Do Dogs Belong at Work?

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Letters may be edited.Not a Dog LoverI’ve started a new job at a small, private, predominantly white company, and I am one of few African Americans in the overall company.The others are working from home, as they are tenured employees.

It is a VERY dog-friendly environment, and I do not like pets or animals of any kind.My co-worker’s dog is allowed to walk around the office freely, as if it was a human being.

The dog has no concept of personal space and gets extremely close to me after we have an awkward staring match.I feel compelled to lightly pet it, because my white co-workers are watching my interaction with the dog.

I fake-smile and pretend like I’m OK with it when I am tortured on the inside.I overheard other co-workers discussing that they may bring their dogs in the office, too, and it’s honestly making me feel super uncomfortable.Now, this is a predominantly W.F.H.

job, so there will be few times where I will actually have to be in the office.But while I’m still in training I do have to show up in person.

Everyone else in the office sees no issue with the dog being present and in fact encourages it.I already feel slightly out of place as the only Black person in the office, and I don’t want to ostracize myself even more by saying I hate dogs/animals So should I just suck it up until W.F.H.

kicks in — or should I say something?— AnonymousFirst of all, we need to address your discomfort with being one of the only Black employees in your small company.Been there, done that.

(Most of my life, in fact.) My experience is one where I’ve felt both like I stand out among my (white) professional peers by being Black, while at the same time feeling invisible to them as a human.One of my experiences with this involved a smarmy white manager in a small private company who hired multi...