I just quit the shelter (long)

tickytat

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I just gave my notice to Connie, the president of the shelter where I have volunteered for the past four years. It was a decision a long time in the making, with recent events finally pushing me over the edge. My primary shift was Thursday evening adoptions, where I would go to the shelter directly after work at 3 p.m. and stay until 7 p.m. My duties mostly included showing potential adopters our animals, and completing the necessary checks and paperwork, as well as a bit of cleaning and feeding. It was fun and I loved it. I was great at it and found wonderful homes for a ton of dogs and cats. Lately, I had begun to dread going in for my shift. It wasn't the animals or the cleaning, it was the people. I hated dealing with stupid people! Sometimes I'd get some very pleasant people in there but usually it was jerks who shouldn't even have animals. It got worse and worse and I couldn't take it anymore. I was extremely burned out, and finally in January, I told Connie I needed to be done with adoptions. She happily put me on a Wednesday night dog shift, where I just walk, clean, feed, and play with dogs, and don't have to deal with the public. I was so happy because that was going to be my perfect shift on my perfect night. Wrong! They didn't tell me that they weren't taking Erika (a paid employee) off that night. Supposedly I was to "help her" and also do my paperwork and miscellaneous crap. Working with Erika sucked. She had everything done by the time I got there, made me feel like I was totally in the way and completely useless. So, for the past few Wednesdays, I had just been going in for about 20 mintues to take pictures of cats for the website and do my paperwork. I feel like it's a waste of time and I feel totally useless now that they have all these paid employees. It confuses me... here I am offering to do a shift for FREE as a volunteer and they'd rather PAY someone to do it? It's not like they have a lot of money. Apparently I'm one of about four other volunteers who feel the same way. We have dedicated YEARS to that shelter only to be run out by paid employees (which is a relatively new thing for this shelter). We were all very reliable and good, so why all the employees all of a sudden? I will miss working with the animals and people but it's time for me to step back and take a break for a while. I thought about donating money to make up for not volunteering, but the thought of my donation ending up as somebody's paycheck makes me really angry. I think I will just buy items on their wish list instead. I'm kind of sad right now about it but it was my decision to quit and with the whole house buying process going on, I think it was the right time to do it.
 
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tickytat

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I know the animals are in good care and will continue to be taken care of. It's a great shelter, like the Plaza Hotel in NYC compared to some other shelter's I've seen, so I will miss them but know they'll be okay.
 

ldg

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I'm so sorry the volunteers got the short end of the stick and they kind of forced you to make this decision. I'm glad the animals are being treated well - but it seems like when the time is right you may be able to find a place that really needs your volunteer time.


Laurie
 

lunasmom

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Oh so sorry to hear about things going down hill


Hopefully this will open up a new opportunity for you. It does stink after so many years of doing something you love and it just becomes pointless because of other people.
 

stacyd1987

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Wow, your story definitely made me see a different view on volunteers. I'm hoping to become one of those paid people but in my opinion, I would've thought that taking care of things for them so they could have more time to socialize with the animals would be the 'right' thing. I hope you're able to find another needing shelter soon, if you wish for that.
 

addiebee

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Originally Posted by LDG

I'm so sorry the volunteers got the short end of the stick and they kind of forced you to make this decision. I'm glad the animals are being treated well - but it seems like when the time is right you may be able to find a place that really needs your volunteer time.


Laurie
Yeah, I understand. I stopped volunteering for a while b/c of the petty personality politics going on inside the organization. Now, it's just me and the kitties at the storefront one night a week. And I don't have to deal as much with boneheads!!
 
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tickytat

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Originally Posted by StacyD1987

Wow, your story definitely made me see a different view on volunteers. I'm hoping to become one of those paid people but in my opinion, I would've thought that taking care of things for them so they could have more time to socialize with the animals would be the 'right' thing. I hope you're able to find another needing shelter soon, if you wish for that.
The new employees at our shelter, especially Erika, are very good employees. They're reliable, hard working, and fast. But there's some behind-the-scenes info that I don't like. For one, she's been giving out false information about adoptions to the public, and when corrected, she stomps off and pouts. The shelter was working smoothly when we only had two paid employees: One for cats, one for dogs - a.m. shifts. The evening shifts were up to volunteers and it worked great. But all of a sudden there are three more paid employees... and no shortage of volunteers... so something doesn't add up. It's been a long time coming for me and I may go back later on but we'll see.
 
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