Gale, you're doing exactly what you should do--finding vendors that suit your needs. If it were a school or a doctors office or somewhere else your child HAS to go, I'd be behind you 100%. My friend's kids have fatal nut allergies and I am a fanatic about keeping nuts and nut-contaminated items out of their schools.

But 80/20 is how luxury businesses survive. I have diabetes, but I don't expect restaurants to have free substitutions for the potatoes and rice dishes I can't eat. I either pay for the extra vegetables or go somewhere else. I don't want to die either, and that's my problem, not theirs.

I never said I expected them to have free substitutions (wth did that come from??) or even to cater to our needs. I said that if they do, we patronize them happily at any price and in the case of restaurant, leave ginormous tips. And I don't know about diabetes but can you die within minutes from a trace of potatoes touching your food? When it's your child, and not you, it also changes the entire dynamic of the situation.

I'm sure your friend appreciates you but until you go through it with your own child you don't really understand how much food allergies can affect your whole family. It's not quite as easy as just avoiding places that aren't necessities. Unless you are happy with your child never leaving the house except to go to school or the doctor.

And to keep this on topic, I guess if a business wants to alienate 10% of the population AND their families (which probably adds up to more than 20%) that is their right but it's the right of anyone not to go there. I'm willing to guess it isn't just allergic folks that don't want cat hair all over their fabric.

Gale, I never said you were asking for special accommodation with food prices. I was explaining that I have my own experience in the minority. And I have no children, something diabetes took away from me. Will I die if a potato touches my plate? Not today. I'll probably go blind and have my legs amputated first. But I don't expect you to give a crap about that.

I also don't expect restaurant owners to care about my particular needs because they CAN'T - - it is cost prohibitive for them to do so. They, like every successful business, must concern themselves with what's popular or palatable to the 80% of their customer base, and leave the outliers to specialists. Your problems, and mine, are ours. And we are doing exactly what we should do.

People like me prefer to shop where there are compassionate pet owners in residence, something I associate with other positive attributes. You pass their shops by. As long as they keep turning a profit why do you even care?

And I'm out. Bottom line, if you don't like places with pets, quit complaining and just walk away. They don't want you there any more than you want to be there.

Good night.

It's the subject of this discussion so people are both complaining about and praising stores with pets. I'm not understanding why you're taking it personally that people don't want to shop where there are pets. They're just explaining their reasons, which are just as valid as those of someone that does want to shop where there are pets.

I think this is a very workable solution.

I quite like it when I visit a store with animals....some places here have resident Bandicoots also called Quendas (small furry native creatures) who though wild will come close to humans to forage for crumbs (one place is a rose nursery with a beautiful garden display and terrific tea rooms - the other is a plant nursery which also sells stunning homewares). If I had a business, I would definitely take my dog/s to work. I know allergies are a problem for many, but give me animals in stores over feral children any day:).

Here's a link to info on Bandicoots

http://www.bandicoot-books.com/bandicoot_photos.html

But we're talking about the owners or people working there bringing the animals. I don't know many businesses around here that bring their feral (OMG) children to work with them.

I believe she was refering to people who bring their children into any shop and let them run wild. But there are cases where people do take their children to work, I was one. I had just had my Daughter, (this was 30 some years ago) and a lady heard that I knew how to sew and approached me about me about working for her. I told her I couldn't as I would not put my child in a daycare or hire someone else to raise her. Well long story short, I went to work in her shop making drapries and my daughter came to work everyday with me. We made it work, and provided safety with irons and such. It worked out for 5 years, then my other Daughter came along, and I decided to stay home with both of them. So I know there are more people out there then just me who take their children to work.

Wow. This is obviously a hot button topic. I hope everyone can stop and breathe for a while. My dogs are the loves of my life; they don't go shopping with me; my grandchildren do not go with me either as I don't approve of their behavior in public. The first is mandated by law, the second by choice. I understand that those with medical conditions (I use oxygen) have a much harder time doing what the rest of us consider normal living and I really wish there be some easy way to accommodate them all. Unfortunately, it appears the only way to do so is by passing more laws (I'd really like to see current laws enforced before new ones are made, but that's just my opinion.). So long as there is choice, someone will end up unhappy. From my point of view, find out as much as you can before you shop anywhere and make your decision on what you find. As for online shopping who knows; it's buyer beware. This can be debated back and forth until we're all too old to type on our keyboards. I think at this point, all I can do is respect the fact that some people have much different ideas than I do and let it go. Hope this isn't considered preaching. It's not; it's just my thoughts. Now, please excuse me while I clean the dog hair off my keyboard. Joyce in DE

Joyce, I think you said it all, and I also am off to clean up some dog hair, because if you are going to have a pet they deserve to be treated as family and live in the house with you. If you don't like the mess....don't get one!

And to think I thought it would be as simple ss :

I don' t mind/ like/ look forward to seeing a store pet

OR

I don' t like store pets ( for whatever reason) and avoid shopping in stores that have them.

bwahahaha. You should know better. :p

I feel so sorry for people with pet alergies. They miss out on all the love and comfort a pet can give.
Have only been in two stores with cats in them and so enjoyed seeing them.

Store owners do things that alienate customers ALL THE TIME. Catering to one group often alienates another.

I recently took up archery, and one of the two local archery shops is very hunter-oriented. Everything in their shop, from their logo & decor to the practice targets you shoot at, has to do with killing animals. I'm a vegetarian and animal lover, so this bothers me. So, I go to the other archery shop, which is further away but has standard bulls-eye practice targets and seems to cater more towards the hobbyist. Should shop #1 stop catering to hunters in order to suit me? No. Is their business suffering? Doesn't appear so. They appear to attract plenty of customers who DO like to hunt with bow and arrow. That's the demographic they are catering to.

I believe there IS a demographic of people who enjoy animals in shops. I'm one of those people. All things being equal, a shop with a cat gets my business more than a shop without, because I really LIKE animals and for me, visiting with the shop cat (or dog) makes the shopping trip extra enjoyable. (This assumes a certain amount of housekeeping; I do agree a litter box odor is not going to encourage me to return; but that's true for any foul odor regardless of the source.)

You're never going to appeal to 100% of the population. A business owner has to constantly gauge interest and it's always a moving target. If I had my own used book store (a perennial fantasy of mine) I would DEFINITELY have a store cat. Those decisions are one of the perks of being a business owner! For better or for worse.

That's exactly what I did. I bought a pattern and some notions there. I love that they have magazines for 40% off so I will go back for that too.

I have been sewing for well over 50 years and purchasing fabric , clothing, sheets, blankets,towels and many other things made of fabric, NOTHING gets used or worn that is not washed first this includes dishes, if it is washable it is washed![QUOTE I agree almost every thing we use or ware comes from another country, who knows where it has been!?!=RainyBC;6598358]I don't own a cat, but it wouldn't bother me. As soon as I come in the door, all fabric goes into the washer the same as bed sheets or any other item that may be close to the skin. Then, whether it's cats or whatever else that could be in the fabric is washed (hopefully) away. Most, if not all of these fabrics come from other countries in containers so who knows what they have been exposed to. Toby Bean can come to my house anytime too, my Penny would to play with him.[/QUOTE]

I have been sewing for well over 50 years and purchasing fabric , clothing, sheets, blankets,towels and many other things made of fabric, NOTHING gets used or worn that is not washed first this includes dishes, if it is washable it is washed![QUOTE I agree almost every thing we use or ware comes from another country, who knows where it has been!?!=RainyBC;6598358]I don't own a cat, but it wouldn't bother me. As soon as I come in the door, all fabric goes into the washer the same as bed sheets or any other item that may be close to the skin. Then, whether it's cats or whatever else that could be in the fabric is washed (hopefully) away. Most, if not all of these fabrics come from other countries in containers so who knows what they have been exposed to. Toby Bean can come to my house anytime too, my Penny would to play with him.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

tooooooo true.

guess i'll have to close this down.