Monday, December 22, 2008
Holiday Stress in One Take
On Sunday in the late morning, we decided it was time to have the pugs take a trip to Petsmart to visit Santa. We were there last weekend and noticed that they did photos with Santa from 11 AM- 4 PM. Well, as it gets closer to Christmas, the last minute stresses of everyday people grows a little bit stronger. We got there around noon and we were the only people/dogs in line with the exception of a lady in front of us. She actually had already had her dog’s photos with Santa taken. But apparently, she must have thought that she had made special arrangements with Santa himself because they used a whole memory card on this woman and her dog. (You’d think she was at Sears Portrait Studios with the way she was going through what seemed like her over 50 choices.)
So, we waited for the group of pet store workers in a vain attempt to accommodate her. As the clock ticked and the pugs grew more restless, the OBP parents also grew irritated. Santa was on his cell phone (which we did learn later that it was for valid reasons) and the woman in front would not allow Santa to continue with the rest of us in line. (The line was now with us included 5 dogs deep.) We tried to wiggle our way into Santa’s attention all the while the lady chattered away about her young pup. Please, do not misunderstand, we love hearing all about doggy stories. Feel free to catch us at the dog park, shoot an email, while taking walks, while frolicking on the beach or at the City Center but please be respectful of those that are paying customers and realize that you are not the only proud pup owners out there. It was really quite rude of her.
Come to find out that Santa was on the phone to see where the extra printer ink cartridge was and how soon it would be at in the area. The woman was still going through her many choices and wanted to have some of them printed to see if they were blurry or to see what her dogs best “angle” was. She was a real piece of work. All the while, we finally managed to get the boys on the platform with Santa. Luna was another story altogether, though. By this time Santa was so overwhelmed and really had little to no interest in 3 pugs. We tried to explain to him that the boys would likely sit happily for him but he did need to hold on to Luna. Well, Santa is getting old these days and his hearing must be shot because this fell on deaf ears. He dragged Benny by the neck with his right arm, reached around Henry with his left arm and grabbed onto Luna’s harness for dear life. By the time it was over, Luna’s harness went from merely a twisted mess around her torso to completely off her naked body and she was a twitching harnessless pug on the loose in the middle of Petsmart. It was ridiculous.
As you can see by the photo, it was a quite the experience. Unlike the lady in front of us, we took our one and only snapshot and we moved on our “merry” way. The boys have blue eye and Benjamin looks like a frantic, if not rabid, dog gone wild. Knowing that at least some of the proceeds go to pet friendly charities helps the whole ordeal seem a little less frustrating but it is just the combination of the common courtesy and the lack of customer service that puts the Bah in Bah Humbug. We have been shaking our heads and chuckling for hours now. Needless to say, this beautiful holiday photo will not let us forget that this has been quite a Christmas filled with unusual memories.
