Not saying hello to dog walker

[liferr]

My husband and I are both able to work from home a couple of times a week but we have a dog walker for consistency.

I mostly just shout hi to her or pretend I'm not in. Dh thinks I'm rude for not going up to dog walker and saying hello in person. Can't be arsed tbh. Especially if I haven't bothered to put my bra on!

Do you say hello every time?

Aibu?

@TigerOnATrain Which bit of what I said are you deeming to be 'shyte'?

Lovely terminology by the way. You come across very wise and respectable.

I would just say "Sorry I can't always speak when you come in but I'm often working on something I can't easily leave" (after all that's why she is there - so you can continue to work). I'd say if she has anything she needs to let you know could she Whatsapp or Text please.

Doesn’t everyone have nice little chin wag with their employer at the beginning of every single day before getting down to work? A nice five minutes of pointless pleasantries? No, though not.

That's hilarious @BrokenWing! Sounds like some sex chat line!

Seems it hasn’t occurred to many people on here that the dog walkers are trying to earn a living and many will not be interested in wasting valuable time with pointless/awkward small talk.

Another one saying it's rude- you don't have to have a full on lengthy conversation but you can definitely get up and go and say hello in person.

Not rude. You're busy working and so is she. If she needs to pick up other dogs on the way then surely she must want to just get on with it than having to make awkward small talk and waste time.

So weird and rude!

In what other circumstance would an employer be called rude for not coming to chat with their employee in their pyjamas?

This place is mad, I tell you. Mad!!

but you can definitely get up and go and say hello in person

Throughout this thread dog walkers have said they don't want this though and are happy to just be left to get on with it.

I love that you work from home in your pyjamas! Good for you. I don't think its particularly rude if you are in a different part of the house and she just lets herself in and out.

Going out and greeting the dog walker every day would be very disruptive of concentration. In the workplace, most people don't get up and go out to say hello to people coming in just because they are there. Working from home is actual work. It isn't hanging out and home and messing around on the computer for a few hours before a long coffee break and a bit of a tidy round. When I am working from home, I often don't notice who is around in the house because I am full concentrating on work. The point of having a dog walker would be to be able to maintain the concentration, and having to stop for a little chit chat every day would ruin the whole point of them coming.

I really doubt the dog walker wants to engage in small talk with OP and vica versa.But saying a simple hello face to face is not a big deal. I don’t understand how OP is unable to do it. Dog walker probably thinks: nice good dog, rude owner.

I havene't rtft but a poster on this page has said several dog walkers have been on to say they don't care, which is the point. As I suspected, they want to make your dog happy, not waste time making small talk with you. So, not rude at all - in fact a lot of their owners will be at work and rarely seen.

YANBU, one doesn’t talk to the staff. If you were to try they might not remember their place.

Really OP?! It’s SO rude! You’re not only ignoring the walker but pretending you aren’t there when she knows you are. That’s BEYOND rude and smacks of privilege - your reasons aside!

This thread is hilarious - everyone's righteous outrage, when the dog walkers and the people who actually work from home can't see the problem. I stand by my earlier comment, OP - It's totally fine, but for gods sake, put a bra on.*

*Half of that sentence is a joke.

Dog walker may be relieved not to have to chat every time too. Imagine having to make polite conversation at each house! I sometimes do the same as you OP and make sure I'm upstairs, especially if I'm not decent or rushing to go somewhere. We are on the best of terms and sometimes have a chat.

I knew there would be people saying why have a dog walker if you're at home. Because you can spend your money how you like! Some people spend it on football matches, some on recreational drugs or alcohol, it's up to the individual. Not to mention all the other reasons, like mine, chronic joint illness so dog wouldn't get walked during the day until DH came home.

I've done dog walking in the past and would be delighted with a shouted hello from afar rather than pointless chit chat every day

It's weird how all the people accusing the OP of not wanting to mingle with 'the help' seem to see the dog-walker as some forelock-tugging scamp who would dine out for days on a brief chat with their employer. Surely it's a bit patronising to suggest that the dog-walker has any more desire to have her working day interrupted with small talk than the OP does. They are both working, both can crack on quite happily without the other being involved - why insist on an unnecessary chat that is apparently required just to reassure you both that you don't see her as 'the help'?!

So what about your husband? Does he go up to her to say hello in person?

I don't think it's rude either. I have walked dogs and I liked to get in and out. I kept a strict schedule and I didn't need the owners nattering or hovering and cutting in my time.

" In the workplace, most people don't get up and go out to say hello to people coming in just because they are there. Working from home is actual work."

Exactly.

It's not like the OP is deliberately ignoring the dog walker if she bumps into her on the stairs or something, it's just that she is concentrating on her work and chooses not to break off from it to indulge in pointless small talk which would waste time for both of them. The dog walker would have to be very needy indeed if her feelings were hurt just because OP didn't rush downstairs to greet her every time she came to take the dog out. It's a business arrangement, not a social engagement.

Surely it's a bit patronising to suggest that the dog-walker has any more desire to have her working day interrupted with small talk than the OP does. They are both working, both can crack on quite happily without the other being involved - why insist on an unnecessary chat that is apparently required just to reassure you both that you don't see her as 'the help'?!

I agree. I think those that are making sarcastic remarks implying that the OP views the dog walker as they help’, are actually the ones who don’t see dog walking as a ‘real job’, otherwise they’d understand how valuable the dog walker’s time is. Would they like to go into work and be held back, by someone making idle chit chat and they’re not getting paid for the time they’re talking? It’s not the OP that thinks the dog walker is not important.

‘the help’