A man has sparked a debate after storming out of a dinner with his friend simply because they brought their dog along.
The 27-year-old recounted how he and his fiancée, 28, went to a “trendy restaurant” for a catch-up with friends – but he was appalled to find the couple had brought their pooch to dine with them.
He vented on Reddit: “We aren’t dog people. I’ve had girlfriends end relationships with me over the fact I don’t want a dog. In the topic of pets, my current spouse is very compatible. They just aren’t our thing and our friends know this about us. Like we aren’t the type to pet them all.”
However, much to his dismay, nearly every restaurant in his city has a dog-friendly patio – making it “nearly impossible” to find non pet-friendly venue. He added: “Our friends however are now pet people. They got a dog over Covid.” He described his attempts to avoid visiting his friends at home because of the dog – thinking a meal out would solve the issue.
“They’ve become the people that take it everywhere with them. My fiancé and I do hang out with them less because of it. We showed up about 10 minutes early for our reservation. I intended to eat indoors. Turns out our friends beat us here. We were led to a patio table and see they brought their dog. I say no, I’m not doing this. What are you thinking bringing that?”
While his fiancée went into the restaurant to check if there were any bar seats available, his mate followed her to explain the situation with their dog. The man said: “He explains the dog sitter fell through and the dog will just lay there and not bother us. I don’t care, mentioned not sure why they need a sitter and we aren’t spending our meal with a dog. Told him it’s messed up you spring your dog on us.”
When no bar seats were found, he and his fiancé decided to head off. His friend labelled him as unreasonable, to which he replied: “My buddy said I’m an a***hole. I told him I’m not spending time with your dog. We’ll figure somewhere else out to go. I got texts saying how messed up what we did was. Am I the a***hole here?”
Despite seeking validation, the online community sided against him. One commenter pointed out: “You don’t need to pet the dog, they require less attention in public than children so your blind hatred is frankly weird and very melodramatic for a hang out session.”
Another added their two cents, saying: “Why would a dog being near you inconvenience you at all? And see friends less because of it? Why are you so weird. You’re the a***hole to cancel plans, throw a fit over something so small. Grow up.”
And a third user commented: “They know you don’t like dogs and should have called you to give you a chance to back out. But, you as well – once you got there, you don’t say anything about the dog having poor behaviour. If the dog was going to just lay on the ground near its owners, then there’s no reason not to just ignore its presence and eat dinner.”