Almost told a customer their 'service dog' was clearly a pet at the hardware store

There was this woman at the check out line at Lowe's in Austin with this tiny fluffy dog in her cart. The cashier was making a big deal out of it and she was playing it up saying how it helps with her anxiety. I was right behind her and the dog was just sitting there not doing anything, didn't even have a vest. I almost said 'ma'am that's a 10 pound lap dog, not a service animal' but I bit my tongue. Has anyone else ever been in a spot where calling out the fake service animals just feels like more trouble than it's worth?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_lee18d agoMost Upvoted

Used to roll my eyes at people complaining about this, but seeing how many folks just bring their pets everywhere without a care kind of changed my mind on it. It does feel more trouble than it's worth to call them out though, especially in a busy store.

ryanh5617d ago

Just saw a lady at Home Depot last week with a golden retriever wearing a little bandana that said "emotional support." Dog was panting and pulling on the leash the whole time. I don't get why people get so bent out of shape about it. Real service dogs exist and do their job. But 90% of the "service animals" I see in stores are just pets people didn't want to leave at home. It's annoying but not worth getting into a fight over. The store isn't going to do anything about it anyway so why waste your breath?

simon_coleman18d ago

Have you ever gotten that gut feeling when you just know something isn't right but saying so would only cause a scene? I run into this at the grocery store all the time here in my small town. There's a woman who brings her little yappy dog in a purse every week and I have to bite my tongue because the store manager just lets it slide. I figure the real service dogs do their job quietly and you can usually tell the difference. It's frustrating, but honestly, picking that fight in line isn't worth the headache.