Of all the potentially scary things I've encountered at work...

...today was the scariest.

I've had people throw things at me.  I've called 911 from work more times than I can count.  I've had people get in my face and scream at me.  I've had people case the place and make me think they were about to rob it.  Hell, I've been through a tornado at work.  But none of those things have left me truly shaken.

The first mistake I made today was to forget my cell phone at home.  It spent the day on the bathroom counter instead of in my pocket.  I very rarely forget my phone.  I feel naked without it, and was annoyed at myself all day for forgetting to bring it along. 

The second mistake I made was going outside for a smoke break.  I was supposed to quit smoking at the first of the year.  I'd been doing okay at cutting back, at least, and for a good while had stopped taking breaks at work.  For some reason recently I've fallen back into old habits. 

So anyway, after spending several hours working on organizing and stocking the cooler, I went outside to have a smoke and warm up a bit.  We're not supposed to smoke where customers coming in and out of the store can see us, so we go around to the back of the building.  I like going back there, since it gives me a chance to make sure none of our usual panhandlers are hanging around out of our sight, trying to convince people that they need money for gas for the cars they don't own. 

What I usually don't see when I go out back for a smoke is a dog trotting around dragging its leash behind it.

Now, I'm not a big fan of dogs.  I'm a cat person.  I prefer animals whose methods of showing affection don't include a lot of wiggling and slobber.  I don't hate dogs, they're just not my thing.  I certainly am not one who would ever try to pet a dog I wasn't really familiar with.

Anyway, this was a large-ish dog.  I would have said it was part Rottweiler, although I've been told it's a German Shepherd.  Whatever, I'm not good with dog breeds.  The point is that it was certainly not a small dog.  I assumed it had run away from a nearby yard, since it was still wearing a chain.  It was walking a little funny, like maybe one of its back legs was tender, but otherwise didn't seem aggressive in any way.

So I lit my cigarette and watched it go by.  After a minute or so I went and looked around the corner to see if it had left the lot, since I didn't want to just ignore it and let it wander around all night bothering customers.  It was still there, just wandering around the lot, and when it saw me there it came over.  Again, not aggressively, just trotted over. 

My first thought was that it hoped I had food or would pet it, and I certainly didn't want to touch it.  I don't touch stray animals if I can help it, especially at work where I deal with food.  Who knows what a stray animal has been rolling around in.  So I just stood there, hoping it wasn't about to come over and jump up on me wanting food or affection.  But when it got closer and I noticed again that it seemed to be walking funny on one of its legs, I said, "aw, are you hurt?" 

It growled, charged, and snapped at me.  I just stood there, frozen, knowing there was no way running from this dog was going to end well for me, and praying that if I stood still long enough it would back off.  It didn't.  It stopped growling after a bit, but it just stood there within biting distance, staring at me.  I was behind the building, meaning I had no idea how long I might have to stand there before somebody happened along who could get this dog away from me.  I couldn't call anyone -- my phone was sitting unhelpfully on the bathroom counter at home.

Luckily, the dog wasn't a stray.  It belongs to one of our regular customers.  I've heard that there have been complaints about his dog snapping at people, and he's been told not to bring his dog around, but I hadn't actually seen his dog before so I didn't recognize it as his.  He had chained it up on the back fence, but the dog had broken the chain.  As soon as he came around, the dog went right to him. 

I lit into his owner.  I've never yelled at a customer like that before.  He admitted the dog was aggressive even at home and had already bitten somebody.  I made it clear that if any of us saw that dog anywhere near the lot again the authorities would be called.

It took a half an hour for me to stop shaking.

What if it hadn't been me?  What if it had been some kid who wanted to pet the stray doggie?  People should have to get a license to own a pet.  That dog has NOT been treated right.