Neighbor Notes: Dog Poo

Can't escape the dog poo. One of my new favorite blogs is Mission Mission, about the Mission District here in San Francisco.

And as if by magic, they covered another neighbor note fracas today. The person posting was upset about being yelled at by a neighbor when her dog peed on the neighbor's bush. So she left him a note:

Dudes,
I’m the girl who walks her dogs past your house in the morning. You have come out yelling at me twice but have not tried the kinder approach so far. If you had come out and asked me nicely, and kindly, to just bypass your bush, I would have agreed. Not because I agree with you but because I believe in neighborliness.

Secondly, please take a moment to imagine how it would feel if you were a young woman walking alone in a dodgy neighborhood and all of a sudden there are two confrontational guys yelling at you and following you across the street. Do you think this would make you feel amenable to a neighborly compromise? Or would it make you feel physically threatened?

Next time you want to talk to me, how about you try the nicer way? And please be more considerate of my position. I promise it will get better results.

P.S. Imagine how you would want someone to talk to your sister or daughter.

As with all neighbor notes, it's not clear whether this has helped or hindered the situation, though the author notes that:

Since then, I have walked down the street in peace. Some might say it’s because my letter was so carefully worded. Others might say it’s because I’ve elected to walk down the opposite side of the street from now on.

Who really knows?

I'm all for her message of civilized conversation, but I wouldn't recommend calling the neighborhood "dodgy."

Full post: The Asshole Assumption [Mission Mission]

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Photo by rcarver on flickr.