Complaining

Hey Amigos,

I've been a terrible blogger, I know. Mea culpa. Work has been an everloving nightmare. I've taken on a new project and am in the process of hiring 3 new student assistants. I'd explain in more detail the reasoning and inanity behind all of this, but I also want to keep my job. So, I'm doing what I need to do, but it does take over my life.

Thankfully it looks like the hiring is complete. Know what I love? Students who call and email multiple times, are all over you to come in and interview, tell you how much they need the job, how they want to start work right away, so then you offer them the job and they're all excited, so you get their paperwork rolling and then you never hear from them, and you end up sending them an ultimatum so that you can offer the job to someone who sincerely wants it. I know this is nothing new, people have been doing this from the first job interview that ever occurred. Well, I should say, inconsiderate people. Me, I've never done any such thing. Hand to God, it's the truth. I just think it takes a lot of cheek to dick me around and no matter how many times it happens it irks me.

I have a friend who says "You're surprised?" or things of that nature, they're college students, blah blah blah. I say, "tell me something I don't know." No, of course I'm not surprised. But that'll be the day when I actually accept this sort of thing as being OK. And I'd say 18 or 19 is a pretty young age to start pulling this kind of crap. In the words of George Costanza, "We're living in a society here."

What else, what else. I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of WW yesterday. Longest I've ever stuck with a program by a HUGE margin. I'm quite happy and content with it too, comfortable with the way the program works. This is the one, people. My weigh in this week wasn't particularly what I would have liked (up 2.2 lbs) but it's all part of the process. The receptionist at my meeting is the one who weighed me in. The woman has a room temperature IQ and never fails to screw something up. When I sat down I saw that she hadn't put my sticker for the week (that records weight loss, total weight, etc.) in my booklet. So I went back and she couldn't find it, which led me to assume (correctly I might add) that she'd adhered it to someone else's booklet. She was going on and on about how sometimes the system doesn't print a sticker and how next week the total will be OK and how it's just a glitch in the system. So I told her the check's in the mail and the dog ate my homework...

Puhlease. So a little while later she tracks me down and tells me that my sticker was indeed in someone else's booklet. I wasn't angry, but I wasn't happy either. All I could think of was the woman who actually got my sticker and the shock she must have felt at seeing what the total was, before realizing it wasn't her total (trust me, everyone looks at the numbers first, not the name). I'm still I'd say a good 50 lbs heavier than most women in the room and the woman who got my sticker wasn't a large woman.

Honest to God, I just can't have that woman weigh me anymore.

Apropos of nothing, I saw a commercial for a tv show that I've never watched but I understand it has quite a following, John and Kate plus 8. I guess they're a couple who had 2 kids, and then a set of sextuplets and they don't seem to mind whoring themselves and their children out on national television. (Apologies if you like the show...I just can't abide by it). The latest episode is about 2 puppies that they've added.

I had to suppress my urge to puke when I saw that commercial. Now I can't say for sure they didn't adopt these dogs. I don't watch it. But, they're not dogs. They're puppies. I'm not even sure if all their children are out of diapers (the sextuplets are very young). WTF are they doing getting puppies? It honestly makes me so bloody angry that I can hardly even write about it. There are thousands upon thousands of family friendly dogs, adult dogs, who would make an ideal pet for a large clan such as theirs. Why not adopt? Why not adopt a dog who is already house-trained, already kid-friendly, who won't put such a burden on a family? Of course, they have a television crew and probably have the money and the resources to have the pups professionally trained, boarded, put in day care, etc., so I guess it's all OK...

I was in Petsmart the other day. There was a woman there with a boxer puppy. And adorable brindle boxer pup. I love boxers. I love puppies. I'm not made of stone. But I didn't even crack a smile. I actually felt contempt. I know I shouldn't, but I did. But I know how many boxers there are looking for homes, I know there aren't enough homes for them all, and there are boxers being put to sleep as we speak because of overpopulation. How could I feel congratulatory toward a person who buys a pup? I can't wait until she moves/gets married/loses her job/has a baby or any of the other myriad things that happen to people that make it 'necessary' for them to abandon the animal they took in.

Sorry, I know this post is bitter, vitriolic, but I've honestly had it lately. Then yesterday I had to spend 4 hours at the adoption center...like nails on a chalkboard it is. We had someone apply who listed her address, but upon further questioning admitted that they didn't actually live there yet. When asked if there were other pets in the home they answered "I don't know." How does a person respond to that? This individual had never had a pet of their own, but wanted a 7 month old tortoiseshell kitten...

Then we had some tool come in at 10 minutes to close who immediately started complaining. We sent a few animals home yesterday and their cages were empty, not clean (a few pieces of kibble here and there, and some random fur) but weren't dirty. They were empty for Christ's sake. But the guys says "Don't you people clean around here?" One of our well-meaning volunteers started to explain. I, being jaded, just shut the guy out at that point. Essentially 80% of the people who walk in there know how to do the job we're doing better than we do, you see. I have to listen to all the arguments about how declawing is the best thing you can do for your pet, how cruel we are for keeping them in cages, how mean we are for asking people not to touch our cats, how our adoption policies are too stringent...

I'm so tired of it all. Just so tired. You'd never know it. I'm nice, polite and patient. I explain things as best I can. And I know people can and do leave there better educated. I think I know what my issue is. I probably shouldn't go there 3 weekends in a row, for 4 hours at a pop.

Again, sorry for the bitterness!!! I tend to keep this stuff to myself a lot, in the name of peace and customer service. Feels good to let it out occasionally.

Not much else is new. I'm going to Door County with some of my boxer buddies this coming weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. Even getting away for a weekend is welcome.

Alright, signing off now. Until next time!