Saturday, December 08, 2018

A Conversation With Barbara Tonight…

“Sweet pea, I just my foot in my mouth big time yesterday,” she told me. “I apologize. I certainly don’t have the gift of the gab.”

“I understand,” I replied. “I acted rashly on my part as well. Barbara, frankly, I am just burned out of cleaning those kennels.”

“Will you volunteer until I can hire someone else?” she asked. “Nobody but you would do that job for free.”

“I would be glad to,” I replied.

“I am so sorry honey and I never told you how much of a godsend you’ve been for us. I wish I could have paid you for all those countless days you worked.”

“Well, I will see you bright and early Monday,” I told her cutting things short.

“Thank you so much, honey!” Barbara replied and we got off the phone.

So I am basically putting in my two weeks notice until Barbara can find someone to take my position. I called Tracy and filled her in on my and Barbara’s conversation tonight. She feels better, but she doesn’t want me to go.

“It is not going to be the same working there anymore,” Tracy told me over the phone. “To see your smiling face when I get there in the morning.”

“We’ll see,” I said. “Who knows? I could just drop down to two days a week like I originally intended and might stay on volunteering in a limited capacity. I just need a break that’s all. Something to lighten the load.”

“Let Barbara hire somebody to do the dogs and you can come in and help me with the cats,” Tracy replied exploring ideas.

“We’ll see,” I replied. “I promise you there will be an amicable ending that’s best for everyone involved.”

1 comment:

Sharyn said...

You know, I had been concerned with the amount of hours you were working. And paid or not, you were working. Very rarely does a volunteer work THAT many hours. Maybe you did take on too much. You had intended on a nice volunteer job a couple of days a week maybe half a day. What you got was 40+ hours a week. Plus a volunteer almost never has a key and to be asked to "open the shop", is over the top.

If you go back, you should (in writing) map out what a Volunteer's Job really is. In CA, Volunteers aren't allowed to clean cages, for instance. You could help Miss Barbara get a handle on what a volunteer is and what they should do. This would be helpful for future volunteers too.

And, oh yeah, you got rid of Tut; even if you never volunteer again, you got rid of Tut. (What happened to her man, Richard?)