It was a pretty rough morning. It started raining very heavily, a severe thunderstorm. I took Ron out while the garage door still worked = power and got him to put the door down quick. I took him on the porch.
Our ride was late, pulled up with an attitude and had parked way off to the side so I could not load Ron in his usual spot. I got him loaded behind the driver with great difficulty, then the driver (a woman) went around to the passenger side. I heard spritzing sounds and saw a small, refillable, clear, bottle with no label on it, in her hand. She had opened the back passenger door. Something told me to look and I did, there were puddles of toxic-smelling liquid all over the seat. Had I sat, the perfume would have gotten all over my clothes and hair, she had soaked the seat. And my hair is nearly waist length.
Unfortunately some drivers like to spray perfume in the cab, they say "all" the clients have bad body odor and the only way to combat it is by applying heavy doses of "car freshener" perfume all over the seats. Happily in my case the seat was vinyl and showed it before I sat. But it was just a nasty, toxic, fragrance, kind of like cheap perfume meets diaper powder meets fragranced cat litter. Ick.
She was urging me to sit. I told her "I'm not sitting in that".
"Oh, it's disinfectant"
What told you I wanted "disinfectant" all over the seat? And do you really think I am so stupid I don't know it is PERFUME because disinfectant doesn't come in clear spritzer bottles you fill yourself? No, this was something she had bought and made up at home. Even if it was disinfectant, I didn't ask for it.
"I don't care what it is" I told her "I will get a migraine if I get it on my clothes. I will have to sit up front" She was plenty pissed about that, she had a case of water??? In the front seat along with other crap. I will remind you the average route is 12 hours.
Had I sat in that toxic crap - and it had so many oils in it the liquid was WHITE; I would have reeked all day, it would have got on my clothes, it would have got in my hair. I would have had to wash my clothes and my hair the minute I got home, and I already took one shower today. Just really rude to assault someone like that, force them to smell it all day, get it on their clothes, possibly ruining them, get it in their hair... very rude.
We head down the main street near our subdivision. Since she was late, there is a lot of traffic. She took out her phone and starts texting. That is strictly forbidden and it would be her job if I reported her (I came very close). She took a "shortcut" that added 20 minutes to our trip - I am going to start saying that to the drivers "Whenever the driver takes a "shortcut" it always adds a lot of time to the ride", and got stuck in WORSE traffic than the first street. Very frustrating.
Happy to get to work, get Ron out safely, he had some trouble because it is not his usual spot. I got him out and took him in the building.
We stocked, I got sandwiches. I put the sandwich guy's phone number in wrong so it looked like an unknown number when he called. But I got it, and stocked. I had to stock more Balanced Breaks. The customers like them (cheese, nuts, fruit tray). Same with the P3 (jerky, nuts, sunflower kernels) Glad to see it.
The other vendor was a little worried about low sales on pastry, but it will come back when they get paid. We finished up (didn't need to do much) and went outside.
We got picked up by a nice enough guy who took us to a nearby dialysis center, and dispatch made us wait half an hour because "she was almost done". I think they had different definitions of "almost". They finally let us go and we had a straight ride home. I was happy to see that.
We got home, I cleaned the litter boxes and took out some trash. Ron was curious about the chicken nuggets, I told him they were in a zippered bag on the door of the freezer, one and a half minutes. Later on he fixed some and seemed to really enjoy them. Good to know that food dollar will not be wasted (I bought them frozen, from Walmart).
I think I have found my litter: Fresh Step with Febreeze. It has a good clump that does not fall apart in the box, smells good, but not too strong. Smells good while scooping - it must be motion activated. I am happy and it is a reasonable price, obtainable from Walmart and Chewy. I put it in the main box that gets a lot of use, filled it up with 20 pounds. Boy they filled it with waste today. They have NO problem using this stuff. And that's what matters, are the cats liking it? Because it doesn't matter how much I spend if they hate it.
And they all like it. You can imagine what feeding time is like, six cats, one on a special diet, some want dry, some wet, but it's all different. Kittens eating adult food, adults eating the kitten food (especially Biscuit!).
So very happy I have the litter problem done. I just hope my suppliers can keep it in stock. Scoop Away ultra is apparently off the table now.
Once I finished the housework I told Ron I was going to lie down. He said OK. I laid down with Biscuit and Torbie, lots of petting, just drifting off and Ron made a lot of noise pushing buttons on the microwave, slamming the microwave door, again and again. I was pretty frustrated. I got up and asked if he needed help. He said no.
I laid down again and he made more noise getting to bed, almost fell out of bed. I helped him with that. If I read him correctly later he did fall out of bed but did not ask for help.
I said screw it and got up, I was working on a headache anyway. He laid down again with Baby Girl, lots of loud proclamations of love for her as he petted her. That one didn't make me as mad as the microwave but it just confirmed he was going to be loud today.
I need to get some cleaning supplies so I guess I will work on making a Walmart order for tomorrow. Here's to hoping they have some more Fresh Step.
5 comments:
Have you considered that you and Ron smell? Maybe you can’t smell it. This isbt the first time.
With all the cats and with Ron not ever bathing? (Wipes aren’t good enough sorry) I’m guessing he does t brush his teeth much either.
I shower every day. I clean all the litter boxes at least 1x a day. I clean Ron up and dress him in clean clothes every day.
This is not a Uber. She is driving us around in a company vehicle. It is understood some of the clients may not be fresh - IF THAT IS THE CASE - and if so why would she want to drench ME? I had bathed just 2 hours before, clean clothes, washed my hair.
I could have understood if she wanted to perfume Ron but she never touched him, I did that, she did not fasten his seatbelt, help with the door, any of it. She didn't get close to him at all. And was quite upset when she had to "let" me sit in the front passenger seat even though I had just showered (with soap, and shampoo).
And she made a big (inaccurate) production about it being "disinfectant" which makes me think she was OCD. Like the other one last week with the frenzied santitizing all the way to work. Maybe they put a job posting up at the county mental health clinic.
Either that or the job has such a bad reputation they can only draw the seriously mentally ill. She won't be able to do the job, she was texting (instant firing offense), she was late, she made herself even later taking "shortcuts" just like the other driver. I would be willing to work with a learning curve on someone who might stick around but her, and the other one from last week, were so bad it is apparent they won't last.
I hate to tell you this but Febreeze is bad for cats. Since they get it on their paws when they use the litter box and on their coats when they cover their business. It can cause respiratory distress, etc. I am sure you won't listen but thought you should know in case the cats start having trouble. I scoop 2 times a day with 2 cats. I think you should be doing it at least that much with 6 cats. Once in the AM and once before bed. And I don't think you smell but I know Ron probably does.
Some days are hard, some days are even harder...this evening, I had to shovel 2 inches of mud off the wheel-chair ramp....while the self appointed city reps all went inside and up the new clean steps...it is always something where ever we go, that I have to deal with as a caregiver...I get so tired of this world. So I hear you on public transportation...each day brings a nightmare that the average person never has to deal with. God loves you, He loves Ron too.
I scoop at least once a day. They like to get all the toilet work done at one time and then easy to go...or they may spread it out and then I do 2x.
Kitten lady made a good point, if you pass a box and it's icky, scoop it. So if I see a turd or a clump I get out my trusty metal scoop.
I will watch them for problems. TBH that is one reason I wouldn't get the lavender litter, it just didn't seem holistic to me, for cats.
Synthetic fragrance may not be much better but at least is tested...
@ The ramp comment, boy do I get that. One peeve of mine is how many will block the ramp and expect us to "go around" how? I have to either go up, or off, the curb and that is a lot less safe. Thank God we have never had a problem, it's a light wheelchair, and he is not heavy.
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