Friday, June 24, 2011

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I got a call from a woman today who had been referred by the charity (who shall remain anonymous) that we work with.  She has a giant breed dog (140 lbs) that needs to be neutered. Since this would be a charity surgery, I had to give her the prices separately, with the cost of the surgery, antibiotics, etc. Not all hospitals have a policy of giving antibiotics after surgery, but ours does, no exceptions. She started arguing with me, stating that she could get antibiotics free from her vet, he just couldn't do the surgery. Rather than having a battle of wits with an unarmed person, I told her she may be happier finding a vet that didn't require antibiotics, and hung up.
Newsflash is that many vets won't alter a full grown giant breed dog, especially not at the price I quoted her. Surgery on full grown giant breeds is arduous backbreaking work.
Speaking of charities, I had a chat with one of the women who works at the one we work with. This charity has been around for more than 30 years, and they've helped many financially strapped people get medical help for their pets. Like most charities in a recession, they are short on donations and long on people with their hand out, so they are forced to only help people that are truly needy. Which means a more arduous screening of the people who call them. Sometimes they only donate $5, and they no longer are able to cover the full cost of surgeries.
She told me that at least once a day the phone call ends with the caller screaming "fuck you!" and slamming the phone down. The staff actually keeps count of the number of "fuck you"s they get. They've had their lives threatened, and bomb threats. They've had to take their sign down, only work daylight hours, and be escorted to the parking lot every day after work.
They are not fugitives, they are people who work tirelessly to help animals and this is charity, for crap's sake! Your pet needs help, friends and family won't, and a perfect stranger helps find a place that is low cost, and even pitches in some money (and even if it is only $5, it's $5 that you don't have to come up with) and your only response is "fuck you"?! Who died and left you so entitled?

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