids in the carts who look over and scream “DOGGY!”.

I’m just standing a bit away waiting for them to make up their minds and move. Ash just looks at them as well.

As they move, I start to head over to the door for the milk I want, and as I grab the handle, I see one of the ladies start to bend over and hear her say “Hello…”

There was more she was going to say, but I stop and simply say; “Please don’t interact with the service dog. Thank you.”

She gives me this look like I told her to stop touching my junk and snaps up with a; “I wasn’t going to interact with him. You don’t have to be so rude!”

*sigh*

Now, I have been through this time and time again. With Julie and her service dog FISH.

I turn my back, and grab my milk while I calmly say.

“Interference with a service animal is against against the ADA regulations. Some states, like this one, have laws against it.”

Her back was to me while I said it, but she snapped around hollering; “I was not going to interfere with your dog!”

*sigh*

And it’s on.

“I would like to point out, I did not say a word to you when your child screamed ‘DOGGY!’. I did not say a word while I waited for you and your friend to argue over which milk to get. I did not say a word until I noticed you starting to bend down and the word ‘Hello’ came out of your mouth. I also said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Yet, as you are saying I am rude, I guess I should me. Leave me alone, or we can involve the police.”

She stomped away muttering at that point.

Ash just stood there helping me balance the whole time. He’s kind of numb to it as well.

We went back to shopping after I calmed down and realized half the store was just watching me. Yet, those still watching me did not look annoyed, and in fact, smiled.

While in one of the aisles looking for bread flour, I had another lady trying to move through the aisles ask me if she can pass. Slightly embarrassed I quickly apologize and tell Ash to tuck between me and the cart. I didn’t realize he was that far into the aisles.

She gives me the whole “You don’t need to apologize” and smiles.

That’s when I hear from the far side of the lane, “That’s the asshole.”.

Followed up by another voice; “He doesn’t seem rude. He actually apologized to that lady for blocking. More than once.”

I glance up, and see it was the lady’s friend defending me. Which just pissed her off more.

At this point, when talking about the milk witch, I am using the term “lady” loosely.

I shake it off, and finish up my shopping.

Of course, I’m venting about it the whole way home to Julie on the phone, and then post to my personal facebook account a brief mention. It’s the only way I can work it out of my system.

For those who don’t know, that means that was under my skin for almost 3 hours. I have a 2 hour commute. That’s how much this can impact service dog handlers.

The drive home otherwise was uneventful, so much so that Ash slept mostly the whole way.

At one point he woke up and gave me this look.

Rest of the night was pretty uneventful until around bed time. Ash got a full on panic mode and yet couldn’t get to me to help me.

I was laying in bed looking at my phone, and Julie was out on the day bed to keep an eye on puppies through the night. I read something funny, and decided it was worth getting up to show Julie.

As I already had my pain meds and was feeling decent, I attempted to step over the tall baby gate we use to keep the dogs in the bedroom with us at night.

Trip, stumble, smack my knee into the spice rack attached to the kitchen island that actually ends up popping the side off and bending a bar.

Ouch.

Ash started to feedback whine a little bit, and Julie rushed over to help me bandage up some while I acted like I just broke my leg. It hurt, and it triggered my back as well.

Thankfully, I did catch myself before slamming my head into the kitchen table.

When I finally got back to bed, Ash refused to leave my side until I was sound asleep. Then he thinks he crawled off the bed with out me noticing.

So while there was some bad things, over all it was a good day.

-Z