Dogs in the office

[banjocat]

I've recently started at a new workplace.

Someone in the same office but from another team brings her dog in, and has been doing this since before I started.

It's a very large open plan office, around 30 computers in there, and also members of the public come into the front area (where there is a customer facing desk).

I have mild dog allergies. Not to the extent that it really causes a problem, but if the dog came and sat near me (which he sometimes does) I have to move away from him.

Despite my allergies I do like dogs, but I suppose I'm just surprised that no one mentioned or checked with me that there would be a dog in the office. With such a flow of staff and people through the space, there are bound to be people with allergies or other problems wtih dogs - I'm kind of surprised that this is allowed and just seems to be in place every week.

I don't feel I can say anything without it creating bad feeling as it's an established routine now and lots of colleagues love the dog.

Are dogs in the office becoming the norm now?

AIBU to think it's a bit rude not to check with everyone who is working there?

I thought you was angry because you started swearing.

Does anyone know how a company stands who have a dog friendly workplace and someone wants to work there who doesn't like dogs?

I just wouldn’t hire them. I spend at least 6 days a week in the office and I’ll be fucked if I have to stop taking a dog with me to keep me company.
In the same way I wouldn’t hire someone I knew would bore me to tears or who had bad personal hygiene. Not everything is fair but sometimes selections have to be made for the comfort of everybody.
I do think in the OPs case that the company were out of order for not telling her and I completely understand her bewilderment.

@MadameCamembert I was just thinking from my bosses point of view. He's built his small business up over 20 years. He's always bought his dogs in when he needs to. Has provided more and more people a job. Everyone one is happy. Then one day Jane applies for a job knowing it's dog friendly, gets the job, then decides that no dogs are allowed anymore because she forgot to mention she's allergic.

Tough shit though isn’t it! People aren’t supposed to discriminate. But they do, all the time. I’ve been turned down for god knows how many jobs because of my disability, but could never pin the cunts down legally and get them for disability discrimination, because there’s always some other plausible excuse for not hiring me.

Can be covered, IF they are disabilities. They are not automatically disabilities.

initially Votes YABU because I wrongly presumed your colleagues were normal respectful considerate people, and that the dog was under control.

Definitely not Ok to let the dog wander around nor for owner to just head tilt and look disbelieving when you explain about allergies.

persinally and selfishly, I’d love to take my dog into the office., it would save me £250 pcm and my monthly income is no great shakes so would make a huge difference. However the dog is my choice and it shouldn’t impinge on others’ health and well-being.

*personally

@KarenNotAKaren FFS people are advocating for children being in the office as well as dogs! Your race is stopping you from being able to read posts objectively.

Calm down.... go back and read all the posts, not just the ones you want to pick apart.

Get the dog out. It's a place of work not a puppy palace.

Reasonable adjustments - meaning they would have to make a conscious effort to ensure contact with the dog was at a minimum. Such as a boundary where the dog can’t cross, scheduled break times to ensure the dog doesn’t pass the employee, a flexible or hybrid working arrangement etc.

I swear constantly, sometimes it’s an indication that I’m happy!

If it was just plain old “I don’t like dogs” and it was already a dog friendly workplace then legally speaking - tough shit on the employer.

But I like to think a decent employer would value a skilled worker over a colleague’s dog and reach some sort of compromise

Why do you have a dog if you work 6 days a week? That’s so irresponsible and unfair on the dog

It doesn’t matter that she forgot to mention it if he didn’t advertise it. Or even if he did / she had allergies, that is protected in law. Either way He has a legal obligation to provide reasonable adjustments to the workplace. It doesn’t matter if he built it up 20 years ago or bought it yesterday with lottery money, he chooses to take on employees so he HAS to follow the law! You seem to think he should be exempt from the law?

You seem very in awe of this boss who sounds like a particularly stupid man, I have to say.

Can you tell me one person who (seriously not sarcastically) has said that they are advocating for a child friendly workplace? Just one poster and I’ll admit I was wrong.

@KarenNotAKaren I'm not trawling back through nearly 400 posts to appease you sweetie! You've got far more tone on your hands than me, so do it yourself?

You're sooooo invested in this thread, that you must know where those posts are.

I do know where those posts are - they are nowhere they don’t exist 😂

You’re posting at 2am as well love, not just me

I’m sure this will be an unpopular opinion but I’ll just say it anyway.
If somebody is allergic to or scared of my dog then that’s their problem.
Our dog is an assistance dog so very well trained, she comes virtually everywhere with us, if somebody is scared of her I’m not going to remove her from where we are.
I really do empathise for people with phobias, I have my own phobia and it’s awful but I don’t expect others to change the way they live to fit around my phobia, it’s for me to deal with.
I have hayfever but I wouldn’t object to somebody having flowers in the office, I’d just take an antihistamine and deal with it.

Ah but sweetie...... I'm not currently in the uk! I'm just lying in bed while DH snoozes a little longer, then we will be going down to breakfast, then we will have a quick swim in the pool, before being picked up at midday for an afternoon out.

You on the other hand ..... 🤔

BTW my dog is safely being looked after whilst I'm away, so all is good.

Do try and get some sleep though.... 2am and still being irate is no good for you.

I've never worked anywhere that allowed doggycare.

The only place I have seen them is in the Vet's Surgery, which is understandable.

I think your allergy trumps doggycare.

That's not going to go down well!

I put it down to 'my needs are more important than anyone else's and I have found a way for people to give me want I want and stuff anyone else'

My ex boss had her dog in the office and it was a spaniel. My main thing with dogs is the smell (I loathe doggy smells, yuck) and spaniels are well known for being especially stinky. That dog stank and it barked and drove me mad. I was not the only one who felt that way, but of course nobody could say anything.

As other users have commented, it’s a H&S nightmare waiting to happen, and I’m actually really surprised that in these paranoid days, this has not prevented dogs being normalized in many offices. The occasional highly trained service dog is one thing (I am guessing they know how to cope with emergency situations and of course they would actually reduce their owner’s risk of injury), but have a bunch of “regular” dogs everywhere in some sort of urgent situation is going to cause havoc.

How does this work vis-a-vis transport? It’s 2024 and cities need to be pushing commuters towards public transport. Dogs on rush hour trains and trams are going to take up space and annoy/upset other commuters (it’s also not fair on the dogs). And if owners stick to cars because “Well, there is a commuter line but I want to be able to bring Sallie to work with me so a car is best,” this is going to slow down efforts to unclog the roads of British cities, already among the rich world’s most congested.

With that logic, I'm gonna start taking my kids to work and save myself 2.5k of nursery bills, brilliant!

But why would you recruit someone and not let them know there is a dog in the office/open space? That was the point of the OP.