A different sort of day

Well, as some of you know I am now working in a few different areas of the shelter, including the front desk. I have been looking forward to this opportunity but it is also going to take some getting used to. My day began with me realizing that I didn't actually have a key to open up the cash drawer, luckily we had a solid worker that did have a key coming soon after I had arrived.

Once all of the opening duties were taken care of, which took a whopping twenty minutes, it was time to prepare for the day. Today is not your typical day at the front desk for one main reason, there are a lot of animals that go home on Thursdays. The reason for this is because it is the day after surgery where all of our adopted animals that need to be altered go under the knife. Thankfully though our med staff staggers the pick up time for the adopted animals so we don't get bombarded all at once. The reason why this wouldn't be good is because there is a lot of paperwork that has to be completed before these animals can go home and be considered officially adopted, and of course this is all new to me so it takes me twice as long.

I was able to get one adoption packet put together with the help of the solid staff up there before I had to go to my first official meeting with the department heads. This was nice because I am able to learn all aspects of the shelter. The meeting today was about our future fostering of animals to our volunteers, especially because our kitten season is fast approaching. Included in all of this was making sure that all of the appropriate training was put forth for new fosters as well as all of the right information being put together to make sure that every aspect of the animal's safety is taken care of. How the front desk plays into this is to make sure that all fosters go over the agreements and understand what is expected of them. It's really amazing to see how much work is done by everyone at the shelter, including fosters, to make sure this machine keeps on working.

After the meeting the day stayed pretty hectic with phones constantly ringing and customers asking questions. I am just really happy and lucky that there are people up there that know what they are doing because it can be a little overwhelming for someone new to step in there. I'm also lucky that today wasn't to crazy of a day because I still have to learn everything, and let me tell you, I am not the quickest learner.

Closing out the day I have to mention that our new retail area is having its grand opening tomorrow. It's been amazing to see what a very giving interior designer has done to make our little corner a very special one. I am looking forward to it opening up again and as always showing off our shelter.

I hope to bring you some interesting stories from up here and as always I will be in the kennels again as well. I will also remember to take pictures of the dogs that we bring up to the front desk to help them relax and get away from the noise of the kennel. Thanks for reading everyone and I look forward to your comments.

P.S., we are looking for a way to send some sort of aid to Haiti and their animals in need, if any of you have any ideas I would greatly appreciate them.