Man confronts woman with forbidden dog inside coffee shop, sparking heated debate

A coffee-shop patron who confronted another customer about having a dog inside the store said he was accused of acting improperly for questioning the woman about it.

A Reddit user wrote about his recent coffee-shop experience on a popular subreddit page.

"As soon as I open the door I'm hit with a dog looking at me at hip level sitting on a chair in this small shop," wrote the man, who said he was 33 years old. "The dog is indoors and the door had a clear ‘no pets’ sign. I watched for a second. This clearly wasn't a service animal, as she was letting it interact with several other guests."

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That's when the man said he decided to approach the woman about it.

"I asked her why she ignored the ‘no pets’ sign? She ignores me," the man wrote. 

A man said he confronted a woman (not pictured) who had her dog sitting on a chair inside a coffee shop that had a "no pets" sign. (iStock)

"I asked her, ‘Did you miss the no pets sign?’ She immediately says, ‘I think you should stop harassing me' … This lady played the victim and called me an a--hole."

The man said that another customer "stepped up for her" and then confronted him — asking him why it's an issue and telling him, "Don't be an a--hole and drop it."

"I wave the guy off, tell him I care, and I don't like dogs," he said. "I say, 'It's not hard to not bring your dog to a coffee shop that doesn't allow dogs.'"

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The man writing on Reddit said he then complained to an employee at the stop, "who didn't seem interested in enforcing anything."

Many commenters agreed with the man but felt he handled the situation poorly.

"I love dogs. I love cafés. I hate people who bring their dogs to cafés."

"The way you asked her why repeatedly was weird - she's not going to have an answer or respond well to that - but you weren't wrong for calling her out for having a dog in a restaurant that clearly doesn't allow them," one person wrote.

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"I'd personally have asked for the manager and pushed them to do something. I say this as a huge animal person: It's outrageous how many pet owners feel entitled to ignore rules because they think their pet is 'special.' I love dogs, but I don't want to find dog hair in my tea."

"I love dogs, but I don't want to find dog hair in my tea," one person said in response to the woman who flouted the rules by bringing her dog inside the coffee shop. (iStock)

Another person commented, "Annoying that the business would have 'no pets' policies posted and not enforce them, though."

Someone else wrote, "I love dogs. I love cafés. I hate people who bring their dogs to cafés."

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Yet another person remarked that dogs "don't belong in coffee shops sitting on chairs meant for people, especially in shops that also serve food, as many coffee shops do."

"You could have quietly brought it up to someone at the register or find the manager."

Etiquette expert Diane Gottsman, founder and owner of the Protocol School of Texas in San Antonio, suggested that this sort of issue is best left for management to handle.

"Unless the dog is vicious and you have to immediately move a child or yourself out of the way, remarking that you are in potential danger, allow the owner or manager of the establishment to handle the situation," Gottsman told Fox News Digital. 

Diane Gottsman, founder of the Protocol School of Texas, said it's best for a patron not to get directly involved in such a situation.  (Protocol School of Texas)

Other Redditors agreed that it wasn't necessary for the man to get involved.

"See, it's not your 'civil duty' to protect a company or spout the rules," one commenter wrote. "You could have quietly brought it up to someone at the register or find the manager."

"What possible positive outcome could transpire by confronting the person?"

The commenter also said, "The lady also sucks because clearly she thinks the rules aren't meant for her."

Another commenter felt the man was instigating things. "Go complain to an employee or manager. What possible positive outcome could transpire by confronting the person?" the individual wrote.

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"Confronting the other patron directly only serves to fulfill some desire for engaging in conflict where you're ‘justified,’" the person added. "Not your job."

Gottsman added, "If the dog is sitting under the table, causing no harm, and you are just irritated because the [animal's owner] is breaking the rule, consider your motive. How important is it to you and how is the dog impacting you personally or other patrons?"

An etiquette expert said it's possible the woman who was with her dog inside the coffee shop didn't see the sign forbidding pets. (iStock)

She said it's important to consider that the woman might not have seen the "no pets" sign.

"It's not necessary for a guest to be the pet enforcer but to politely point out the issue to the manager and allow them to make the final call," Gottsman noted.

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If the woman was "blatantly disrespecting a rule, it comes across as arrogant because everyone will feel like they can break the rule and all of a sudden there are no boundaries," Gottsman told Fox News Digital.

However, she said, "perhaps she may not have known there was a pet policy, or there may be a reason she brought her pet in with her … It's never a good idea for a fellow guest to be on pet patrol for no good reason except to call someone else out. Let the manager handle the situation."

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Fox News Digital reached out to the original Reddit poster for additional information.