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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder who would complain about this??

78 replies

Rebeccaslicker · 31/01/2018 14:11

Wonder if social media pressure will make them reverse the decision.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-dorset-42873743

OP posts:
morningconstitutional2017 · 31/01/2018 15:15

I expect someone from 'on high' felt that it was bad for the image. I used to walk past a shop window which had car seats for babies on display - there'd often be a cat curled up in one especially on a sunny day - aah.

Thistlebelle · 31/01/2018 15:16

George but you aren’t “choosing a cat above all that” you are choosing to add a cat to all that.

MiddleClassProblem · 31/01/2018 15:17

Er actually earlier in the thread I like animals in shops but can understand why others don’t or can’t be in there.

Yes, I try my best not to live in a bubble and DM’s allergies are nowhere near as bad as others but if she’s in a room with a cat or that a cat has been in it affects her lungs quite quickly with coughing that leads to wheezing.

I’m not sure what you think my bubble is though...

mustbemad17 · 31/01/2018 15:18

We had a ginger cat that used to sleep in the entrance to our local Asda, he was pretty awesome. Asda's new manager got shirty & banned him...he relented when people actively boycotted the store. Alfie was a bit of a local celeb. When he was knocked over by a car clearly by some evil cat hater who left him at the side of the road to die there was a thread on our local selling site to mourn him. He is very much missed.

When we lived in Cyprus they used to let the cats sleep in the windows during the day. Every other shop had it's own little gaggle of cats!

I'm a big fan of cats or dogs in shops, as long as they are toilet trained.

MiddleClassProblem · 31/01/2018 15:20

And obvs DM would avoid it if she lived there, she wouldn’t complain but if she was just there for a weekend she wouldn’t know.

tiggytape · 31/01/2018 15:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GeorgeW78 · 31/01/2018 15:20

Thistlebelle my point is packaging is horrible. Someone up thread was complaining about the cat making it grubby. My view is it would make so little difference what does it matter!

Original poster
Rebeccaslicker · 31/01/2018 15:20

You assumed I was in a bubble; I'm not sure why.

I was pointing out that you seemed to think allergies in an avoidable situation - as opposed to say nuts on a plane - should trump all. Fine if you do, but it's not exactly taking everyone's opinions into account either, is it?!

OP posts:
Original poster
Rebeccaslicker · 31/01/2018 15:23

And I do understand the wheezing - I once spent a 2 night hen weekend sleeping in the car because the person who booked the holiday house hadn't checked and the owners had 3 cats! But it wouldn't affect me in something as open as a shop; I think the hairs are much more insidious on beds and chairs and carpets where you can't wash them in the same way you can clothes and bedding!

OP posts:
UnimaginativeUsername · 31/01/2018 15:24

It’s a cat. All the shit going on in the world and people are getting irate because a company head office has decided that the cat shouldn’t be in their food shop.

MiddleClassProblem · 31/01/2018 15:29

Your bubble is, as shown again, that you can only relate it to your own allergy. My mum wouldn’t be able to go in that shop. Nothing to do with soft furnishings or days etc.

I’ve also said that she wouldn’t complain and I like animals in shops so I was pointing out that you seemed to think allergies in an avoidable situation - as opposed to say nuts on a plane - should trump all is pretty odd to say. I’m merely pointing out why someone might complain which was your question...

Original poster
Rebeccaslicker · 31/01/2018 15:31

No, you're still not making sense. Why am I in an allergy bubble? Because I answered a specific question from a PP about allergies worsening?

There are lots of reasons why people might object. Allergies are only one of them.

OP posts:
MiddleClassProblem · 31/01/2018 15:39

Well to me it reads like because your allergies aren’t so extreme that you don’t understand it being an issue and that people with allergies can just avoid it. If you’re out of town and just popped in you’re probably not expecting a cat. I apologise if that’s not what you meant.

I know it’s not the only reason, a stated another previously too. And again I’m not objecting to the cat.

There are lots of reasons why people might object. Allergies are only one of them. So you answer your own question.

pisacake · 31/01/2018 15:40

I don't much like cats, but if this shop has a cat, well it has a cat, and anyone who doesn't like it should fuck off and shop elsewhere.

really that's it isn't it.

UnimaginativeUsername · 31/01/2018 15:42

Except that the head office of the company who own the shop has decided they don’t want the cat in there either.

viques · 31/01/2018 15:42

Years ago we went to a country pub in Cornwall,there was a heap of bar cats, quite a few of them sleeping in the crisp boxes behind the bar.....

diddl · 31/01/2018 15:50

Shame that they can't find him his own little space!

AnnaMagnani · 31/01/2018 15:50

if this shop has a cat, well it has a cat, and anyone who doesn't like it should fuck off

I've never shopped in my local garden centre due to it's wall of Yankee Candles in the entrance foyer. Equally I can only go into Lush via a grab and run raid, ignoring 99% of the products and trying not to inhale. There are many many things I am allergic to. I don't complain - I just take my business elsewhere, as I assume the entire ezcema/asthma/migraine/allergy community does.

This shop has a cat. Get over it.

SoupDragon · 31/01/2018 15:55

How much dirtier do people think their food packaging is going to be from being on the same shelf that a cat has briefly been on?

How much “dirt” do they think will be transferred from floor to cat to shelf to packaging?
I tend not to lick any packaging TBH and I find it serves me well.

As an aside, do people recall the Watchdog report into how dirty the crates are that your online grocery orders are delivered in?

crazycatgal · 31/01/2018 16:01

I can understand if people are allergic then they won't want the cat in the store but quite a few people don't wash their hands after the toilet 🤢 and these people will go in and handle food in shops. You're best off washing your food whether a cat or another human has been near it.

ChaosNeverRains · 31/01/2018 16:08

Complaining is petty and pathetic.

Not liking the cat being there is fine. Not wanting to go in if there’s a cat in there is fine. But if you don’t like it then don’t shop there, it’s not that hard.

tiggytape the ruling around food has to do with food preparation areas so e.g. in kitchens in restaurants etc. Hence why e.g. guide dogs and other assistance dogs are allowed in shops and shops can use their discretion to allow other animals in, as often happens in e.g. seaside towns where lots of people own dogs/take their dogs with them on holiday.

MIL used to live by the sea and their greengrocer had a jar of dog biscuits behind the counter for all the dogs who came in.

melj1213 · 31/01/2018 16:10

Tbh my main issue with the cat wouldn't be allergies but would be that if it is effectively a stray that hangs out on the shop, is it vaccinated, microchipped, regularly wormed/flea-ed, who is responsible for any vets fees if it gets ill/injured and who is liable if it injures a customer?

I own cats and even the nicest of them can bite or scratch occasionally but I know that all of my cats are vaccinated and don't have any communicable diseases so the risk of them doing any real damage is negligible. Also my cats are house cats so I don't have to worry about them catching fleas and bringing them into my house or getting worms or other diseases but I still give them preventative treatments to minimise risk ... can anyone say the same about this cat?

itsalldyingout · 31/01/2018 17:10

I couldn't read the article, but I assume the bed was obvious. I'd have a very real problem walking around a shop that had a cat roaming freely in it that I didn't realise was there.

And Melj1213 has a point about the fleas, too. I worked in a hospital that had carpets in the waiting areas. I started to react and get bites on my lower legs from cat fleas. I had to take time off until the carpets were cleaned, but it kept happening. The carpets were eventually taken up - they were a bad idea in the first place IMO (hard to keep clean), and I often wondered if it was a patient or staff member bringing eggs in on their clothes or belongings that would cause the outbreaks.

It cost our local health authority quite a bit of money to sort out, too.

As for trollies, after seeing a group of lads peeing on them in the shelter one evening, I now use the pay as you shop checkouts and use re-usable cotton bags that I can wash after emptying. Urgh.

mustbemad17 · 31/01/2018 17:45

In Germany you are allowed to take your dogs into most places, including cafes & restaurants. And shops. I like it, I think my folks had a real shock when they moved back here with their dogs. Don't think the Germans have any higher level of food safety issues than we do here because of it

BackBoiler · 31/01/2018 17:51

My kids school has a school cat.They have to be careful each evening in case he is locked in. On a summers day when they keep the hall door open at lunchtime he has been known to receive the children's left overs!

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