I'm pretty permissive but . . .

. . . dogs in Barnes and Noble?! Really? Have we become so entitled that we think we should be able to have our comfort pets with us wherever we go?

I was in Barnes and Noble last weekend, minding my own business, reading in one of their easy chairs. I glance up, and what do I see, a boy with a small dog (aka: flushable) on a leash browsing around the store.


What!? An unaccompanied tween boy is bad enough, but he's loose in the store with a beast that could poop or pee on my foot at any moment? an animal that could chew up the Complete Works of Shakespeare housed on the bottom shelf? a canine that could munch on another patron's shoe or pantleg at any given moment?

As you can see in the photo above, the boy is not even watching the dog, who could be getting into mischief at any moment without the boy noticing (sorry for the jaunty angle, I whipped out my phone and snapped as fast as my hands shaking with indignation would allow me to!). Not so bad, you say, right? The dog is not doing anything; he's just wandering peacefully away from his twelve-year old master who is expectedly self-centered.

But wait! The dog does start sniffing the legs of other shoppers (the dog is circled in red in the photo) while the boy looks on without calling the dog back or yanking its leash.

After seeing this (and fearing for my own as-of-yet-unstained shoes), I asked a Barnes and Noble employee if a DOG in the store did not violate some kind of health code. She said she'd check. She came back with a shrug. Guess not?!?!
YIKES!