'AITA for asking why they ignored the no dog sign?' 'You should stop harassing me.'

"AITA for asking why they ignored the no dog sign?'

I (33M) went to a coffee shop this past weekend. As soon as I open the door I'm hit with a dog looking at me at hip level sitting on a chair in this small shop. The dog is indoors and the door had a clear no pets sign. I watched for a second, this clearly wasn't a service animal as she was letting it interact with several other guests.

I asked her why she ignored the no pets sign? She ignores me. I asked her did you miss the no pets sign? She immediately says I think you should stop harassing me. All I was doing was asking why she ignored the no pets sign. This lady played the victim and called me an ahole.

Another patron steps up for her and the dude says why's it an issue? Who cares? Tells me don't be an ahole and drop it. I wave the guy off, tell him I care, and I don't like dogs.

I say it's not hard to not bring your dog to a coffee shop that doesn't allow dogs. By that point it's my time to order, I complained to the employee who didn't seem interested in enforcing anything. The owner left on her own. AITA?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

centaurea_cyanus said:

Yea, agreed. The part that bugs me is, if they have the sign up, they need to follow through with the policy. If they don't care about enforcing something like that, they need to take down the sign. It's really simple.

On_my_last_spoon said:

It’s not just a rule, it’s a health code violation. Service dogs are the only animals allowed and they’re not allowed in chairs. NTA. And I love animals.

aceldama72 said:

NTA. W need to stop normalizing having dogs everywhere. Especially when people refuse to train and watch their dogs.

Main_Demand_7629 said:

NTA. It’s illegal to have pets inside an establishment that serves food unless certified trained service dog. That’s why the sign is on the door. The ramifications are that the health department shuts down the business. However, because of entitled customers, many businesses (and certainly the hourly workers unless explicitly instructed) won’t enforce it.

I don’t think asking the question was wrong. She clearly tried to dodge your initial outreach by ignoring and thinking you would be too meek to ask again but it’s also going to likely bring up the “why don’t you mind your own business….because I say so” type of unhelpful confrontation that doesn’t solve the problem.

I have mild dog allergies and usually when confronted with a dog inside especially small establishments start feeling my eyes well and my nose getting itchy/sneezy. I will sometimes leave but if I’m especially irritated that I’m forced to leave and not the dog and entitled owner in an establishment for human food and drink, I exaggerate the response and cough and loudly exclaim about my dog allergies and wow!

They’re acting up because a dog is inside…but they’re not legally allowed? I’ll have to check with the city health services to make sure I understood correctly? Maybe take a few photos for the regulator’s reference. Honestly 75% of the time the dog owner leaves quite quickly looking chagrined.

Rubric_Golf said:

NTA. People need to stop being entitled with their dogs. You were in the right to bring up that they completely ignored the sign. I would've brought it up to the manager once the lady decided to be an entitled asshole about it. Dogs don't belong everywhere, especially inside a building that sells food/drinks.

LeahKitekt said:

NTA you are my hero. I'm sick of arrogant dog owners thinking fido belongs everywhere. Especially near my food.

bigshot33 said:

ESH. See it's not your "civil duty" to protect a company or spout the rules. You could have quietly brought it up to someone at the register or find the manager. The lady also sucks because clearly she thinks the rules aren't meant for her. A lot of dog owners act this way and I don't get it. Sorry but they don't belong in grocery stores.