So my condo neighbor who owns the cottage behind my house is putting his house on the market next week. There has been a flurry of activity in the garden between our homes as various workers have come and gone. The hammering and pounding and shouting workmen have all been tolerable. But not the Coughing Guy. I think the Coughing Guy is a gardener. Whatever he is, he has been walking around the backyard all morning COUGHING. What's worse is that he has this sort of huffing cough, which sounds exactly like the warning huff/bark a dog gives when it hears a strange sound. The sound is driving my three dogs WILD. COUGHING MAN: COUGH CHIHUAHUA: woof HANK: gRRR CHIHUAHUA: YAP! HANK: BARK! CHIHUAHUA: YAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAP..... HANK: BARKBARKBARKBARKBARK MAYNARD: WOOOOOF WOOOOF WOOOOOF (30 second chorus of dogs barking) ME: OHMYGODSHUTUPALLOFYOU!!!! Silence for 15 seconds. COUGHING MAN: COUGH repeat for three hours!!!! ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

set the chihuahua loose on him. do it!

stupid little dog won't bite! Unless the man has sensitive eardrums, she can't cause much damage. Hank, on the other hand, has been known to run in for an ankle nip, but only if they reach for him first.

Sorry about your trouble But it still made me laugh. I'm glad you shared.

Bring the poor dude some tea with honey & lemon! Do they make ear plugs for dogs?

I hadn't thought of that probably I also have some expectorant around here somewhere. Your mind works in a much kinder way than mine does. I was contemplating sticking my head out the back door and yelling, "Quitcher goddamned coughing!"

pelt him with lozenges

perfect compromise between good and evil I'm pretty sure my gf's wrist rocket is still in the garage.

I think your gardener lives next door to me. All damn day and night, for two years, my next door neighbour is hacking and coughing. I've never seen him smoke, but it sounds like a smoker's cough. It's disgusting. If my dog decided to bark every time this guy hacked up an internal organ, I think I'd go insane.

I thought I was suffering yesterday but it wasn't for as long as you have. While I had my 30 minute break at work,almost all of the conversation was about seances and contacting the dead - specifiy the son of one of the nurses,who died earlier this year. I really didn't want to join in the conversation and buried my nose in a book.

Doesnt that beat all. You finally have a few minutes to re energize and then you cannot find a quiet place. I hate that when it happens to me.

once in a blue moon there'll be me and maybe one or two others having our breaks at the same time and the television isn't on. Peace!

oh lord yesterday all of my break conversation centered around poop. Then we caught ourselves and the conversation became about how all of us could continue to gorge on food while discussing poop.

hospital conversations Enough said,I think! I suppose when you're dealing with unpleasant things on a daily basis they can become 'normal' topics of conversation.