SO Rude

[sibley]

I was at the shelter today visiting the rabbits to see if there was one I liked (I didn’t see any on their website but I wanted to make sure because they did have some rexes, just the last time I saw them they were new and skittish and unfriendly).  I opened up the hutches and was petting them (and Squirrel!  and these two twin bunnies who I met last time and who are super sweet), and then this volunteer came in in her tacky green logoed polo and started cleaning cages and she yelled at me when I opened the next top and told me I couldn’t open the tops and if I wanted to see a rabbit I’d have to fill out an adoption application and then ask to see whichever one I wanted in a visiting room.

I told her I had already submittied an application, and that I’d received permission from two different people on two different occasions and she asked me who they were.  I knew one was a staff member and one was in charge of the volunteers, but when I couldn’t remember their names she told me “I’m going to have to ask you not to open their cages.”

It was SO RUDE.  What a snotty little volunteer!  She has no authority to tell me not to touch them when her superiors already gave me permission (and actually one of the bunnies jumped out of the cage the last time I was visiting because I was making him a wall of paper shreds… I had to catch him real quick).

Just because she’s miserable doesn’t mean she needs to be a jerk.  And how the heck am I supposed to know if there’s a rabbit I want to meet with if I can’t interact with them beforehand?  The visiting rooms are okay, but you have to wait for like a half hour for a staff member to get you into one, then they sit with you while you play with the rabbit and make awkward comments and such.  I don’t have time to wait a half hour for each of the rabbits!  Plus I think it’s super important to see how they interact in an environment they’re familiar with.

So I would have argued with her on those points, but I didn’t really feel like being there any longer at that point and I left.  There were actually a few rabbits I was considering in my life, too.  So much for that.

[Sarita]

Well, I understand your frustration and perhaps she should have asked the supervisor. I’m sure she had the rabbits best interest at heart and was just doing as instructed (although she could have been nicer).

[PEPPA GEORGIE]

arrr sarita that is really nice of you to think well of her. I am so reactionary as when reading it all i could think was how offended and annoyed i would have felt if it had happened to me. In fact it often does and i hate it, there is really no need for people to be so rude. Even if they were thinking they were doing right there is no need for rudeness , she could have politely asked you if you had been there before etc to inquire before feeling the need to tell you that you couldnt do that.
Maybe you should contact one of the more senior people and explain that you may be interested in some of the rabbits but you werent made to feel all that welcome last time you came and feel a bit put off by it. You dont want to cause trouble but you would prob feel better if you were able to politely but honestly put your point across and it would be good for people to realise that it is offensive to be so rude and there is a come back if you do.
See i am ranting now and i wasnt even there xxx

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Hmm this was lollypop that you went to? I am glad that I got my bunny from a pet store that adopted animals out for lollypop, the volunteer that worked there was very nice and let me pet the bunny without filing out any form.

That is mean that she yelled at you, when I went there I saw plenty people opening the cages to pet the bunnies. I was too afraid to because I thought one would jump out!

[Deleted User]

Don’t worry about it. Maybe she had had a bad day. Volunteering in a shelter can be draining to some people… important is that you let nothing keep you from finding that bun with your name on him!

[princessangrypeppers]

Some rabbit people are rabbit people for a reason (i.e. they don’t get along with humans).

[sibley]

eh. I’d never seen her there before. I don’t think she was a rabbit person… if she was, she wouldn’t have been worried about me opening the tops. Good thing she wasn’t there the time I opened one and one of the bunnies (Eowyn or Arwen… dunno which) shot right out and trucked across the tops of the other hutches =)

[Lightchick]

If you met all the terrible people who come idly wandering into a rabbit shelter, bringing stacks of carrots like it’s a petting zoo, forcing their kids’ fingers through the bars of the hutches to poke at the rabbits, all the while telling you how they LOVED their bunny and took SUCH GREAT care of it…until they accidentally ran it over with their car because they kept it in the garage, then maybe you’d understand how the assumption has to be that anyone entering the bunny area doesn’t really know what they’re doing. Not that rudeness is the best tact. But then neither is letting the shelter rabbits escape from their hutches.

[Joshua (Fear)]

Frustrating as it may be, there are a lot of idiots, im sure it was for the animals own good.
Even if they are rude people who deserve a good kick.

[Alicia]

That was along my thoughts too LightChick, she was probably just being cautious that a rabbit wouldn’t get out and escape or get hurt.

 

And as you mentioned in your post and in a comment there was one time that you opened a cage and the rabbit almost got out and then another time when one DID get out..so while I don’t think the volunteer needed to be rude about it, I can definitely understand her concern with having someone who she does not know, and therefore does not know how much you know about rabbits, opening cages when not supervised.

[TARM]

If that volunteer was the one on duty at the time of your visit and she was not told by the two “superiors” who gave you permission to visit with the bunnies then it was completely her business to ask you to stay out of the cages.  You didn’t know her and you resented her authority, she didn’t know you and probably resented your disregard for her authority.

I would not have handled the situation the way that volunteer did but I also wouldn’t have just turned you loose with the animals in my care.  Her job is to protect them, not to make you happy.  Sorry if that sounds snotty but that’s the way it is.

[MooBunnay]

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. I always hate hearing about bad experiences at shelters because I think its the animals that suffer when others get angry, and not whoever was rude. Even though the volunteer made you mad, I would urge you to think about the bunnies, and not let a rude person get in your way of finding your special bunny Just think, it would serve that lady right if you get to take them out of their cages PERMANENTLY into your house!

[sibley]

Eh. After I told her the name of one of the individuals and his position she should have let me. I actually think she was one of the guy’s students… special ed kids go there to clean out the animal cages and that’s what she was doing.

[Monkeybun]

If I were her, I’d have not let you in either, no offense :p

I’d only let people in if my supervisor came and told me, otherwise anyone could see someone’s nametag and say “So and So said I could.” Just safer for the bunnies this way

[Author]

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