| Nancy1999 | 04-15-2010 09:24 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by capt_noonie
(Post 3085411)
This is true sometimes, and it makes me mad whenever I hear of so many people have been treated the same way. I have a customer who wanted to adopt a dog from the petsmart (or it could have been petco) adoption days. He said the lady had such an attitude and was power tripping, and bc since he worked, he couldn't adopt a dog bc he wasn't home for 9 hrs each day. Well, doesn't everyone work? Don't you need to work to make money to spoil the dog? Don't these dogs need homes? Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to me. Another customer heard his conversation with the adoption lady, and she told him, sometimes you just have to lie.
Now that I am a foster mom, I interview potential adoptive parents too. I feel there is absolutely NO reason to be mean and power trippy. If you don't feel the person is a match, then they are not, but I dont understand why some have to be so downright mean.
| I agree with you, that being mean isn't helpful, but as you continue doing this type of work, many people suffer from something called "burn out". It's really common in all the helping professions, and in volunteer work. You start out with great intentions, and you know just enough to be helpful, and your heart is in the right place. In time, you learn that homes you have chosen, have not worked out, the people who seemed so great in every way, weren't, and the dog is put up for adoption again. Or even worse, the dogs died because the people you chose clearly misrepresented themselves, and were extremely negligent, and perhaps even abusive. So as time goes on, you either quit doing volunteer work, or you build up a little wall, so you won't blame yourself so much when things don't work out. You will become more skeptical of people and learn that people can lie and mislead about really important things. Rescue workers rarely make decisions based on one thing, and should always be looking for the best home for the dog. If the home isn't as good as the foster home, many rescues believe in keeping the dog in the foster home. I expect, "burn out" is why many rescue volunteers seem "mean". They are only thinking of the best interest of the dog, and not the best interest of the humans. Finding that right balance that allows you to keep doing rescue, and yet allows you to protect yourself when your decisions have been poor, is no easy task. Also, I imagine a rescue workers decision in placement of a pet shouldn't be based on how much they "like" the person, because that could color their decisions, so keeping a little distance when interviewing a potential client would be beneficial, yet could make them come off as "cold." | 