(no subject)
I officially have an interview with these folks this Friday, at 9:30am.
If you've clicked that link, then we've probably asked the same question: "Is my lack of Judaism going to be a problem here?"
The answer, from all sides, is no. That's all good. The guy I might possibly be replacing is also of the gentile persuasion. Though it must be said that the Contact page is stuffed full of really Jewish sounding names (I am, of course, basing this solely off of sitcoms, so that may be inaccurate).
I'll be thrilled if this works out. It sounds like they need someone to do a lot of community outreach/newsletter publication/volunteer organization/minor counseling. I have decent experience in all but the last, so not only is this something I can do, it's going to give me a lot more experience than my current desk monkey-ing. The guy I'd be replacing is looking to leave by July 15, so they need a replacement immediately, and they seem desperate enough to give 22-year-old me a shot at it. Is it wrong to take advantage of someone else's difficult situation?
Then this morning, with timing that might as well be an omen, the County dropped a brand new policy in our lap. It's pretty much the final nail in the coffin.
We're still responding to the SPCA's attack of last March. We've abolished gas-chamber euthanasia and, as of today, we are 100% spay/neuter. Nothing leaves the shelter intact.
Except when it does. We obviously can't expect the brand new foster program to shoulder the burden of every underage or sick animal that comes to us. And what about the ones who are healthy at the time of spay/neuter deposit, but fall sick before the surgery? And what about our insurance policy, which won't let us perform surgery on privately owned animals (ie, anything officially adopted from us) The Director of Environmental Services has a GREAT idea, and it's called the Foster to Adopt Program. Anyone interested in a small or sick animal will become its temporary foster parent. The animal remains shelter property, and can be returned to be sterilized and officially adopted once it's old enough.
It sounds good in theory (I was very excited, to be honest), but then you hit a snag; how do you make people bring the animals back? I'm not saying that most wouldn't, but there's a percentage of the population who A) don't believe in spay/neuter or B) are too lazy to give a flying fuck. So the Director, in his INFINITE WISDOM, hit upon the following plan:
Charge them double the adoption fee at the time of foster ($200!!!) and refund half once the animal has been fixed.
Let's list the many ways this is a horrible plan:
I suggested that we keep the current fee and send an animal control officer out to reclaim any animal that wasn't brought in for surgery. That was waved off as being too labor intensive for our current ACO staff to handle. Okay, fair enough. But when Glenn suggested the more practical method of keeping the current fee and smacking anyone who didn't show up with a citation (via mail), we were told that the Director had his teeth in this $200 plan, and to just let it go until he'd calmed down a little.
What is he, SIX YEARS OLD? If you can't take a proposal that makes more sense than your pet plan, you don't deserve to be in charge of an entire county department. I don't know that I can take that sort of criticism, but that's why I'm not making the big bucks. BABY.
And guess who gets to inform the public of this bullshit? I feel like I've been thrown to the sharks. So fuck this bullshit; even this interview fails to pan out, I'm kicking the job search into overdrive. The Wake County Department of Environmental Services is poorly managed and sadly underfunded. What little structure we have is constantly being ripped out from under us and reorganized into procedures that make no sense to veteran employees. We're being run by a man who panders to every side and refuses to listen to the advice of those who actually keep his department running. Maybe I'm speaking from a limited view point on a bad day, but it still pisses me off. So it's back to private-sector non-profits for me, please.
So excited!!
If you've clicked that link, then we've probably asked the same question: "Is my lack of Judaism going to be a problem here?"
The answer, from all sides, is no. That's all good. The guy I might possibly be replacing is also of the gentile persuasion. Though it must be said that the Contact page is stuffed full of really Jewish sounding names (I am, of course, basing this solely off of sitcoms, so that may be inaccurate).
I'll be thrilled if this works out. It sounds like they need someone to do a lot of community outreach/newsletter publication/volunteer organization/minor counseling. I have decent experience in all but the last, so not only is this something I can do, it's going to give me a lot more experience than my current desk monkey-ing. The guy I'd be replacing is looking to leave by July 15, so they need a replacement immediately, and they seem desperate enough to give 22-year-old me a shot at it. Is it wrong to take advantage of someone else's difficult situation?
Then this morning, with timing that might as well be an omen, the County dropped a brand new policy in our lap. It's pretty much the final nail in the coffin.
We're still responding to the SPCA's attack of last March. We've abolished gas-chamber euthanasia and, as of today, we are 100% spay/neuter. Nothing leaves the shelter intact.
Except when it does. We obviously can't expect the brand new foster program to shoulder the burden of every underage or sick animal that comes to us. And what about the ones who are healthy at the time of spay/neuter deposit, but fall sick before the surgery? And what about our insurance policy, which won't let us perform surgery on privately owned animals (ie, anything officially adopted from us) The Director of Environmental Services has a GREAT idea, and it's called the Foster to Adopt Program. Anyone interested in a small or sick animal will become its temporary foster parent. The animal remains shelter property, and can be returned to be sterilized and officially adopted once it's old enough.
It sounds good in theory (I was very excited, to be honest), but then you hit a snag; how do you make people bring the animals back? I'm not saying that most wouldn't, but there's a percentage of the population who A) don't believe in spay/neuter or B) are too lazy to give a flying fuck. So the Director, in his INFINITE WISDOM, hit upon the following plan:
Charge them double the adoption fee at the time of foster ($200!!!) and refund half once the animal has been fixed.
Let's list the many ways this is a horrible plan:
- Most of the people who adopt from us can't really afford to have a pet. Many gawk at me in shock when I tell them the current adoption fees. The refund policy won't matter if they can't produce the initial $200 in the first place.
- Related to two, adoption of smaller or sick animals will drop, euthanasia will rise, and we're going to look even worse than we used to. Way to pander, Director!
- The County is slow as fucking molasses when it comes to refunds (which is not actually anyone's fault; I'm told the finance department only has TWO people responsible for approving and cutting checks. They must be horribly overworked and underpaid). Our current too-small-too-sick policy involves sending animals home immediately, intact, and refunding $50 when they send us proof that the animal has been spayed. These refunds take about six weeks by mail, and sometimes they don't come at all. I deal with these complaints on a daily basis. I can't imagine how much more of a clusterfuck this sudden influx of foster-to-adopt refunds will be on our already overtaxed system.
- What about the people who put a deposit on a healthy animal, only to have it fall sick on them before surgery? They didn't sign up for this expensive foster crap. They are not going to be pleased.
- We'll be liable for all these animals so long as they're in foster. So all those cases of puppies and kittens who are adopted only escape, bite a child, come down with something horrible, or be mauled by the current family pet? Those are all going to be on us, rather than the adopter. Have fun paying for all that, legal department!
I suggested that we keep the current fee and send an animal control officer out to reclaim any animal that wasn't brought in for surgery. That was waved off as being too labor intensive for our current ACO staff to handle. Okay, fair enough. But when Glenn suggested the more practical method of keeping the current fee and smacking anyone who didn't show up with a citation (via mail), we were told that the Director had his teeth in this $200 plan, and to just let it go until he'd calmed down a little.
What is he, SIX YEARS OLD? If you can't take a proposal that makes more sense than your pet plan, you don't deserve to be in charge of an entire county department. I don't know that I can take that sort of criticism, but that's why I'm not making the big bucks. BABY.
And guess who gets to inform the public of this bullshit? I feel like I've been thrown to the sharks. So fuck this bullshit; even this interview fails to pan out, I'm kicking the job search into overdrive. The Wake County Department of Environmental Services is poorly managed and sadly underfunded. What little structure we have is constantly being ripped out from under us and reorganized into procedures that make no sense to veteran employees. We're being run by a man who panders to every side and refuses to listen to the advice of those who actually keep his department running. Maybe I'm speaking from a limited view point on a bad day, but it still pisses me off. So it's back to private-sector non-profits for me, please.
So excited!!