Oh People...

People ask me all the time, "what's the most difficult part of your job?". My answer...dealing with the people and public. Bet you didn't expect that huh? Of course euthanasia is actually the most difficult...but the public is a REALLY close second. It really is incredible to me how many people we encounter that are (how can I put this nicely)...ignorant.

For example, today, a lady came in to return a dog she adopted from us yesterday. Would you like to know why she decided that after only a day, she didn't want to keep him? Because he barked. SERIOUSLY? I mean really...what did you think you were adopting? A hamster?

Or how about the the crazy cat people we get regularly? Ok there aren't as many as you'd think...but we do get those few nuts every once in a while. Like this one lady who came in with a list of attributes she wanted the cat to have: must be declawed, orange, under a year, male, neutered, must be very vocal, and be a lap cat. It just made me laugh when she came in with that list...I mean what more could I do? I simply told her that I can't choose a cat for her and she'd have to look around for herself to find the one she wants. She ended up leaving because there weren't any that met the ridiculous standards off her list. Oh people people people...

And to top it all off, we have this volunteer lady who takes the cake. She likes to come in and spend time with the cats and with the smaller dogs. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE the volunteers and appreciate them so much because without them, many of these animals wouldn't get the attention they deserve. But this lady is a special case. We receive donations all the time and sell some things to the public (like dog toys and beds) and she takes it upon herself to stuff her bag with some of these items...and leave. Does she pay? Nope. We've caught her a couple of times and have had to tell her that she needs to pay for the stuff. She almost got kicked out and banned because it was getting too much! I'm pretty sure she's a kleptomaniac. You'll probably be hearing more about her later because she likes come around a lot...her name is Mrs. I. We keep a watchful eye every time she's around now.

As frustrating as it can get sometimes, I also try to look at the positive. Part of our job is to educate people about our animals and how to properly care for them. There are also many people who come in with donations, with the intent to adopt, and are just all around nice people. So it's not always that bad! :)

I also wanted to share two pics of dogs that I thought were adorable and were able to get their happy ending! I love happy endings and success stories :) It makes all of this worth it.