Ask a Manager: Update: "How much should we compromise for a dog phobic coworker in a dog office?"

[minoanmiss]

[brief background: company had already hired Jane. Company moved to dog-friendly building and thus announced to employees that dogs could come in. Jane has a dog phobia.]



Initially there were a few conversations about what we needed to do re people bringing dogs in – an email went around asking anybody bringing a dog in to put it in the office calendar so others could check in advance but that didn’t really happen. In practice, at least three colleagues other than Lucille have started bringing their dogs in regularly (much more frequently than Lucille does actually), as have a couple of other workers on our floor from other businesses.

The other colleagues are less conscientious than Lucille was about having dogs in the main office space, so they’re regularly wandering around under desks etc. Jane just doesn’t come in very much – hard to gauge how much of that is dog-related because at this tie of year her work does typically require her to travel a lot – and sits on another if she’s in on the same day as a dog.

Basically, dog has been allowed to trump human in this situation – I don’t think Jane’s being professionally disadvantaged as a result (her team and boss are based in another city anyway so being in the office doesn’t help her much there) but it does seem a bit unfair that she’s been driven out. In sort of good news, the co-working space owners have recently gone into administration so we will need to move office again soon – if we move somewhere that isn’t dog friendly the situation might end up resolving itself.
Thanks for the advice – I think that in this particular case the fact that Jane could work from home as much as she wanted and didn’t want to make a fuss means that it didn’t escalate to the point where a human or dog decision needed to be made, but it’s good to know that I’m not alone in thinking human is the right answer if it comes to it!

(Also, remember the haunted hotel letter? There's an update to that one in the same post.

Comments

[cereta]

I just never get over this expectation that some (some) dog owners have that they should be able to take their pets somewhere that isn't their home, maybe a relative's home (although even that strikes me as forward), or a park. There is literally no other animal that people expect to be able to do this with. I could see it as an occasional thing (last-minute emergency stop at work on one's day off, because I don't expect people to leave dogs in cars), but when I read things about people bringing dogs to work or to a friend's house/bbq/whatever, I just kind of blink.

(Obviously, this does not apply to service dogs. I've had those in my classrooms a couple of times, and it's never been a problem, although I don't know what would happen if another student had an allergy.)

[shirou]

I spent part of my youth in western Europe, where it is quite normal for people to bring their dogs to restaurants. Dogs are almost universally allowed on restaurant patios and often indoors. You see a lot of dogs on trams and buses too. I'm not a fan of dog-friendly offices and am not advocating the European model—and there is some variation by country—but I don't think we should treat the practice of bringing along one's dog as weird or outlandish. It may, in some cases, not be a good idea, but it's relatively common.

[cereta]

Okay, but...obvious response, here: I'm not in Western Europe, and my reactions to things are based on the culture I live in. It's not common here to see dogs in restaurants, and if I walked into one and saw dogs indoors, I would walk back out again. And I probably wouldn't eat on a patio if one were on it. If someone brought a dog to a party at my house, it would be a rather large deal, because (a) I have to cats, and (b) I would prefer not to have dogs in my house. I will obviously make an exception for a service dog, but someone who just wants to bring Rover along? No.

I don't foist my pets on other people. Why is it acceptable for dog owners to?

[delight]

As a service dog handler, I will still not bring my dog into other people's homes if there will always be a person with me who can help mitigate my disabilities. He loves cats but cats are often afraid of him because he's gigantic, so when we're invited to see people with cats he'll stay at home -- it is okay to ask handlers if their dog can stay behind, without any expectation of it, because it is the cats' home. You'd just need to make sure that person was never left unattended, and obvs this is not true for all disabilities, but I'm okay without my dog in short bursts if I have other assistance.

[cereta]

For a service dog, assuming I were given proper notice, I would sequester the kitties. They can handle being in a bedroom for a few hours if it means someone can have the support they need. Notice is the key element, though. If someone just showed up with one (say, a friend's plus one), I'd be a little annoyed, because corralling two cats is no small matter.

And I definitely regard that as different than someone just showing up with a non-service dog because...well, because.

[minoanmiss]

What do allergic people do?

[shirou]

I honestly don't know. I'm from a Dutch-American immigrant family and have spent most of my adult life, when I thought to ask such questions, in the US. Based only on my now-dated observations, I would also say dogs in indoor public places is more common in Holland than in the US, but still less common there than in some southern European countries like France or Italy.

[ayebydan]

To pop in, often if I have my dog on the bus or make to get on with him any allergic people will shout out that they have an an allergy and I will happily wait with my little man until the next bus. As many times as that may take but I've only experienced it once. When I take him on trains I never go into the carriage proper; I stay by the doors.