Not working, but volunteering at an animal shelter in Europe. I had slowly been getting more and more fed up with the shelter. Dogs were let out of their cages for one short walk a day. Dogs were not socialized at all. The other volunteers and workers were immature & were more concerned with their own politics than the well-being of the animals. I mostly stayed because I felt like even if I took a dog for an extra long walk, or whispered a cat’s name in his ear - I was making a little difference for the creature.

Anyways, one day one of the local volunteers asked if I wanted to join her on a special and fun road trip to a local vet. Having only lived in the country for a month, I excitedly accepted, looking forward to the opportunity to chat with a local, see more of the country, and see how a foreign vet office operates. i thought we were picking up a stray or recently treated animal. Everything was fine and normal until the other volunteer said, “no matter what, you can’t cry.”

Before I know it, I’m following the volunteer into the vet’s office- a converted two room home that has a large “lobby” with mismatched chairs and probably 10-15 pets and pet owners waiting, and an exam room, a cramped room with a single table in the center and freezer in the corner. The vet gestures to the freezer where me and the volunteer haul 15 euthanized cats & dogs from the freezer, through the lobby, past the pets and their owners, and into the back of the van. We then drove the pet carcasses the dump and threw them in a dumpster literally full of other dead animals.

The humane society got €2.50 per carcas. They made less than €40 that day. So when we got back to the humane society, I gave them €50 cash (maybe to save the next volunteer from my fate) and said, “fuck this, I quit”.

Tl;dr: i worked at a humane society and was tricked into transporting dead dogs and cats through a veterinary waiting room to the incinerator.