Stupid people!

[draggonlaady]

Someone please explain to me just what the )(#@$ is wrong with people!!!
I just (yes, 11 PM!) got a call from a woman that wanted to know if she could bring in a wild bird for me to look at that she and her friends found earlier in the day while they were outside playing. That's all fine and dandy, but when I warned her that there'd be an emergency office call fee for that, the response was "I don't have $70 to save some stupid wild bird!"
Then she wanted to know if I thought it had the bird flu. Possible, but probably not the one everybody's scared of, what with that not being on this continent yet. "So what do you think is wrong with it?" 'Cuz I've got a magic crystal ball I can just look through and tell you without actually examining the animal.
Hell, they can't even figure out what species it is. "Maybe a quail or a pheasant or something" she says...cuz those two birds look anything similar beyond the fact that they both have feathers and feet. For all I know from her description it's a Kiwi bird that someone dropped out of an airplane.

OK, first off, $70 is a pittance for an emergency fee--I got smacked with a $500 bill for walking into the emergency room in Spokane. But onto the things that really annoy me: why did you call me at all if you're not willing to pay for anything? Why did you wait until after most working people are asleep to call when you found the bird several hours ago? What did you think I was going to do, drop my life (boring as it is) to come in after I'm already in my pajamas so I can not get paid for my time and effort? It's a business, not a charity, people. Let's join the real world please.

Comments

[khiril.livejournal.com]

They probably ended up just eating it, anyway.

BBQ.

[(Anonymous)]

...so let's play with the cute 'n fuzzy until it's hungry, cold, and/or nearly dying. i love that philosophy, espeically when it's a "quail or pheasant or something" that do so well in human hands. but please let's not put forth any effort to do the right thing and help the creature (if it even needed it) when it was still half way healthy.
as an attempt to restore your faith in rehabilitation: a mother and two daughters brought a juvenile cottontail to a particular referral clinic at 8pm shortly after their cat brought it to them (although apparently not immediately). the lovely thing couldn't maintain a regular heart rhythm or fight to get off the scale, but our dedicated intern still planned to treat the thing. it wasn't until she discovered the exposed thorax and lung and the poor bunny was nearly dead (many wounds to examine) that she elected to grab the kcl and make GHO food. (one of the seven or so GHOs present has so many neuro signs that it doesn't react until you smack its tail a few dozen times; soon it will be in the rodent haven in the sky.) unfortunately, the powers that be will scarcely allow more than fluid therapy and abx to aid wildlife anymore (if they want to find their financial sink hole, they should probably check their overdue bills)....
*just not a user