The complaint department responds

With my thoughts of my unfortunate day at the fair still festering, I wrote a letter of complaint to the fair manager yesterday. The letter expressed my dismay at being embarrassed for not knowing the full extent of the dog rules of the fair. I wrote the letter because I believe it's important to let the people associated with situations such as this know one's concerns. I also wrote because I believed Rhonda, the fair manager, would listen and respond.

She did. She called me yesterday afternoon and apologized for the incident. She also told me that the rule had been in the fairbook since 2002. The rule, she said, evolved because of people being irresponsible with their dogs during the Fair. She cited incidents where dogs had been allowed to relieve themselves in the main exhibit hall, where another dog had apparently scared rabbits in the rabbit barn and where someone had tied up their dog with no food or water and the pooch had bitten someone.

I did tell Rhonda that I would have never thought to look in the fairbook for rules about bringing dogs to the fair because I'd always seen so many trotting around with their owners in the past. I guess I was dumb and just thought people should use common sense when they take their dogs anywhere. Rhonda informed me that some people just don't know what common sense is, and without that knowledge, they do stupid things.

Those stupid things lead to restrictive rules that affect the majority of people who do take care to see that their dogs don't cause problems in settings such as the fair. In my case, I thought I was doing everything right, but I'd not seen all the signs. Since I didn't know all the past headaches associated with dogs at the fair, I walked into an unfortunate situation. I guess this incident clearly reveals how laws come into being.

For most folks, the general rule of thumb called "common sense" works in most every situation. Then, there are the exceptions where some folks just weren't endowed with the inate knowledge that some situations call for more care, more vigilance and more concern for people other than oneself. When those traits don't exist, bad things happen and good people end up paying the price.

I told Rhonda I had kinda thought of myself as a good person who was trying to follow all the rules. That's why I was so embarrassed. My problem was that I didn't know ALL the rules that had come down the pike since senseless dog owners had caused their formation. Now I do, and I'll not be abusing them in the future.

I do, however, feel much better about what has come from this unhappy experience. Rhonda and I had a good visit. She told me of other situations where people always seem to be "on the watch" for anyone violating policy. She herself had been a victim of someone's excess vigilance when she brought her dog to work one day when no events were going on at the fairgrounds. Someone saw the dog and complained.

Somehow I don't think dogs are nearly as nasty as humans who seem to keep score and who love to tattle whenever they spot rule infringement. Again, Rhonda's bringing her dog to work on a quiet day when nobody was around seemed to me to be more in the realm of common sense decision. But the score keepers thought not. Rhonda said the dog will not appear at the fairgrounds again.

I'm glad I wrote my letter yesterday, and I'm glad Rhonda and I have talked. I think she totally empathized with my concerns, and I learned a little more about what she has to deal with on a daily basis from the public watchDOGS.