My love for my pugs got me in trouble... Sort of

[Littlegirl]

I'm having a usual chaotic day at work yesterday when my wife calls me hysterical. The dogs were playing and she thought Stella had scratched Sophie's eye. I was trying to ask her why she thought it was scratched, if she could open it, what it looked like and so on but she was already in the "OMG she is going to lose her eye mode" so I knew I needed to get home. Either way, I would have left work since they are my babies and I don't want to see anything happening to them.

I told my boss I had an emergency at home and had to leave ASAP to take care of some things. I get home 50 mins later and by then she could open her eye and it looked fine. I got all in there with a flashlight and held her eye open to get a good look. She only lets me handle her when things need to be done like that for some reason, so my wife couldn't really take a look at it. Anyway, everything was OK and she is doing fine. Thank god!

So I get back to work today and my boss (New deputy PM who has been here way less longer than I, and I fall right under him in the Org Chart) asks me if everything is OK. I told him yes and then made the mistake of telling him what it was. He proceeds to tell me that he does not consider a "dog" (sarcastic tone) to be an emergency and thought I had a "serious" problem at home. My dogs health is not serious to me? I would have left it alone, but after that he tells me that I should choose my words more carefully when I say I have an "Emergency" at home. I immediately disassociated myself emotionally from the conversation (God bless military training) since I was offended and getting angry and asked if we could step outside for a minute to talk so I could understand what he was implying since interpreting his passive aggressive comments may cause a misunderstanding that could lead to a more serious situation between our working relationship.

Now I am not going to relay the whole conversation, this is long enough already, but he proved himself an a$$ and I basically told him that whether he approved or not my family is my family regardless of whether he deems a pet to be in that category and family will always be higher on my priority list than anyone or anything else in my life.

I know some people don't get it. I know some people are not pet people, but this really pissed me off and I must say I am proud that I handled it as politically correct as I did. I see no difference between my pugs and someones kids when it comes down to the love you have for them and the place they hold in your heart. They rely on me and I lean on them. If I came back today and said, "Oh my wife thought one of our children might have eye trauma, was upset and I wanted to be there to make sure everything was OK" there would not have been another thing said about it. Maybe even sympathy for having to deal with that kind of thing. But since its just a "dog" I should have blown it off.

OK. Sorry... rant over. This is probably the only place were people can understand what I'm talking about and how offended I was to even have that conversation. Thank goodness I have learned to think before I speak in my later years or I would be looking for a job right now. Well, after my wife bailed me out of jail.

Sean

[tall grass pugs]

Yes, in my day, I used the powers of persuasion to come in late if the house was not cool enough for the pugs' safety. You dun good. Now don't lose your job. We need pictures.

Ask your vet for a list of things to keep around the house for the pugs. First on the list out here is Genteal for eye lubrication. Eye damage starts small and goes bad in a rush, so having the right things in the medicine cabinet is crucial.

[aidycakes]

i don't blame you at all!

i'm lucky that i have an understanding boss. he knows my fur kids are my kids. heck - his wife has even went & picked up meds for my Li'l, or even picked her up from the vet when i had to leave her one day, and kept her at their house for a couple of hours til i could go pick her up.

i'm sorry you had to go through that. he definitely sounds like he's not a pet lover. so sad. maybe a puggie would put a smile on his face when he obviously doesn't have one!

[Littlegirl]

Tall Grass - After yesterday that is on my list to get with the dog food tomorrow! I should have already had it.

Sean

[6 Beautiful Pugs]

Ask your vet for a prescription of antibiotic drops (without steroid) which you can put in the eye immediately in the future if such injury should occur until you can get to a vet.

Also, just because you can't see a scratch doesn't mean one isn't there. best to get a stain to make sure.

Take care,
Lisa

[Wonka & Nilla]

Sorry to hear the boss wasn't understanding. Some people just don't get it!!
Good for your for keeping your cool - and your job!

I'm glad Sophie is OK and no serious damage was done.

[taffiecandy]

I'm very proud of you, I on the other hand would have told him where he could stuff his job and his crazy ideas about your, and my love for our fur kids.

[Cheryl7777]

Good for you for keeping your cool and your job, but you were absolutely right in going home to take care of it. If more people respected and loved their pets like that, the shelters and rescues would be out of business. Wouldn't that be nice? I have made a mad dash from work to the vets office more than once since I've had my Puggies and will do it every time I need to.

[CSollers]

IMHO, you did the right thing in going home to take care of your Pug. I definitely feel the reason for you leaving is a "need to know" thing as far as your boss is concerned. Luckily my boss has a grandPug he takes care of occasionally and would understand as he's been Pugged!

[Buddy's Mom]

I had a similar thing happen to my hubby years ago. Our first cat together passed away unexpectedly while my hubby was working. The only way I had to get a hold of my hubby was through his boss' cellphone. I called and said we had an emergency at home and that he needed to come home. His boss never relayed the message (a**hole that he was) Hubby came home, I told him the news. We both cried, we'd had Tigger for 10 years together. The next day he asked his boss why he never relayed the message, guess he was too busy to care. He told his boss what happened and got reamed out for me calling it an emergency that our cat died.

Some people just don't understand that these guys are our family members. I spend more time with my pets than I do any other human and care more about them than I do most humans. It's too bad everyone wasn't that way, the world would be a better place.