Vicious Circle

People think, judging from discussion boards I sometimes sneak around, that shelter workers are jerks. That's understandable, perhaps. Maybe all you want to do is to stop in Kittens-R-Us and pick up a 2 month diversion. Maybe the stringent and overbearing requirements we have, like speaking to your landlord to make sure it's ok that you have a pet, and also our sneaky tactics in trying to catch you unawares with the questions about whether you plan to declaw, whether you're going to let the cat outside, whether your other pets are spayed/neutered...I know. The audacity!
We are looser than most shelters, actually. We don't even call your vet for reference. Home visits? Ha. We hardly have time to go pee in the course of a day. Who's going to go do home checks? We will give you a hard time if you tell it to our face that the kitten is to be a surprise gift for your 19 year old boyfriend. But all in all....if you are articulate and polite, you'll most likely get what you want from us within reason.

But, yes. We are jerks. I think a lot about this. I do not really work the floor, play kitty petting zoo, do adoptions. I am too busy doing everything medical-related. Work that at one point was shared with two others who have since left and not really been replaced. But I think a lot about it, the impression we, I, give to visitors. I remember a couple years back at the Toyota dealership...the night we went to sign papers on the purchase of my Fit. They were busy. I grasped that. But for an hour, it seemed like at least a half dozen little metro-coiffed, cologned, necktied young car salesmen were zipping around from the finance office and back, right by our faces, all stressed looking...and no one so much as smiled and said..."Someone will be with you! Sorry!" I was offended. And I got to thinking that perhaps I do that. I know I walk harried and cranky-looking, all rushed, back to the copier, my boss' office, wherever, right past visitors-who-may-need-help. I try try try to pick my averty gaze up off my shoes and smile and say..."Have you been helped?" But somedays the burden is already too heavy and I just can't bring myself to open that can of worms. Honestly, I don't really want to know whether you have been helped, because there's a chance you'll say..."No, I haven't!" I have stuff to do, my Care-O-Meter was maxed out like 2 years ago, I have death and disease nipping at my heels constantly, and I don't want to get even further behind in my work to chit chat about why our adoption fee is "so high" ($85).

I try try try to be nice. Sometimes I go whole hog and stop what I am doing to answer any questions in the world for you. I feel good after it, and I hope you do, too. I say my Care-O-Meter is maxed out...but really it's not. It's part of me. But I can't muster that up constantly while getting pummelled with rotten tomatoes of Problems, Sob Stories and Futile Tasks all day.

Some of my coworkers don't seem to try that much. Sometimes I cringe at stuff I overhear. On one hand, I understand their crabbiness. We have had enough. We are emotionally bankrupt a lot of the time. We know you are quite possibly just in the throes of a kitten orgasm and not really thinking longterm. We have as good of a handle as we can on the ubiquitous cat URI that is in every shelter...and your pointing out that someone is sneezing or complaining about an eye goober is not seen as being that helpful, thanks. Your proclivity, as a layperson, to debate with us about the children-age-restriction assigned by a professional behaviorist to the nippy Jack Russell down there is tedious and slightly offensive. On the other hand, though, we could be friendlier. You are uppity to us. That makes us uppity to you. Which came first on a given day, I don't know. Some people, a couple coworkers of mine included, really should not be in a position to deal with the public. But how did they get like that? From dealing with the public.

I don't know what the answer is....maybe if we were nicer, the public would be less infuriating.
Maybe if the public was less infuriating, we would be nicer.
It's not like this all the time, but on a busy day, some scenarios play out that are unpleasant to overhear. Decent possible homes may be lost.
There has to be a better way. I just don't know what it is. A deli counter? "Number 23?" Something.