My mom brought me a new foster puppy yesterday. I don't have a name for him yet. He came with the name Rebel, but with a name like that I might as well don him in a little doggie Confederate flag t shirt and find him a forever home in a trailer park.
I'm currently taking name suggestions...
And this is a perfect segue into the first homework assignment...My First Job!!
When I was a senior in high school I finally had a car and needed money for gas...and maybe for other things of a possibly illegal nature. I looked around the local mall for 'Now hiring' signs because back then the internet wasn't used for much more than sharing pornography and celebrity worship. I eventually found a job at the pet store there.
Yep. Yours truly worked at a mall pet store. I came to loathe mall pet stores after this experience because they're as shitty as you'd expect. The puppies come delivered from the puppy mills on a semi. They arrived to us sickly, some practically half dead and we'd have to bring them back to life. The small animals fared even worse. What killed me though was how most of the staff, who were white trash at best, nonchalantly would bag up the dead animals and put them in the freezer. They would have loved to just toss them in the garbage, but that is highly illegal and they had already been levied a hefty fine for doing so.
By law, we were supposed to sanitize the kennels once a day, but my manager was lazy so we only did it once a week. It was disgusting. And when we did clean the kennels my fingers would become so burned with bleach that I practically lost my fingerprints.
The entire staff smoked in the back room, which made me physically ill. I was floored. I remember mentioning how illegal that was and they simply glowered at me while taking drags from their cigarettes.
There was one manger however that I could tell loved animals and who hated the owner of the store, who was a penny pinching piece of shit we called Mr. H. I remember one day I came to work and saw a wounded white feeder mouse all alone in a dirty tank. I mentioned that if I could take him home he would probably heal up instead of simply being left to slowly die. The manager agreed and helped me to pick out a clean, new tank and some food and accessories. When we closed up for the night and I was leaving I told her that I'd have him back after he was better. She told me not to bother, that I should keep him. I asked that the money for him and everything else be taken out of my check and she just nodded.
When I got my check the following week there was nothing deducted. For all intents and purposes, I had stolen from my place of employment. I inquired about it but she told me not to worry.
When I say I've never stolen anything in my life I have to go back a bit an explain all this. That yes, I suppose I have stolen. And that little mouse, whom I named Gerald, was not the last. After him, I was 'given' a rat, a guinea pig, and cages and food for them. I never admitted all of this on paper, but I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations for petty larceny have long since past.
I eventually left that job a few weeks before I went to college. But it was the first of many animal care related jobs. I've worn many hats in my life, but my favorite occupation is caring for animals. If only it paid a decent living wage I would do it again...
And now for the next belated 'homework assignment'....
What skill what I like to acquire? Well, I would love to be fluent in other languages. I was almost proficient in German, but I lost most of it as I had no one to speak it with for some time. I just think it's so neat when people can speak multiple languages. I get so jealous of their ability. Learning other languages is generally hard for me, as it is hard for most adults. I took Latin in high school and, while my pronunciation was stellar, I was generally a lackluster student when it came to Latin grammar an syntax.
Sometimes I think that I'll save up and buy Rosetta Stone, but then something else more pressing comes up or I just get lazy.
But wouldn't it be so cool if I could speak German and French? So cool.
Anyway, my birthday is in less than a month. I'm not too excited about it. After 25 birthdays lose all of their allure as each on just reminds you more and more that the years are unkind and gravity is definitely not your friend. Oh well. I'll try to enjoy it this year anyway.
Well, kiddies, I must be off. Time to go wash the dye out of my hair and head to work!
