the shelter.

I went to the animal shelter again today. We had a volunteer orientation this morning for a couple of hours. The shelter is just starting to get an actual volunteer program running. Since they are relatively new to the area, they just had a handful of volunteers who came in and helped sporadically. Now, there's been some serious advertising going on and there are quite a few more volunteers signing up. A bunch of them are children so they are basically there to play with and interact with the animals. It was an interesting orientation. I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know. It was nice to see volunteers that seemed to be eager to be there. I left after orientation to visit with my sister and her girlfriend.

We had a hilarious conversation. We talked about my sister's job at a call center. I put in my two cents about call centers. In my own job, I'd trained people at call centers to use a new software system. It was a hell of an experience. And, to top it off, the call center that I worked in was in Mississippi. Apparently, there's quite a few similarities between call centers no matter what state they are in. My sister somehow does well at the call center. I, on the other hand, would get fired the first day I worked there. I can just see it now... some broad yelling and cursing at me to fix her account or whatever and my response would be "No, fuck you." *Click.* Or some dude telling me that he wants to speak to a supervisor. I'd be like "Sure." Put him on hold and practice my Indian accent before I pick up the phone again, "Yes? Oh. Thank you, come again." *Click.* Yeah, I can deal with people in person but over the phone people can be such assholes. They can hide behind the fact that I can't see them. My facial expressions tend to give away my thoughts. So, in person I can "inadvertently" give off the vibe that I don't give a damn what their complaint is but if they expect to get my help, they'll calm the fuck down. Anyway, my sister left and I returned to the shelter to put in some volunteer time.

When I got back to the shelter, I talked to the director and explained that I had experience fostering and that the shelter was completely different for me. I just wanted to help in whatever capacity that they had the most need. She told me that they were getting a lot more stay-at-moms and teenagers that were coming in to help walk the dogs and do things like that. She said that she needed help with reception. So, that's where I'm going to come in now. I will start by answering phones and then completing adoptions. Handling paperwork and educating the public. It should be quite interesting. Really, it's not exactly what I want to be doing. I like to work with animals but at the same time the goal is the same. I want to find matches for dogs and their people. The goal is to reduce the amount of pets dying in pounds and increase public awareness. Mutts (and the random "purebreds") need love too. I sat there for a few hours chatting with the staff learning bits about how the business is run. I did some organizing of files. Nothing too exciting. I am supposed to go in and work for a few hours on Monday and Tuesday. Since I work remotely, work doesn't care where I am physically located. So I'll work and answer phones and greet customers.

Nora is also going to start going to nursing homes and hanging out with the old people. These nursing homes just require good behavior and since Nora is not certified she can participate. It'll be nice to bring some smiles to the faces of some that are sometimes so neglected.

But ultimately, I think this will be good for me. It'll be nice to help and hopefully feel like I am making a difference for to these furry friends and their potential new families.