Soooo. This past week has been quite busy. Remember that job
I wrote about last week? Yeah, that didn’t last long. From the moment I walked
into my first shift I felt uneasy. I didn’t like the atmosphere, I didn’t like
the obsessiveness of the cleaning regimen, I just didn’t like it. Nothing felt
right there. It was an emotionally cold place and it didn’t hold the friendly,
animal loving environment that I had expected. I never really liked the idea of
kennels in the first place but then I thought that I would give it a chance.
People who start kennels must love animals right? They are providing a safe and
loving place for them to stay while their family is away. Right?
That’s not how this place felt. I understand kennels need to
be clean and sanitary but the level of obsessiveness was obscene. Certain
cleaners for certain areas used with specific sized cloths and scrubbers.
Squeegeeing out kennels must be done in three strokes all in a particular order.
Same goes with squeegeeing the floor after mopping it in a certain way. No
modifications. There are signs everywhere that say lists upon lists of things
to clean and do. None of which involves giving the dogs love and care. On top
of one of these lists read “Just because something was done already doesn’t mean
it can’t be done again.”
Wtf. We wiped one counter close to 7 times. It was clean the
first time we did it! Carrying along with this OCD mayhem was how storage boxes
had to be situated perfectly in line with kennel door hinges. Paper notices
with lists of items inside the storage boxes had to be perfectly taped in a
certain way. The girl training me even went back to re-adjust one she just did,
stating that the owner would start tweaking out if she saw it misaligned or if
the storage box got bumped and was a tad tilted. Red flag?
For the first couple of hours we were there we didn’t get to
interact with any of the dogs. Clean, clean, clean, clean. Running back and
forth like chickens with their heads cut off. Finally 11 o clock rolled around
and it was time to let the dogs out to exercise. The whole day I had my eye on
this one big dog that I desperately wanted to pet. All the dogs run out into
the yard like they’ve never seen blue sky before. With my past experience with
dogs and knowing what to do, I waited for the dogs to file out and saw the one I
wanted to meet most. He was slow and calm, just sniffing the ground. I called
him over and got him to sit. Finally I got to give him a good pat and scratched
him all over. He looked like he was in heaven and all he wanted to do was sit
there and be close to some sort of interaction.
The owner tells me then that at the kennel they don’t pet
the dogs for 5-10 minutes after they get out so that they can calm down. Fuck
that. The dogs are only outside for half an hour during my 6 hour shift and
what then, each of them gets maybe a minute of one on one interaction. Shit.
This seems more like a concentration camp than anything.
The dogs are outside for half an hour before being let back
inside. More cleaning commences until we’re off about an hour and a half later.
I’m then handed the most ridiculous contract ever. Three pages of double sided
bullshit. No working at any other related business for 2 years after leaving
this kennel. If you’re part time, you must provide full time attention to the
kennel, no second jobs, any ideas I have while on the job strictly belong to
the kennel. The list goes on. Jesus.
This wasn’t feeling right. I have never not wanted to go back to work that bad
before. After talking it out with Corey and my friends I decided that this
place wasn’t for me. I wouldn’t ever leave Zoey there, so why would I want to
put my name behind a company like that.
Ugh!
I felt like passing out when I sat down to make the phone
call. It wasn’t as bad as I expected but they wanted the contract back. WTf?
Print out more pieces of paper you cheap-os.
All in all I’m glad I got to experience that so I know for
sure what kennels are like now.
On a lighter note, Nicole and I are business owners! We
started our own in home dog obedience company and we couldn’t be more excited.
We had our first client on Saturday and it went surprisingly well! Four people
came to attend because they all live with the dog and it was great seeing them
all ask questions and engaging in his obedience. Nicole and I make a super
team. We flowed so well together and I know with practice we will be dog
whisperers of our very own. We hope that this little side business will help
out not only our finances but our future careers too. I can’t wait!We need to figure out a logo soon so we can get business cards and letterheads going. The pressure is on though. This is our very own company. I want the logo to be perfect and exactly what we want so as per usual, art block swings on in. Lame!
In other news, Corey and I will be moving by the end of the
month. Not all bad though. I will miss these stomping grounds as we’ve been
here for over 3 years but our new suit looks amazing. Its ~1100sf compared to
our 900 right now. It had two big bedrooms, a HUGE bathroom with two sinks and
an all glass shower and tub, a kitchen island, washer/dryer, dishwasher, tons
of counter space and a fiiiiiiireplace! Good god I think I’m going to love it
there. They even will allow us to have a BBQ in the back yard. Did I mention
that we get a parking spot too? That will be sweet. No more hiking a few blocks
to our suit. Haha
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