WHAT MADE YOU GRIMACE & GRIT YOUR TEETH TODAY?

For me it was long long ago, but I seem to remember that helpers took stuff home. Likely though, it was a bit of both, re the laundry distribution.

As for, me, I'd be perfectly happy to replace the "missing" items, but for folk like my mother & other older folk in these homes .... well, I guess it is important. They have so little left that they actually have control over in their lives .....

It's really sad....those few objects become really important to us as we age and suffer many losses.

And putting your mum in others' nighties, when she has her own, clearly labelled, ones is also very sad.

Sigh.

I assume some of the problem is understaffing?

Staff stealing from their charges is terrible, if it is occurring.

Yes, it is very sad, Deb.

The problem is, that heaps of clothing is out being laundered at any one time. So it's really hard to know what actually is missing ...

I don't know for certain that it is under-staffing. Always seem to be enough staff around when I visit. But who knows?

As for the stealing .... I've heard some awful stories from my friend who works in nursing homes. All I can say, is thank goodness my mother does not have any really expensive rings & jewellery with her!

Was talked to today because I've been working too many hours.

I actually work about 5 more hours per week than I'm actually paid for, but I've run into about 16 hours of overtime in the fortnight.

I'm only supposed to work 32 hours a week. So I've put in an extra 34 hours, I suppose, 8 at regular pay, 16 at overtime, and 10 as a volunteer.

There has been a lot of work to do lately, and only today did I start to feel caught up, in large part because our director has been taking in dozens of very sick and damaged animals from another shelter and has basically volunteered our resources to conduct an investigation for another organization who is much better funded than we are.

My immediate boss has been asking me to come in extra days to take care of the added surgery load and deal with day-to-day medical concerns.

I've been working my ass off.

I took my first lunch break in 3 weeks today.

But the bean counters come around to tell me that the hours I've been working aren't in the budget. But, then, neither is all the extra work we've been taking on with no funding attached to it.


So, fine, **** it. I'll come in at the beginning of the week. I'll start working. When I get to 32 hours, I'll leave. If there are more surgeries to do, if there are cats who aren't eating, if there are dogs breaking with kennel cough, if there are infected ears to be examined, if there are rotten teeth to be pulled, they'll wait until next week.

We'll see how long the director and the bean counters find that tolerable. Or the staff who have to take care of the animals every day, wondering when the medical staff will have time to get around to working with them.



Or they can get their **** together and put me on salary, and then they can work me like a rented mule as I have been for the last month, just trying to pick up the slack.



******* fund raisers and bean counters in the pressed slacks and their blood-free hands. **** 'em.

Yeah. That sucks.

Sounds like you're in great bargaining position for being put on salary though.

**** 'em indeed!!!

I am very sorry you have had this experience.

And the poor little furballs, too.

Not really. Our investments are in the shitter right now, and we used up all our savings on increased overhead last year. So we've got a budget to meet -- which is why the bean counters are up in arms.

Thing is, the director is constantly overextending what we are able to do and then gets upset when people start working overtime.

The problem is that our shelter has taken on the identity as the shelter in the state who can get things done over the past several years, and so it's become expected that when other shelters are hugely overburdened we can take animals off their hands. About 2 years ago, we dedicated ourselves to providing low-cost spay/neuter for the public in our county and in neighboring counties -- which basically means about 25 to 35 veterinarian and technician hours are taken up each week performing surgery on owned animals. Ostensibly, this is my job. In reality, though, over the past 18 months or so we have taken in probably 130 to 150 animals with profound medical needs from a particular shelter, which we are unable to euthanize for a variety of reasons and who demand a tremendous amount of veterinary time. When these animals come in, they take up pretty much all of the head veterinarian's time, which leaves me in charge of the regular shelter medical operations and the bulk of the spay neuter.

Which takes more than 32 hours a week.

Anywho, I've got to go get a sandwich and a drink, then go rest up for tomorrow's spay-a-thon, which I have to cover because the regular Friday mobile vet is sick. I'll hit hour 40 for the week at around 10 am.

Grimace. Grit.

Total sympathy from here.
I pretty much know of what you speak, time and work load wise, and organizational, um, plan wise.


I had a bit of an odd day, but I think I'll rattle on about it over on the grin thread, as the grin beats out the grit today.

I came on here to grimace & grit about the start of allergy season and the constant sinus headaches I'm having. But that sounds like nothing compared to what p'dog's having to put up with.

Think I'll go take another Claritin. (Why, I don't know. They don't work.)

Eva, I'm an old vasomotor rhinitis/asthma person. I tried allegra and claritin - neither of them helped me and were, then, expensive, so I went back to benedryl. But... I don't know if that applies at all to sinus headaches, which aren't on my complaint list.

Thanks, Osso. But Benedryl makes me so woozy I can't walk straight. I can only take it at night.

Hey, it's night!!! <face palm> Ouch, that hurt.

I used to take a lot of them back in my major sneeze days. Weaned myself down to 1/2 of one every once in a while, and lately, maybe, say, 4 benedryls a year. Ahem, a certain totally gorgeous and adorable cat of a friend can set me off.

My grimace-and-grit has got me on a plan that might actually be a good one.

I'm proposing to my employers that I'm salaried during our 9 busy months, during which I could be worked like a rented mule, and only work 2 surgery days and do no medical coverage during the slack winter months. Total cost to them is roughly the same as my original 80% appointment, and frees me up to work relief during the holiday season (when relief vets are in high demand) and have a sort of semi-sabbatical every year. I'm hoping they like this idea -- it would also free me up to spend a couple of weeks in the Caribbean every winter, which would be so so so nice, and is not possible under present arrangement.

Lemons, lemonade, I'm hoping.

Sorry, allergy folks. The missus has bad asthma, and her season is coming up quick, so I sympathize.

Claritin is the bomb, by the way, except for the occasional headaches. Benadryl's not good for much except as a sleep aid, IMO.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

I'm currently on a trip that's scheduled to start with a week in San Diego at a professional conference, to continue with a stay at Blatham's in Portland (visiting Boomerang on Monday), visiting Mame in Calgary, and visiting Dyslexia in Albuquerque. So far, so perfect.

But now I discover that I've forgot my passport on my desk in Metuchen ... and that Calgary is in Canada -- a sovereign country where you cannot travel without a passport! I'm so sorry, Mame, but I won't be able to make it. Why oh why do I always have to be so ******* disorganized?! Grrrrrr!

May it be:

Awwwwwwwww!

I am sorry to hear that.

Thomas. If I had a car and knew how to drive and if I had your house keys, I would drive to Metuchen, find the passport, and send it to you express.

Sorry to hear you won't be able to visit Mame.

Enjoy the trip anyway. And I hope that the conference is productive for you.

Last night my friend's husband accidentally reversed into the back of my little car, which was parked in their side-drive during my visit there. And, dammit, the rear window & the boot door are stuffed. He & I spent much of this morning finding a suitable place to repair it. Rushing round like crazy before all the crash repair places closed for the weekend, around midday. OK, so that's done. Now I'm being a menace of the roads driving the replacement car, which doesn't have manual gear changing like mine does. I've never driven the automatic variety before & it's requiring some adjustment. I have just returned home, very tired, after being an outrageous menace on the roads in the process of getting here . So I am consoling myself with a box Newman's liqueur chocolates. ("A naughty assortment of milk & dark chocolate liqueur truffles")

may wonders never cease...

pretend you are driving on your couch, or do what the ladies do here.

cell phone in one hand, and breakfast sammich in the other.

(you won't even think about reaching for the lever then...)


or do you live on top of some mountain hide-out thing like in the mr hogan movies???