06/01/2026
I know I’ve told y’all about some of my past career choices over the years and for the most part, they were positive experiences.
I use the term ‘career’ loosely though for one main reason, that being the length of time I spent at one joint.
I’m pretty sure it’s written down somewhere that you have to spend at least one full week, or 40 hours, in a position in order to call it a career.
And I really shouldn’t state the employer’s name because in fairness to them, I was the one who CHOSE to accept a position of order-taker at the drive through window at a Hardee’s.
From 6am until 11am.
With nothing but on the job training. So, my bad.
It was my first real life lesson. It’s how I learned it IS possible to spend 2 months in 5 hours.
But that is behind me now.
Which brings me to another short-lived, but rather enjoyable, job: At a local animal shelter.
All I had to do was greet visitors who came by to ‘shop’ for pets.
Yes, this little tail (see what I did there?) could easily become 1,638 page novel.
But this one’s a short story.
There was a cute little mutt who had been brought in as a stray. The guy who dropped him off had tried to find his family and/or home for a few weeks but to no avail.
So the dog came to the shelter.
And despite our best efforts, he was not really ‘loving’ any of us.
Poor little guy was a loner.
He kept to himself, hardly ever wagging his little tail. He just seemed… lost.
Until one day.
A family came in, asking to see HIM specifically. The dad only spoke broken English, so the smallest boy, around 7 or 8, was speaking for the family. He told us his mom had seen the pup’s picture on the shelter’s website & thought he looked just like their beloved boy they had recently lost.
The attendant walked the little dog out to the visitor area and the dad started speaking to the pup, in Spanish.
Immediately a change happened.
Pup began happy dancing, spinning and bobbing and yelping. Literally responding to their voices, warming up to them like nobody’s business.
He ‘got’ Spanish. ❤️❤️❤️
End of story: The pup went home that night with his new family who he understood and who understood him.
And even though it was a temporary position for me, I learned more in 30 minutes than many people learn in 30 years.
❤️
