Thread by @FiloSottile

Alright, actually unpopular opinion thread time. Might delete later.

Allowing pets in the office is not an inclusive policy.

I am severely allergic to dogs and cats. Contact makes me break out in bubbles. Long indoor exposure causes me acute asthma attacks. Mild symptoms involve fatigue and respiratory problems hard to distinguish from a cold.

Many workplaces, including Google, have dog-friendly policies, where you can take your pet to work.

The Google one is especially reasonable, as they are not allowed on furniture, and anyone can ask people in their area not to bring pets to the office.

Still, I spent my first weeks at work stressing about this. There were many dogs on my floor, but not very close to me, and I didn't want to "be that guy" unnecessarily, so I tracked my symptoms on a Google Doc for a week to decide how to proceed.

I didn't have to take action in the end (also because we got moved soon) but I think I would have been ok with doing so.

However, I'm sure others would have preferred to live with the symptoms to avoid the confrontation. Do you want that to be your colleague's first impression?

I also see people with dogs on chairs all the time, and I worry I will just sit on the same chair next and have to go home for the day.

I tell them to please not do that (and usually get extremely hostile looks), but again, not everyone would be comfortable with that.

Other places are way worse. I get recruiting emails listing the "office dog" as a perk.

Guess what, me and a number of other people can't work for you now due to a completely work-unrelated medical reason.

Now conferences are setting up petting stations, and I just don't attend them because I don't want to have to think about not touching my face after shaking hands with anyone.

And if ventilation is not good, it can ruin my whole week.

I resisted speaking up about this before because, come on, I tick almost literally all other privilege checkboxes, so complaining about my rare minor taste of being in a minority is kind of cringy.

But here's the thing: the issue compounds. If you are already fighting a culture of sexism, are you going to spend political capital on... not letting people bring their dog to work?

Of course not, so maybe it has to be privileged people complaining about this.

By the way, I like dogs! I like dogs so much that sometimes I take meds and cover every inch of my skin to play with them for half an hour (and then immediately jump in the shower and accept some mild asthma for a couple days). But no one should have to at work.

Others have a phobia of dogs instead of allergies, and they feel even less legitimized to speak up and "be that person", but have to cope with a work space that does not feel safe.

In summary, allergies and phobias don't get the same treatment as disabilities, but they are also issues that exclude people for no good reason, or force them to fight for a safe environment.

(BTW, I also know that guide dogs and emotional support dogs are critical to inclusivity, so that's not what I'm talking about. It's normal to have to accommodate conflicting needs sometimes. I'm taking about bringing your pet to work for fun.)