'AITA for freaking out after a customer's dog jumped at me?' 'She started LAUGHING.'

"AITA for freaking out after a customer's dog jumped at me?"

So there’s this regular lady at my work (I work in a coffee shop) and she has this massive dog. And I mean it is HUGE. Stood on its back legs it’d probably be taller than me, and I’m 5’3. It’s not skinny either, it’s pretty chubby and has really long hair. Anyways the point is, the dog is very big.

She ordered her coffee and sat down and waited for me to bring it over to her. The issue is the dog is very poorly trained and jumps and barks at people and tries to bite. A few times I have come to bring her drink to her and the dog has completely knocked the drink out of my hands which has gone flying onto the floor.

She doesn’t even bother to try and restrain the dog from jumping at me when I bring her coffee over, which in my opinion is poor mannered and rude. Anyways, today I was bringing over her drink to her table with the same pit of dread in my stomach as always as I knew the dog would try and jump and scratch at me.

But this time it completely broke free of her grip on the lead and it had both its paws on my stomach, and standing on its back legs. Its face was pretty much at the same height as mine and it started barking and snaring its teeth in my face which obviously freaked me out.

She started laughing at the dog, not even trying to get it off me, saying he was just being playful and to just let him have fun. At this point my hand is shaking and the drink is sloshing onto the floor. Some of the hot coffee gets on the dogs feet and the customer started to shout at me saying I’d hurt her dog and she was reporting me to head office.

I freaked out and started crying firstly because I was scared of her massive dog that had its teeth in my face (I don’t like dogs anyway and they scare me in general). But secondly because I felt like I was made to be the person to blame in this situation when she was the one who brought her vicious and poorly trained dog into an establishment with other people when it clearly can’t behave!

Anyway I ended up leaving work early still rattled by the situation but since other customers watching the scene unfold didn’t try and stand up for me, I’m wondering if maybe I overreacted a little.

I know that people who love dogs maybe wouldn’t be too bothered but I was attacked by one as a child and now they scare me and I don’t appreciate being made to feel scared in my own workplace. Anyway I thought I’d ask the question anyway- Am I the ahole?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

cairobutt said:

NTA - Nothing about that dog’s behavior is acceptable. It always seems to be the people with the worst trained dogs that insist on bringing them anywhere. That was a really scary thing to experience and I’m sorry she was so unapologetic about it. If I were your manager, I would’ve banned her from bringing the dog. Your safety and well being is important.

gastropod43 said:

Not knowing where you are, can you ask the police if she can be charged for her dog assaulting you? NTA.

SayingTheQuietParts said:

NTA. No one should ever be scared at work. Or attacked - anywhere. If it were a service dog, it would be trained. If it is not and cannot behave it should not be allowed into the cafe. Your employer should be on your side.

Report the incident to HR. Request the dog be banned from the cafe. You seem reasonable in that you have a fear of dogs and this one has proven to be a problem. You do not seem to have any issues with trained dogs. As for the people in the shop I understand not jumping towards a big dog that’s barking/bearing its teeth. But there is no reason to not say something to the owner.

Uubilicious_The_Wise said:

I know a few dog friendly restaurant's, cafes/coffee shops and the number one rule is always your pet must be well behaved. Something like this would (and should) have seen the customer asked to leave in every pet friendly establishment I know of.

I'll go NTA here though I'm hoping the management and/or other staff know about the issues with this person and their dog. If not, you should've made them aware of it before now. However, this person needs to train their dog and be able to control them in public.

Dramatic_Tale_6290 said:

NTA. Please tell your boss about it. This dog should not be allowed in the shop. If a restaurant allows animals, it should only be well-trained animals. I'm sorry you went through this. I would have been terrified. I'm 4'11" and don't like dogs.

They scare me too. Anytime I've had a dog jump on me or lunge at me, the owners act like I'm a monster for even flinching. I'm pretty sick of dog owners acting like this and now will not even get near dogs even on leashes.

A lot of owners where I live let their dogs have a long leash and allow them to jump on people even on a leash. It's not ok. It's not fair to you. She can either stop bringing the dog, restrain it, or come get her own coffee.

Spare_Ad5009 said:

NTA. Ask your boss to put up a NO PETS sign on the door. No one helped you because they were horrified, too. Call your Board of Health and ask them about dogs in food places. If she has no Support Animal vest on her dog, he shouldn't be allowed in. If your boss won't help, the next time she comes in, go to the bathroom and call the Board of Health. Tell your boss you can't serve her.