Ordinary People Do F***ed Up Things When F***ed Up Things Become Ordinary

I am now going to attempt to use allegory to tell you the story of my week.  You see I've done my best to keep the details of my professional life off the Internets.  Most of the time this is a struggle because at times it feels like I've stumbled into some kind of alternate universe.  It's not because I have a dearth of material that I don't write here more, often I can't because of the nature of my business.

The people across the street acquired two puppies recently.  Our street is narrow.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of 22 hours a day the dog is either whining like it's being savagely beaten, or it's barking a bark that vibrates your brain. In America houses have things like "yards" and "insulation."  This is not the case in our neighborhood.  Their front porch is about twelve feet from our front door even though they live across the street.  When I lived in the US and a dog barked incessantly I would think to myself, "maybe you should take that goddamned dog in the house."  And then I would wonder how they were able to live with themselves, let alone sleep soundly, subjecting the wider world to the hellish racket at 3am.  I've never been inside their house, but I'm willing to bet it has a lot less bark-worthy stimuli than the outside filled with nocturnal creatures.  Also consider the fact that even if I was the type of guy that yells out the window to shove a sock down the throat of their shitty pet, they don't speak English.  Besides, even if they did bring the dog in, then they'd have to sleep in the same room with a dog that whines and barks 22 hours a day.  Currently the neighbors all want to stomp on the dog's face with a hobnail boot*, but for the owners there is at least a pane of glass between the offending animal and them.  Pane of glass is preferable.  This speaks to a wider mentality.  Even if what I'm doing drives you completely insane, or is highly unethical and wrong; if it's easier than doing something the right way, then that's the way it will be done.

*Shout out Larry Munson -RIP

When I went across the street with our neighbor to translate that we couldn't sleep because of their dog, the exchange went something like this.

Me:  Hey, I was just wondering if there was something you could do about your dog.  It barks a lot at night and we can't sleep.
Neighbor-With-Dog-I'd-Like-Dead [Roughly translated using my own understanding of the gestures and tones Vietnamese people employ]:  What?!
Me:  Umm... Well your dog... it barks.... all night.
NWDI'dLD [Smiling]:  What the fuck is your problem?  You knew when you moved into this neighborhood that people keep annoying pets*.  Suck it up, white boy.  This is your problem.  Deal with it.  Any other neighbor that comes here and complains I'm going to tell them the exact same thing.  Fuck off.
Me:  Ohhkay.... I didn't realize this was something that involved yelling.
NWDI'dLK:  I said FUCK OFF!

*There is some truth to that statement -dogs and chickens being the most common, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

I suppose my only hope is that the dogs are only being kept for consumption sometime in the very near future.  It is Mid-Autumn Festival time here in Vietnam...

The End*.

*Part of this story was made up to make the allegory a little more...allegorical?