If it's not one thing, it's another. . .be prepared, this is a rant

Last night I walked in to the sound of a vacuum cleaner running full kilter in the hallway and white smelly powder all over the place. Apparently, my upstairs neighbor is quite sensitive to dog smell, especially during the summer, and has been complaining that the building reeks of dog.

My Boris, smelly? No. . . . . .

For some reason, the smell doesn't hit me (or Kola) like it does him upon entrance of the building. Neither does it bother my next door neighbor. But, they have a GSD too (which, btw, is Boris' best buddy so I'm sure there will be stories of him and Othello to come). This is not to say that my neighbor doesn't smell dog, but his in-a-huff-urgency to get rid of it bothers me. He contacted both me and my other neighbor about the smell hinting that we do something because we have the dogs.

Since we've lived there, Kola has been gracious enough to vacuum the hallways with the extra vacuum cleaner that we donated to the building (which, we found out with this episode that it has been broken by a contractor hired to do work in the building, but this is a rant for another time and place). Yea, we dog owners maybe contribute more to the dust and debris in the hallway (GSDs shed like mofos) but everyone in the building tracks in a fair amount of dirt. We all have guests, delivery people, construction workers dragging new and old building supplies, come in an out of the building. So why should Kola do all the work just because we have a dog? He gently suggested we make up a rotation schedule for vacuuming the common hallway. He (the complaining neighbor) plans the taking-the-trash-to-the-curb rotation, so it was suggested that we just tack on vacuuming scheduling as well.

Well I guess my neighbor couldn't wait for a schedule to be developed. And, knowing how well the trash schedule works, I can see why he took the matter into his own hands. But, what bothers me is: He dumped all the Fabreeze powder on the floor to be picked up, then couldn't find an extension cord long enough for the vacuum to reach all places, so he just left areas with white powder everywhere. He pitched a fit, began the job, and left it when it became inconvenient! Now the overpowering smell of the Fabreeze powder is worse than the - alleged - dog smell. Geez.

Lesson learned: We live in a condo with shared common areas that overlap into our own personal spaces. I have a dog; someone may smoke; someone may have guests coming in and out at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.