The Moving Truck and the Emasculated Dog

Seen and heard on today's walk to the supermarket: (1) A truck for the Van Gogh Moving Company, whose website proclaims: "all of our men have concave backs and a highly developed sense of aesthetics." There were two illustrations on the truck: a large orange sunflower with yellow petals, and a smaller picture of two movers carrying a large human ear, still dripping blood, with the following caption underneath: "a cut above the rest." If you want your movers to possess a sense of humor, these may be the guys for you. Come to think of it, it seems that a lot of moving companies trade on humorous corporate branding: Starving Students Movers, Grandma Movers, etc. etc. Are these stabs at humor intended to lighten the various anxieties associated with moving, including the fear that one's plates will all be shattered? Or are people in the moving industry just inherently funny? (2) A woman walking two mid-sized dogs (I don't know my breeds that well, but they appeared to be black labradors). As I passed the group, my nostrils were greeted by an earthy dog smell that has nothing to do with the change of seasons. The owner dutifully retrieved the doggish remains, but then, in a sing-song, goo-goo-baby voice, cooed, "There's the big dog, taking his poop in the middle of the day!" "Madam," I felt like saying, "have you no shame?" If this were a Warner Brothers cartoon, I imagine that the pooping dog would have fallen to the ground in shame and covered his head with his paws, shooting me a compassionate "don't judge me" glance. However, as things stand, I'm sure he took his emasculation like a man, and continued his walk with great stoicism.