O Oracle of Stupidity, Whose Death Has Thou Foreseen?

[B&NGoddess]

this has got to be the greatest one liner in recent memory. lady comes in ranting about someone who left their dog in the car. she didnt know the make, model, license number, color or any other distinguishing marks other than "theres a dog in the car!" she goes out to check and comes back in demanding to know why we havent done anything about it yet. for some reason it was busy as fuck yesterday so the manager on duty, K, is helping with the line. K told the lady that she would take care of it as soon as she got this line down.

lady's response: "The people can wait; the dog will die."



from what i understand, a coworker noticed the same vehicle. the windows were open (not wide enough for the dog to escape) and it was maybe 70 degrees yesterday with a nice breeze. correct me if im wrong, but i dont think the dog was in any danger. the owner never came forward and the complainer left without further incident.

i was hoping for some fisticuffs between the owner and the complainer though. i could've used the entertainment.

[BookstoreEscapee]

On a sunny day it can still get pretty hot, pretty quickly, in a car, even with the windows open. But he was probably in less danger than if the windows were all closed on a warmer day. Assuming the owner didn't stay in the store long he was probably fine (not to say I condone leaving a dog unattended in a car for any length of time, especially if the sun is shining). But if she's so concerned why the hell didn't she go back out and write down the plate number, or at least take note of the model and color of the car? What is the manager going to do other than page the owner of the car, in which case they would need at least a basic description...

[MoonChild2007]

Okay, what does a dog in the car have ANYTHING to do with the store?

why we havent done anything about it

Cause that's not their problem. Take it up with the person WHO had the dog in there in the first place. I will never for the sake of me understand why people are ALWAYS blamed for other people's mistakes!

I love dogs, btw.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I don't know where your store is, but if it's in a shopping center they likely don't have any jurisdiction over the parking lot. The best we could do in my stores was to page the owner of the vehicle and tell them people were complaining about their dog in the car. I suppose we could call the police but I don't know that they would really do anything...

[Sliceanddice]

Actually if she see it SHE is responcible report it to the police, at least here... You can actually be arrest for NOT reporting seeing a kid or a pet in a car alone.... i dont know that the sentence is but man... it shows you how much we care.

[zzapp the witch]

Replace "dog" with "baby" and see what that does to the story.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

EXACTLY, Zzapp. Thank you.

70 degrees is plenty hot to raise the temp in a car to a dangerous level. Especially for a dog. Dogs get hotter faster than humans do.

Instead of complaining to you all, the woman should have called the police. Leaving a dog in a car is illegal, at least it is where I live.

[siead_lietrathua]

that's one thing i love about the mall where i am. if a dog is locked in a car, the lot security will wait about 10 minutes (while having the liscence plate paged in the mall) before breaking in a window and taking the animal/ child/ whichever out (if the critter is okay. if they look in pain, then it's immediate). saw a lady who arrived a little late once

heck, i think a citizen could do the same if they saw a kid/pet in the back of a hot car, and i doubt a judge would convict.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

There was the person who came and complained that there was a dog in a car in the parking lot with the windows closed. Person was in mortal terror that the dog would die from heat-stress...

...In the middle of January when we were having a rather unusually warm day (it hit the lower 40's).

Considering that it's wearing a fur coat and in a sheltered car...I'd wager it was just fine if a little bored perhaps.

M

[iradney]

Replace "dog" with "baby" and the woman in the OP would've (?) taken note of the make, colour and registration of the car so it would be easy to find.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"heck, i think a citizen could do the same if they saw a kid/pet in the back of a hot car, and i doubt a judge would convict."

I would. I don't care. I have to live in my own head. And sometimes that's worse than any other consequence.

[Banrion]

heck, i think a citizen could do the same if they saw a kid/pet in the back of a hot car, and i doubt a judge would convict.

It may even be covered under good samaritan laws. Actions that you take for the immediate purpose of savings someone's life, give you immunity to prosecution in the event that you cause damage. Otherwise, why would anyone help in today's day and age. Just giving the heimlich to someone is likely to break a rib.

[Andara Bledin]

I can't believe people still leave babies and pets in cars alone. How many news reports do we have to have to get people to use their brains?

... Oh, right... some people just don't have brains.

I once saw someone getting ready to break their own window on a minivan, once. I was driving by, and it was obvious that the mechanic (it was at a gas/service station) hadn't managed to get the door unlocked, so they were setting up to take out one of the smaller rear windows becuase they'd locked both the baby & the keys in the car.

^-.-^

[Sliceanddice]

I have a baby locked in the car story!
My aunt, before she had kids of her own, was babysitting one bright sunny summer day and ran an errand over to my grandmothers with the little bundle of love. She got out of her car (a new truck) and went to the other side to get the baby but the door was locked. She went for her keys to unlock the door. No keys. Runs to the other side. Keys are still in the ignition. Looks around for something to break the window, can't find it. Runs into the house. Calls 911. Turns on the hose and doses the truck so that the baby wont get over heated because its abour 115 out this day. Firemen come, pop out the back window and get the little baby out of the trunk. Little baby is a little red (it was hot out) and giggling and happy because her aunty is funny and there was water everywhere(so ive been told). Yep little baby was me. I hear this story every summer, because every summer there is a new baby and we use it to warn about babys in the car.

I find it amusing.

[Jack7957]

I can't believe people still leave babies and pets in cars alone. How many news reports do we have to have to get people to use their brains?

Here's one that I saw in the morning paper....

Couple charged with cruelty for leaving child in sweltering car
Pictures of the couple included

As for my one "dog left in car" story, that would be me. I was out running errands, and had to stop at the grocery store to pick up my wifes meds. So crack the windows just a little for the slight breeze that we were having. To get in and out, I knew would only take 3 minutes, tops. As I'm coming out, here's this woman talking to my dog, and I could just feel it that she might say something about me leaving the dog out in the hot sun. Luckily she didn't because I knew exactly how long I'd been gone, from the instant I shut the car door to getting back to the car took me only 2 minutes 15 seconds.