It’s never easy losing a pet, and watching a sick pet slowly get sicker and sicker can be devastating.

Imagine walking to your car to take your dying pet to the vet to be put to sleep when an HOA board member decides to introduce herself and criticize you. Would you keep your cool or tell her to back off?

In today’s story, one woman cannot keep her emotions in check when faced with this exact situation. Now, she’s wondering if her behavior was out of line.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for snapping at an HOA board member for not leaving us alone?

A month ago my husband found a largish lump on our 9 year old Russell Terrier’s face.

We took her to the vet who told us that there was nothing that could be done for her.

I was not content with that so we got a second opinion that ended up reflecting the first.

It was very bad news.

That vet told us that no matter how early we detected it, there was nothing we could have done short of jaw removal.

She said that our pup had days maybe weeks, as it was a very aggressive cancer.

She gave us a couple of prescriptions for pain and inflammation, which perked our dog up and made her playful again.

When it seemed like the medicine was no longer working, we decided it was time.

They also needed to get their patio ready for some repairs.

The HOA had hired a contractor to do siding replacement and painting but our back patio was a disaster so a couple days before they were going to get to our unit the HOA told my husband he needed to clean up the back patio.

He spent the entirety of the day cleaning up the patio but we had made the appointment with the vet for 4:00 so he had to take a break.

His plan was to finish up the little bit that still needed doing that evening. Fwiw, it took him less than 15 min to finish up that night.

The HOA lady showed up at the wrong time.

As my husband, our 10 year old, and I were all walking to the car with our dog, a woman I didn’t recognize approached us. She had a smallish dog with her so I thought she was wanting to introduce our dogs to each other, which I thought was sweet.

The first thing out of her mouth was something along the lines of her being on the board and noticing our back patio wasn’t done ( which she couldn’t possibly have known unless she opened our privacy fence gate).

I stepped in front of my husband (who had very clearly been crying and my 10 year old who was actively crying) and told her that now was not a good time as we we’re on our way to the vet to have our dog put to sleep.

I honestly can’t remember how she responded exactly (the adrenaline had kicked in) but it was something along the lines of “well the Workmen will be here tomorrow”

The HOA lady wouldn’t let it go.

My husband said he would be finishing it and I repeated that now is really not a good time.

She said “well I’ll have to contact someone.”

And I cut her off and said “I don’t give a damn, like I said now is not a good time. We have to take our dog to go DIE, BACK OFF”

I sidestepped her to get to our van and said very loudly “Jesus Christ woman, read the freaking room for heaven’s sake” and we promptly left.

She’s starting to rethink reporting the HOA lady.

I texted another HOA member who said to put the details into an email but now I’m wondering if it’s worth it.

I feel kind of like my language sort of relinquishes my moral high ground (I regret nothing!).

Also, I can’t see what recourse there would be since being a decent human being isn’t a prerequisite having a board position.

There probably wouldn’t really be a point in putting it in writing, but it doesn’t hurt either.

The HOA lady really picked the wrong moment to talk to them.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

I agree with this comment.

This person offers sympathy for the loss of her pet.

Another person thinks she should put the interaction in writing.

This person doesn’t think cussing out the woman negates what happened.

Another person thinks the HOA woman had it coming.

When she said it was a bad time, she meant it!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.