Yesterday continued

Ok, back to yesterday's adoption event.  We had a lot of nice people come in and a few even filled out volunteer applications.  I talk a lot about how much I dislike the Notre Dame students but most of the people we got in yesterday that were friendly and polite, were from Notre Dame.  We had kids from other colleges come in and they were not friendly or polite.  One set of little morons came in as we were getting ready to pack up.  Around that time, I was the only volunteer around the dogs.  (which was a major pain in the ass because two other volunteers had been there for a moment and handed off three puppies to three different sets of people... I have two eyes and they really only focus on one thing at a time, you do the math)  A girl came up to me (with a slight attitude) and asked what she had to do to get one of the puppies.  I could tell by how she asked that I was in for one of those, wish I could bang my head against a well moments.  I told her the usual line, fill out an application, and someone would get back with you within five days depending on how busy we were with other apps.  She said so I can't take him home today?  My answer was of course no, even though in certain circumstances we do allow the family to take the animal home immediately.  She walked back with her group of male friends and kept petting the puppy.  I figured they would just leave as she hadn't asked for an app.  My director came back and was packing up one of the booths when one of the boys came up to me and asked if I knew of any pet stores where they could get a dog.  My director, not knowing the entire details, told them to fill out an app. or go to petfinder.com and look for puppies there.  He said no, we're getting a dog today.  Where can I get one?  I told him I didn't know.  (a lie) He said so you don't know anywhere close and again I said no.  To be honest, it is Petsmart's policy that if we are there for an adoption event that we are not to solicit for other organizations so legally, I was bond by contract to say that I didn't know.  He huffed and walked away.  Now my director being a little short of temper by this time, walked away mid-conversation and I don't blame her.  Now that I am fairly confident answering questions, I don't mind if they get fed up and go some where else.  Once she came back though I asked her if we were allowed to euthanize the humans?  She said, you know I had that exact same thought.  I said the very least we could do is spay and neuter them.  Then we had a conversation about how we've seen two year olds throw similar tantrums.  I also took my first phone call that day.  Luckily, in previous "real" jobs, I've had to answer the phone so I knew how to properly do so.  "Hi this is Jamie from such and such.  How can I help you?"  She wanted to know if she drove from Chicago today, if she could take home a dog the same day.  I told her no, that she would have to fill out an application and someone would get back to her after checking her vet references.  She then proceeded to ask a few more idiotic questions that now I'm used to answering and told her to go to the website and get an application.  Really, it's not my fault that these people from Chicago, decide to fall in love with dogs that live hours away from them.  I know the Chicago shelters.  There are plenty of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens to go around and no need to search other states.  When I got back to the booth, my director asked me what they wanted.  I told her she wanted to know if she could take home a dog today and I told her no.  She said good for you.  In this organization, it is not looked upon highly if you fumble or let people walk all over you.  I think that was a fear with me in the beginning as I tend to be very nice and as gentle as I can be when telling people no.  I'm glad that they are noticing that I can stand my own ground.  It will prevent THEM from trying to take advantage of my kindness and warm heart.  At another point during the day, a man and woman walked up and were asking questions about Doodle.  At about the same time, a guy came up with his one year old and they were petting her.  Being a mom and knowing how toddler's can act with dogs, I paid more attention to what the little girl was doing than to the adults.  The last of what they had to say was all I caught, "She's not even listening to me"  Well, I can only hear so many things at once.  When you're at an adoption event, it's loud, dogs are barking, people are talking.  I was very proud of how nice I proceeded to be to these same people.  I began talking to them once again, saying something about how good she is with children, etc.  Had they filled out an application, I would've marked it a big fat no.  If you don't have enough patience to deal with the adoption process, you don't have enough to deal with a dog.  When people ask me if they can take a dog home the same day, I always say no even though that's no always our policy, it's my policy and my director is already well aware of it.  I'm just thankful that their attitude towards me has changed in the past few weeks.

I was supposed to go there today to pack up the cats.  I was still awake at 6am and that's when Jasmine woke up.  She was throwing up on and off all the morning.  I called in the afternoon and told them I wouldn't be able to make it.  I feel badly because I know they're weren't all feeling well but my kid comes before them. 

It is cold here.  I don't mean the usual winter cold, I mean REALLY cold.  The wind has been blowing all night, making the temperature seem much colder. (wind chill) Even my furriest dogs only stayed out a few minutes tonight.  I really can't wait till summer.