October Shelter Duty 2007

Friday night was long and excruciating. The shelter re-opened last week for the 2007-2008 season. First, the bus came too early. This wasn't too bad, but still, an annoyance. I enjoy the reflective quiet of setting up and talking with the other volunteer before the long and unpredictable night sets upon you. In this case it was volunteers, plural, as we had newbies last night. I got that warm and fuzzy positive feeling they will be back to do it again.

Right, so. The bus arrived early and I noticed that we had several new guests. This is good and bad news. The good news is that the presence of brand new shiny guests indicates to me that last season's group have finally found accommodation and won't be back again. The bad news is that you now have another set of folks to break in and set rules. Don't get me wrong, these are grownups and our rules are pretty liberal. Me personally, I'm more of the you-can-do-pretty-much-what-you-like-as-long-as-you're-quiet-and-leave-others-alone nature. It's just the typical settling in and learning the ropes that can prove to be difficult for both the volunteer and the guest. This is when we learn who might have trouble with the stairs or problems getting along with the others.

It was a typical night, I tossed and turned while dealing with the noisiness of those who couldn't settle in. I don't mind it so much as I truly believe it's their night and I can nap later. By 5:30AM, I heard so much noise and people talking, it became too difficult. Our wake up time is 6:00AM. Until then, you must remain quiet for the sake of the others. 5:45AM, a guest turned on the lights and began waking others up. I went down and asserted the rules of the shelter, wake up time - 6:00AM. I was told that they always wake up at 5:30. Not so in this shelter, I said. While helping someone with their bed, I heard one guest mutter to another, "the volunteers just want to sleep". No. Nuh, uh. That is one thing I refuse to tolerate; anyone who expects a volunteer to be superhuman. This is a free job, and pulling an all-nighter is not a requirement. I turned, looked at the comment culprit and quizzically asked, "excuse me?" Nothing. No response back.

Thankyouverymuch.

So, that morning I ended up with egg on my face because the bus arrived too early - at 6:00AM!! It's supposed to arrive at half six. Here I was running around turning off lights and scolding people for being noisy and the bus pulls up in front of the church at wake up time. I spent the next fifteen minutes getting beds stripped and people out the door.

Exhausting.