It pains me to tell you this, but Marmalade, my (well, she’s actually Virginia’s dog) 155-pound Mastiff, may have gotten me banned from my favorite dog friendly dive bar in San Francisco.
Here’s The Sad Story
For the last 10 years or so, Splash and now Marmalade have joined me and a few other smelly hockey players three Thursday nights a month at a dive bar near the Yerba Buena Ice Rink.
I’m not going to tell you the name of the bar because I don’t feel the need to say anything negative about another San Francisco business. One Thursday night, Marmalade, myself, and a few others headed over to “our” bar.
The bouncer indicated the need to see my ID (yup, guess I still look close to 21) and while reaching for my wallet Marmalade brushed against the bouncer’s pants and yup, she drooled on him.
Drool and Anger
His immediate reaction was to demand that I give him $20 to dry clean his pants and that I control my dog.
I calmly explained that I would not give him $20, that I was in control of my dog, and that she had brushed against him and not really done anything wrong.
My response was entirely inadequate and he continued to demand payment. Rather than continuing to argue, Marmalade, myself and the rest of our small group went elsewhere for a few beers.
San Francisco Dive Bar Etiquette
Needless to say this bothered me.
I don’t like needless conflict but at the same time don’t think that a bouncer at a dog-friendly dive bar should be getting upset because a dog brushed against him and left some drool on his pants.
True enough, I wasn’t paying that much attention to where Marmalade walked while reaching for my ID (she was on a 4’ lead) and maybe if we were going to the Ritz Carlton I would have been more careful and would have been carrying a drool towel anyway.
Also, I know that San Francisco is crazy expensive, but $20 to dry clean a pair of pants? That strikes me more like trying to shake me down for $20 then making this guy whole.
Public Pet Behavior
I think I’m a pretty responsible pet parent; not perfect, far from it, but pretty responsible.
I want my dogs to behave in public so that they can join me when I’m out and about and maybe I should have just handed over $20, walked inside and forgotten about the whole thing over a few beers. But I didn’t. So, what would you have done and more importantly, where is your favorite dog friendly dive bar (preferably in San Francisco?)
All’s Well That Ends Well
Post script: I’m glad to report that Marmalade is not banned from “our” bar. This was bothering me so much that I tracked down an email for the owner of the bar and sent him a summary of the events. He responded within a day that the bouncer in question was not an employee of the bar, but an employee of a company contracted to provide bouncers and that we would send over my email to that company. He also stressed that the bar would remain dog friendly and that Marmalade was welcome back – he was notably silent about me returning.
Thanks for reading
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