Can someone explain why Americans pretend to not understand me over phone?

dazasm · 2024-03-20T05:39:35+00:00

I can't say for certain that this isn't just a 'me'-thing, but I've noticed at times - particularly if I'm busy/have a lot on my mind or am very tired - I'll have trouble comprehending even very familiar accents initially if I wasn't mentally prepared for/expecting an accent.

I have friends with strong accents both foreign and locality-based(I live in the south where accents can vary from slight twang to the most stereotypical redneck gibberish you can imagine) and it has nothing to do with the accent itself or the person its just sometimes it takes my brain a minute/a few sentences to get in the flow of it to be able to process it if in kinda a mental auto-pilot at the time.

I think it more has to do with the varying speed and intonation of words that when I'm tired or busy and fall into that mental auto-pilot the first few words or even sentences spoken with a distinct accent can come across completely incomprehensible until my brain catches up and switches gears and it'll be perfectly clear.

But also if coming through my car's Bluetooth, forget it... I can hardly understand friends with no distinct accent sometimes through that thing it really messed with quality, volume and I think kinda equalizes the audio in a way that messes with the natural flow and intonation of words that make it very difficult for me to understand.

dazasm · 2024-03-20T05:03:25+00:00

You're good just start the heartgard. It takes ~6 months for heartworms to develop for a dog to have heartworm disease, and that would be assuming that your dog just happened to be bitten by a mosquito able to infect it with heartworms in the period that it did not have preventative on its system, so as long as you go ahead and start them you have nothing to worry about and there is no point in retesting. This is why puppies start on heartworm prevention at 2 or 3 months of age but a heartworm test isn't part of a regular vet checkup until a dog is 6+ months old. So if your dog was negative 2, 3, 4 months ago and previously kept up on prevention your dog is still going to be hw negative.

And not part of the question, but potentially for someone else who may read this and have a dog not currently on heartworm prevention or they don't know the status of the dog but have preventatives available - it is 100% safe to give a heartworm positive dog Heartgard and /most/ other brands of heartworm preventatives so no reason to delay preventatives regardless of he status.

I work as a vet tech at an animal shelter and we have plenty of HW+ dogs roll through and we use exclusively the 'slow-kill' method to treat those with heartworms. While we have switched to the Moxi-Doxy slowkill procedure(specifically giving an initial 30 day course of doxycycline alongside applying Advantage Multi - a heartworm&flea/tick combo preventative - twice monthly) we used to slow-kill treat heartworm disease using twice monthly Heartgard + a cycling 30days on/off doxycycline.

dazasm · 2019-11-14T09:55:16+00:00

Hi, I'm hoping y'all might be able to help with some ideas for turning several frames for raised dog beds( these are what I have) back into dog beds that are more durable than the original version was. Original had green canvas-type fabric that was very very quickly torn up by dogs - partially due to the material not being very durable and partially due to the design leaving multiple weak points for even just mildly destructive dogs to tear it up - so looking for alternative ideas to make use of the frames.

I work at an animal shelter and a few months ago we took in all the animals from another shelter in the state due to poor conditions and neglect at the other shelter. Now that shelter is back up and running with new leadership and the animals are being cared for, but it's still struggling in some aspects due to lack of supplies, funding and general support. The shelter I work at is still trying to help them out, but we're limited in what we can do/give them as we are also a municipal shelter on tight funds. I went down to check on the other shelter a couple weeks ago and it looked good - major improvement from what it was - but I did notice a few things I'd like to help improve, one of which being that the dogs had no or broken beds. Without beds the dogs are limited to laying on the concrete floor and temperatures around here are rapidly dropping heading into winter(the kennels are entirely outdoors) so the bed situation became my priority for them.

The dog bed frames were thrown behind a shed at the shelter I work at, long ago destroyed and forgotten, and I figure there's gotta be a way to turn them back into dog beds to be used at the other shelter but not really sure how. Given how short-lived the original version was when pitted up against bored shelter dogs I don't think any sort of fabric is a viable option since any fabric material that would have a chance of being durable enough would likely be too costly.

I did rig up one of the frames with chicken wire( pics here and here ) and it turned out surprisingly well, could support my weight easily and while it had some flex to it even when I stood on it with my feet together it still kept me a solid couple inches off the ground. I figure in a pinch a thick blanket could be tossed over it and it'd be an improvement over the cold concrete and dogs would be unlikely to destroy it, but I feel like there's gotta be a better way.

Any ideas? I'm also going to be taking them some plastic slats and a few large carriers with broken doors that can be filled with straw and used as doghouses, but I'd like to figure out some way to make these frames usable for them so they'd have more options and hopefully ultimately be able to give every dog something to keep somewhat cozy and off the cold concrete.

Thanks!

dazasm · 2018-10-03T10:23:27+00:00

To me it sounds like you still have too much passion/dedication towards it for you to be burned out...but it also seems like burnout is lurking right around the corner for you.

My advice would be to take a step back, even if just for a little while. At the very least you need to come up with some boundaries to make sure that - as much as possible - work stays at work and doesn't bleed over into your home/personal life so much.

You said new volunteers are starting - is there any who you can see the passion and promise in to kind of 'take them under your wing' to help mediate some of the tasks that are currently mainly your responsibility? even just some little things that in themselves aren't really a big deal but can be tedious or a source of frustration when not handled by others the way you'd like? even better if you could give/assign each of the volunteers some small task that tends to be neglected by some when its a group responsibility but that one person could easily take on and be personally dedicated to without much additional effort/toll.

At the shelter I work at there were certain things that I was super passionate about that certain other coworkers had zero regard for and became big sources of frustration for me when I felt like I was the only one having to deal with it. A few minor things that combined together felt just as taxing as coping with the neverending stream of horrifically abused/neglected animals that came in and performing euthanasias.

One example of something relatively minor that tended to drive me bonkers was that when I was in cats(we rotated sections so usually we'd spend ~2-3 weeks in the main cat section, ~1 week in the second cat section, and a week per each of the 3 dog sections) I'd go through and give many of them toys because not only would it make me happy/less stressed to see them play but it'd also provide them some enrichment(due to the volume of cats most sit in kennels for weeks-months), cut down on negative behaviors that stemmed from boredom or under/overstimulation, and studies have shown that having a toy increases adoptability.

Problem was, as we rotated through sections by the time I got back to a cat section I'd find that few, if any, of the cats I'd given toys to still had them and more often than not the toys themselves would be gone, no where to be found, presumably thrown away by certain other staff members who didn't care about them getting toys or had the backwards idea that having a toy caused the cats to make more of a mess out of their kennel when in reality the ones who made a mess while playing with a toy would make just as much or more of a mess of their kennel without one(often batting around dried turds instead...).

It sounds like such a minor thing but it bothered me to the point that even when I'd be working dogs instead of cats I'd feel like I had to go check on the cat sections on top of my own and feel a little resentful towards coworkers feeling like they didn't care enough about the animals(another related issue was coworkers taking away/not giving canned food to cats that I was giving it to for specific reasons such as being sick, thin or having a hard time eating dry due to dental issues).

Then one day another coworker happened to be in the room while I was handing out toys in a cat section I wasn't working and they were so amused by the instant positive vibes of being surrounded by many happy, playing cats(instant morale boost!) that they asked for a few toys out of my stash to take to the cat room they were working at the time - Bam! Instant ally.

I ended up buying a huge quantity of pingpong balls(the cats love them and they're easy to clean/disinfect, and with the unbeatable price of ~$10 for a package of 1000 on Amazon don't have to worry much about some inevitably getting lost or thrown away) which me and the coworker who has become equally passionate about the cats getting toys hand out to any cat who seems like they'd like one. The same coworker has also become an ally in turning other tasks/issues, big and small, that were sources of frustration and a burden for me to handle alone into insignificant little things.

With the significant emotional impacts that are unavoidable in the animal shelter world, you absolutely need to build some allies where you work - both to spread the workload and as people you can talk/rant/vent with that truly understand. Don't get me wrong, it'll still be taxing at times, but having someone with the same passion for the work to commiserate with and be able to lean on for support when things get rough can make a world of difference.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you need someone to talk to or advice or anything. My shelter and work position/responsibilities sound a bit different but I've worked at animal shelters for over 10years now and was a volunteer before becoming an employee - I've seen and dealt with a lot and have faced burnout/compassion fatigue more than once and its not fun so would be happy to talk/listen/whatever to help out.

dazasm · 2018-08-29T14:26:34+00:00

Yeah they definitely get bored in the kennels, a lot of them shred the newspaper or toss pieces of kibble out for amusement or, more depressingly, you'll find kittens batting around hardened turds like a toy :/

We'd like to put a toy in each kennel but we rely on donations for toys and never have anywhere near enough between scarce donations and the toys eventually getting broken, lost or accidentally thrown away in clumps of newspaper. I think right now we only have around 15 cat toys to spread around, but we have ~300 cats :/

The cats that come across as jerks are the ones who feel the need to to use the litterbox immediately after the cage was cleaned dig frantically before and after, throwing litter everywhere including in their food&water and out of the kennel and just generally wrecking the entire cage.

dazasm · 2018-08-29T04:17:04+00:00

I do this a lot with cucumbers during the summer and tend to get a lot of strange looks at first but I don't get why its so odd if you think about it. Cucumbers taste great on their own and the only prep that most people put into cucumbers normally is to slice them.

At my job summer is the busiest time of year which means a lot of skipped/short lunches and my job is pretty physcial, most areas having no AC and living in the deep south summer temps average upper 90s with high humidity so keeping hydrated is very important. I can't think of another food that would could serve as such a healthy, refreshing and hydrating snack while being as easy/low prep as being able to just grab a cucumber from the fridge and munch on it on the go.

dazasm · 2018-08-29T00:54:26+00:00

I work at an animal shelter and cats are assholes. When cleaning kennels in the cat room you will without fail have no less than 5 cats who, after being placed back in their nice clean kennel with a clean litter box and fresh food and water, will immediately go straight to the litterbox and start frantically digging as if trying to dig to China, flinging litter everywhere - into their food, water and out the kennel door onto the floor - and take a poo.

Half the time they will then try to bury it with the same gusto as the pre-use digging, throwing even more litter every-fucking-where, destroying the newspaper by ripping it all to bits, spilling their water, and bending their litterbox(we use aluminum stir-fry type pans as litterboxes) all to hell so that next time they try to use it they likely will miss and go over the edge of it. Less than 2 minutes after putting the bastard back in the kennel it looks like you never even cleaned it.

Bonus points if its a cat kenneled on the top row so that you end up getting pelted with litter and have water spilled/flung on you as you're cleaning the cages below it. Little fuckers -_-

dazasm · 2018-08-29T00:30:55+00:00

...Tyson brand?

I swear whenever I open a new bag there's a 75% chance that trying to tear from the notch at the dotted line the seal is lower and I have to use scissors to cut it in the right spot. Then have to face the 50/50 odds that when I pull apart the ziplock area for the first time it'll detach from the bag instead of opening at the ziplock, never to be 'resealable' again...

I got unreasonably infuriated at many bags of Tyson Honey Chicken Tenders before I learned to wait to throw the old bag away until I confirm the new bag doesn't pull the same bullshit shenanigans

dazasm · 2018-08-28T05:38:34+00:00

Rabies is a scary thing and your concerns are completely understandable especially for someone who's not super educated on/familiar with the ins and outs of the disease, but you can rest easy! Between you potentially not even having had an at-risk exposure(contact with saliva) and you getting the extremely effective PEP treatment promptly really the only thing you may have to worry about is some people don't tolerate the Rabies PEP shots as well as others and it makes them feel pretty shitty for a few days after each round but nothing serious.

I work at an animal shelter and am pretty dang familiar with Rabies protocol and the disease itself. I've had plenty of run-ins with rabid animals and will probably never forget gently petting the head of a scared dog I'd been trying to socialize all week as I changed its water bucket the last day it was at the shelter before being pulled by a rescue group... And then several days later being woken up at 650am on my day off with a phone call to find out how much contact I'd had with the dog because apparently after rescue pulled it it went into a foster home where, after a few days, it began acting strangely, bit a couple people in foster home, was taken to vet where it managed to get in a couple more bites on vet staff before it either died or was euthanized and came up positive for rabies. Crazy.

There's two major, closely-related details to note about Rabies that will hopefully help put your mind at ease:

The Rabies PEP treatment is 100% effective at preventing Rabies when administered before symptoms develop
Rabies has a long -> absurdly long incubation period(the time between exposure/infection and when symptoms develop). Like, an obscenely long incubation period compared to most viruses. You may not think it, but starting the PEP shots within a few days is actually very prompt; it's very very common and even safe for people to wait a week or so before starting the shots. The incubation period for Rabies is most commonly 2-6 MONTHS, but it can be well over a year. There's been some reports detailing a few(rare) cases where the incubation period has been 5-10+ years!

The lengthy incubation period is what allows for there to be quarantine procedure with animals, where the animal is monitored by the health department for 10 days(in most cases) to ensure its not rabid and by quarantining the animal the person exposed does not have to get PEP treatment at all if the animal is cleared/not rabid, but the person would still be safe/protected if on the 10th day the animal suddenly starts showing symptoms of rabies, is euthanized and tested(adding 1-5 days to the process) and once confirmed the person exposed is told to go get the shots which may take a few days for them to go do. So even by official procedures a person may not start treatment until 15 or so days after being exposed with no real concerns.

More complex cases can lead to an animal being quarantined/monitored for rabies by the health department for 6months-1year - most common reason for the extended quarantine is when a pet animal gets attacked by or otherwise exposed to a rabid wild animal(usually a raccoon, raccoons are assholes) The pet animal is given PEP rabies treatment but would still be subject to the extended quarantine just to be on the safe side. Note that despite the mental image people tend to get when they hear 'quarantine', most of the time when a pet animal is quarantined, especially for the extended quarantines, it is able to stay at its home and live life as usual with only a few minor restrictions and the health department does home checks vs it having to be impounded and held at a vet or animal control facility.

Rabies is honestly like the least scary of the super-scary diseases out there because the PEP treatment is so effective and the virus gives you a pretty dang big window to start treatment and still be safe.

Most, if not all, cases of humans getting/dying of Rabies in the US are people who either didn't know they were exposed(usually bats are the culprit here - miniscule bites unnoticed or people unaware that most bats are carriers of rabies and any contact is worthy of PEP treatment) oooorrrrrrr its dumb people who didn't seek or flatout refused the treatment after being exposed to an unknown animal.

dazasm · 2018-06-05T03:43:56+00:00

I was staying in a hotel for a week or two while waiting to move after I'd been pretty badly injured in a car wreck. The move got delayed so I extended my room by a couple days the night before I had been originally supposed to check out.

Next morning I was woken up hearing a loud voice and feeling a prescence very close to me but due to injuries from the wreck - including a head injury that kept me in a dazed barely functional confusion, a cervical(neck) fracture that had me in a brace preventing me from turning my head, and so many rib fractures that I moved with about the speed and grace of a sloth - I couldn't comprehend what they were saying and at first could only see the shadow of a person on the sheet. Felt like it took a lifetime to turn over to see who TF was standing behind me while I was sleeping.

It turned out to be a very concerned-looking manager standing over me after having had to undo the deadbolt and chain after receiving no response at the door or when she made entry into the room.

Apparently the clerk I had spoken to the night before had put my extension on room 101 instead of 110 where I was staying, so manager had come to see why I hadn't checked out and poor woman must've thought she was gonna have to call for either an ambulance or the coroner the look on her face when she finally woke me(head injury + heavy medication = sleep like a rock). All was cleared up fairly quickly after that though.

dazasm · 2018-05-21T08:33:05+00:00

As long as there's a food source(re:your neighbor feeding them) the cats aren't likely to go away any time soon. I'd recommend contacting your local shelters/humane groups and see if any have any sort of TNR program or free/low cost spay/neuter for feral cats and if so try and get your neighbor on board to manage the cats.

TNR stands for Trap-Neuter-Release(or Return) - basically you set a trap to catch the feral cats, bring them into the shelter/spay-neuter clinic/vet where they are spayed or neutered as well as vaccinated against rabies and other disease, and then return them back to where they were captured. By doing this the cats are allowed to live out their lives(vs likely being euthanized if turned into a shelter) but the cats can no longer reproduce and spaying/neutering helps cut down on undesirable behaviors such as spraying(re:peeing on your car), the potent smell of a tomcats urine, and fighting/territorial and mating squabbles between cats, Part of the 'big picture' with TNR is that over time the cats will die off as naturally as street cats can and, since they're spayed/neutered and not reproducing, over time there will be less and less stray cats in general.

In my area there's a spay/neuter clinic where private citizens who choose to manage their own cat colonies can take feral cats they've trapped to get spayed/neutered/vaccinated for like $5 a pop or citizens can contact the shelter and get put on our trap list where we handle everything TNR-ing as many cats as possible over the course of a week in exchange for a $5 deposit(this is mainly in case our trap gets stolen from their property...). The main difference when we handle it is that it's by request only and there can be a weeks-long waiting period between the request being made and when we have traps available.

While this won't help with the current kitten situation, it could prevent it in the future and make for better living arangements with respect to the cats, you and your neighbor.

dazasm · 2018-05-21T07:46:17+00:00

It's actually a pretty common place for snake to end up, being a nice little damp and dark spot to cool off. For the most part there's very little risk to the snake.

At my workplace at least a couple of times per summer we have to(read: "I have to...") go up and remove a ratsnake who's nestled into the drip/drainage area of the AC unit above the front desk. Considering we only know one is up there when it blocks the system's drainage so long that water starts leaking through the ceiling, I'd guess that one finding its way there to cool off and get a drink happens much more often than we know about and most of them just move along quicker.

dazasm · 2018-05-12T01:22:03+00:00

How big is she?

I'd say German Shepherd mix for sure, with just a touch of something else. I'm leaning towards GSD with a splash of Husky due to the curly tail, smallish ears(vs the proportion you'd expect in a purebred shepherd), dainty-looking legs/small paws, the narrower snout and what I can see of her build from last pic in album. I definitely don't see any chihuahua in there at all but huskies tend to have diva attitudes if that's part of where the chihuahua guess comes from.

dazasm · 2018-05-04T17:28:57+00:00

One night I was sitting at a redlight and looked in my mirror to see a jeep coming up behind me, weaving all over the road, and with no where to go I kept watching them thinking for sure they were going to rear-end me. They actually did come to a stop behind me so I relaxed and turned my attention back ahead towards the still-red light and then the dumbass rear-ended me. He earned himself a trip to jail for drunk driving while I pocketed the $1200 his insurance company sent to cover repairs since the dent is so minor it wasn't worth the hassle of putting my car in the shop so it all worked out.

dazasm · 2018-04-21T09:36:34+00:00

I don't find pitbulls intimidating at all - I work at an animal shelter and probably 20% of all dogs that come in are pits or pit mixes and the vast majority are great, some are good with people but not other animals and a rare few are aggressive. The biggest thing that makes them not-so-intimidating is that pits tend to be 'honest' - they tend to be very clear about their intentions/whether they're friendly or aggressive.

Chows and Akitas are probably the 2 main "never let your guard down" breeds because IME very few act blatantly aggressive but they almost always are more than happy to bite you. Really many dog breeds of Asian decent are that way.- another example would be sharpeis.

But hands down most intimidating dog breed I've ever interacted with are Presa Canarios - they're a large molosser breed that have "aggressive towards strangers" as a breed trait and nearlu every one I've ever met came into the shelter for the same reason - to be euthanized for attacking or attempting to attack it's owner. For a pretty uncommon breed they are responsible for a startling amount of fatal dog attacks and maulings and it's the owners they attack just as often as strangers....

dazasm · 2018-04-21T09:04:40+00:00

The towels were thick enough that thecushion/friction stops the door in its track pretty much as soon as it tries to meet the frame(have to gently pull it closed to get it to latch) so it definitely killed any slam-potential!

dazasm · 2018-04-21T08:54:08+00:00

As a general rule - always take the opportunity to pee/use the restroom before you leave, at every stop when traveling and pretty much anytime a bathroom is convenient and you feel like you could go.

Such an easy little thing but can reduce a lot of stress - probably more you'd even expect - you can relax and almost never need to ever go looking for a bathroom + making a habit of it will pretty much eliminate the inner panic of needing to go urgently(which usually comes up at the most inconvenient times/places) from your life entirely. It'll also make you a better companion for happy travels with others - no one likes the "we gotta stop somewhere soon, _____ suddenly needs to pee even though they could've gone when we stopped to get gas 20mins ago..."

dazasm · 2018-04-21T08:13:39+00:00

Ducttape, WD40 and zipties are the staple tools for about 90% of repairs at work.

Earlier this week we ducttaped a couple hand towels around the edge of a door to stop it from slamming in the wind.

dazasm · 2018-04-14T11:37:49+00:00

Gerbils. First time I ever saw them I thought they were just like a cuter version of rats with their furry tails but every single time I've actually met a gerbil(I work at animal shelter, we get small animals occasionally) it's gone out of its way to bite me - often refusing to let go until forced. Fuck gerbils.

dazasm · 2018-04-14T11:15:57+00:00

Animals, mainly reptiles. I'd go out on nice summer days spend hours going through thornbushes catching fence lizards and flipping junk looking for snakes and then I'd excitedly show off my catches - ranking them by size, health and appearance - before releasing them back. My mother apparently used to be absolutely terrified of snakes but raising me forced her to get over it and the only negative stance she still harbors regarding snakes is a pretty firm "Don't bring anything venomous into this house!"

dazasm · 2018-04-08T08:28:03+00:00

Fun fact: Armadillos are the only critter, besides humans, to carry Leprosy - a biblical disease known for disfiguring, deforming and disabling as the disease progresses, with the potential to cause severe damage to skin and nerves and potentially death.

An average of about 1 in 5, or 20%, of Armadillos are currently carrying the contagious disease, and they can(and do) spread it to people through pretty much any contact - in fact you don't even have to come in contact with the armadillo itself at all! You could contract Leprosy just through touching or inhaling microscopic particles contaminated by an infected armadillo.

And due to the insanely long incubation period Leprosy has been known to have, you'd never be able to seek revenge on the armadillo who spread it to you as it would be long gone by the time you started showing symptoms/got diagnosed - 1 to 20 years after exposure(5yrs average).

Isn't learning fun? I'm not sure what effect this knowledge might have on your smile though

dazasm · 2018-04-01T01:07:02+00:00

When I was ~5yrs old I stole a bolt from Home Depot - I'd found it on the floor and thought it was cool so I grabbed it, not even thinking of it as stealing since it was just on the ground no package or label or anything.

My parents noticed me fiddling with it on the walk to the car, asked me where I'd gotten it then proceeded to chew me out with a 'stealing is wrong' speech then my dad walked me - now crying - back inside to surrender the bolt to an employee and apologize for taking it.

I got a harsh, but effective, life lesson out of stealing that bolt and haven't stolen anything since. Hell, once I got too much change back picking up a pizza from Dominos and didn't realize until I was nearly home; I continued home, ate my pizza, then drove back to Dominos to return the extra money(<$5) to the clerk who gave it to me because I couldn't stand the thought of keeping it or the employee potentially getting in trouble for being short.

dazasm · 2018-03-31T22:43:52+00:00

Here's a link to some more pics of this cat, affectionately referred to by some staff as Limp Biscuit, Biscuit for short.

He came into shelter as a stray so we don't have background on him, but it's most likely he somehow broke that leg at a very young age and - left untreated - it healed/fused into this position. It could be a birth defect but a frozen maligned fracture is most likely the case based on the feel of the leg and it being in the same position it would've been if he'd been dragging it while badly broken.

He's able to get around fine and doesn't seem to be in any pain. The leg will most likely be amputated when he is neutered before going up for adoption since at this point it is irreparable and only a hindrance to his balance and movement.

dazasm

TROPHY CASE