Love thy neighbor?

The first thing I must tell you about is how mean people stink. I believe back in November I mentioned that I was attacked by my neighbor’s dog. If you didn’t catch that story, here’s a brief synopsis:

(setting: my three story building lobby area)

It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I’m walking down the stairs to walk out the door and hop in car to get a second helping of Turkey Day grub at my surrogate mother’s house (which is my friend Kristin’s mom, Cookie*). So there I am, in the lobby of my building, and I open the door to walk outside and here comes Attacker dog (who’s name I don’t know), busting through the door and I move a little to the left to let him pass me hoping he would just run up the stairs. Where is the owner/walker of the dog? Well, she’s still outside around the corner, because she had Attacker on a retractable leash. MEANING: He MIGHT as well have been on his own. Unfortunately for me, Attacker does not just run up the stairs…he decides to make my leg his new chew toy. So there I am in my lobby screaming bloody murder, when the walker of the dog, finally runs into the lobby and grabs the dog. I’m crying, in severe pain, and at this point, just want the thing away from me, so I run outside and into my car where I broke down. I turned on the car to heat it up (since it was chilly outside) and I’m just crying, in total shock, not knowing what to do. I finally pull up my jean pant leg and see he definitely broke the skin, its scraped and scratched up and finally, it hurts like hell. The dog’s owner comes running out and to my car, and knocks on my window, and doesn’t apologize. No, that would be the right thing to do. She basically says, her sister was walking the dog and that she tries to tell her family to learn to keep a better hold on Attacker. She then says, “Well, let me know if you go to the doctor or something”, and proceeds back in the building. WTF? I just got attacked by your little beast and I felt as if she had an attitude or was treating me as if I had done something wrong. Anyway, I do eventually go to the ER within the hour, with Sin and Erin (Kristin’s sister) in tow for moral support, to get cleaned up and a nice shot (in case Attacker wasn’t up to date on his shots). The next day, I leave a note on neighbor lady’s door and ask her to call me, which she does, and I tell her I went to the ER, and I would like for her to take care of any expenses associated with the bill from that visit. She agrees. She also told me she will get a muzzle for him when they walk him so I don’t have to be afraid.

Since I have to live in the same building as her, I wanted to handle things as amicably as possible, so therefore stupid me did not file a police report, nor did I call animal control, or even write the condo association where I live. I love dogs and felt bad too about calling animal control as I wouldn’t want anything happening to Attacker, even though he is a VERY aggressive dog. All I wanted was the bill paid.

So fast forward to today, Feb 16 and this is where we are. In early January, I finally received the hospital bill. I proceeded to make a copy for her and asked her to pay within two weeks. THREE WEEKS later she finally comes to my door (Feb 1) after I had a run in with the dog as I walking up the stairs to my door (her daughter was heading down the stairs and I was heading up and he started growling and scratching [NO MUZZLE] to get to me and she quickly had to pull him back into their house), and she hands me a check for the full amount. The next day while running errands, I put the check in the bank. Well, lo and behold, the next week, I’m doing some online banking and discover THE CHECKED BOUNCED! WTF? First you pay me late, then you give me a bad check? So now I’m in bitch mode. I tried to be nice and this is the slap in the face I get. Not to mention, I didn’t charge her for my antibiotics I had to take because of the bite and I now have a scar on the calf of my right leg, which I will be going to the dermatologist to try minimize, and she won’t be paying for that either! So why? In addition to her check bouncing and my bank charging me a fee, my local gym membership check bounced, because I didn’t have enough money in my account when it tried to clear because of her bounced check. So now, she owes me the original amount + the check return fee my bank charged + a NSF fee (since my gym check bounced) + the fee my gym charges for returned checks. How terrible is that?

So now, I’ve written her a letter and sent it certified mail, listing all she owes me and giving her 10 days (from the time I get the receipt that the letter was signed for) to pay me in cash, cashier’s check or money order OR I will be contacting an attorney and taking her to court. I also am writing a letter at least to the condo association making them aware of the incident in the hopes that they might in force her to at least ensure the safety of its tenants, by asking her to get a new non-retractable leash and a muzzle for the dog while walking it.

It breaks my heart that it has gotten to this point. I hate feeling uncomfortable in my own building but this is ridiculous. She is responsible and needs to step it up.

I’ll keep you updated on the whether or not I’m going to the bank or going to court…

*She is so aptly named since Cookie (who does have a real name, but I won’t divulge) has got to be one of the sweetest ladies ever. Whenever she meets a child, she extends her hand and says, “Hi. My name is Cookie, but you can’t eat me”. I think this is absolutely adorable/hysterical and kids just LOVE her. Well count me in.