June Shelter Duty 2007

With mixed feelings, last night was the end of shelter duty. Until next fall. I always leave each year with a feeling of hope that our guests will finally find suitable housing. A few of these people have been with us for several years now. That's not good, or promising, and it can really bring you down when you see their faces the next fall.

The person I volunteered with last night had the oddest bedside manner. She arrived after I did, and not introducing herself, first demanded the keys so that she could get something to eat. When she came back, she offered up no information about who she was and answered every single one of my "get to know you" questions with one or two words. That was the tone for the rest of the night. A total snobby dud. When she had stepped out for her food, I made a call to the coordinator to tell me her story. Turns out, she has been doing the shelter every month for five years. I have been doing the shelter for ten years, and never once had the pleasure (displeasure is more like it) of working with her.

All throughout the night, I tried initiating conversation several times to no avail. Finally, when I left the next morning, I said goodbye, and out of niceness, lied when I told her that it was nice working with her. Again, I got no response. Nothing. Anyone who knows me knows that I give a lot of people a chance, and that I am an incredibly understanding person. I have done shelter duty with people whom I didn't really mesh with. But, we always managed to make a go of the night.

I'm still scratching my head in confusion over this.

One good thing come out of it...no more Jane. I found out two weeks ago that she had another mental breakdown and has been removed for good. Thankfully, when she started up trouble again, we had some long timers volunteering that night who were able to keep the situation under control. My only regret is that I didn't tell the coordinator immediately that I didn't ever want her there. I had figured I'd wait until we spoke about arranging the next shelter night. Unfortunately, it didn't happen in time.