Anyway, education side today and of course the morning started off with sweeping and vacuuming while the other education intern mopped. Once everything was spiced up and looking pretty we searched for new jobs. I updated the patient database, fixed a few cards that had messed up numbers, and then head out to DC/Frtiz's enclosure. The last time I was inside it, to give them water, it kind of smelled bad and there were flies everywhere. You could tell I was gone for 5 days straight because of that! Tomorrow I intend on also cleaning Ethyl and Errol's enclosures because they too are under my care and I have not seen their enclosures in a good while. Hopefully it is not too terrible! Speaking of Errol, he is actually a she owl. Not only that but I have not been talking to her since I have been back though I must admit she does not seem to bait whenever I am around anymore which makes me feel very happy. Normally she looks ticked off but when I am around she actually does not have the good old "angry" look which makes me happy as well. Once I catch up on my sleep and feel less overwhelmed with everything again I will resume going out to talk to her and such for gloving purposes. Hoping for continued progress.
Once DC/Fritz had a clean enclosure, I made sure it looked spotless of course, I head back inside. A Red-breasted Merganser chick arrived but aside from being told Merganser I attempted to ID. However we suddenly had people coming in so the other intern took them out on tour while I stayed back and watched the desk. Next thing you know the quote "when they come, they all come" came true! We suddenly had a few groups of people and a summer school class come in. Now I knew about the summer school class but the other groups surprised me!
When the other intern returned I somehow managed to give a tour to anywhere between 15 and 25 people. I think the summer school class had at least 10 alone and I know three groups had at least 3-4 people each so I never took an exact count but only guesses. Could have been more as crazy as that sounds. I was shaking afterwards from being so nervous but I somehow managed to give the tour and made everyone happy. Practically everyone, but one group who seemed to want to rush through more then anything :(, were thanking me and telling me how great I did which boosts my confidence. Wish I had a picture of all the people in this group!
Once I returned inside I watched the front desk again while the other intern took another tour right after of a good amount of people as well. Somewhere during all this I managed to sell 2 fishing tickets :)! Whomever sells the most was promised a prime rib dinner. Three of us sold 2 tickets each so we hope we are all three able to get the dinner but we shall see. In a sense I feel I sold 4 but I am willing to share if possible. Would be nice if the three of us could go instead of hogging all the glory.
During the waiting period I recall mainly answering phone calls and selling that other 2 tickets mentioned above but then gave a tour to a group of only 4 people. The smaller groups are always easier then a long line of people because I do not have to yell and it's more personal in a sense. They can freely ask questions right then and there rather then having to have the people in back wait and such. It was all somehow manageable but wow was I nervous! After this tour of a few people I was sent to my half hour lunch. Listened to some music, ate, and relaxed my back/feet. Have been having nausea and back issues, sciatic is messing up big time and it's driving me crazy. If I make any sudden movements when bending it shoots a sharp pain through my back that almost sends me to the ground. I've been keeping it under control as much as possible but I must say walking/standing a lot isn't helping so hoping it goes away fast. Cannot stand the fact I have back problems.
After lunch was over with the other intern took his and I stayed at the front desk. I think I attempted some call backs, I at least tried earlier in the morning but no luck with them, but ended up heading over to the gift shop to attempt inventory. I honestly did not get anywhere with it because as soon as I started a new volunteer for the education side came in. I honestly do not feel like the best teacher but I did my best to walk her through answering phones, offered to review the binder with her, answered any questions she may have had, and she went on tour with both me and the other intern. So she managed to see what we both said while on tour. I personally felt the other intern was better because I was very off today and admitted to that as well. It was just one of those days for me I suppose but did my best to help. She was happy to see the young raccoons in back and although she did not want to feed any of the animals anything dead she was happy about feeding the vegetarian turtles. I did not want to say too much because I did not want to overwhelm her at all. She seemed very nice though so I hope the information offered was a big help! I just hope she did not feel left behind or anything. It's hard being new sometimes; in fact I still feel new a good portion of the time (especially when answering wildlife calls).
We then started to receive more phone calls and I think tours. As said she was able to watch us answer calls and give the tours. I honestly felt bad because I as said as well I was having an off day and did not feel like I was the best example of how to handle situations. I wish I could handle animal calls better but I get so nervous and anxious that I cannot think straight. Then when there are times I know what to do and ask for help, I feel like the call is taken over. Sometimes I do not need the full explanation but merely a "yeah, you were right". It's all good though. I'll work on it of course.
While waiting for intern to get back on his tour I updated the patient list again. We received the merganser, a robin that may have had egg binding but was hit by a car, and some new baby bunnies (and I mean BABY bunnies). They are so tiny. I took my last tour for the day when the intern came back. We then managed to close shop after and thus ended the day on education. Together the intern and I pulled off $165 in donations and managed to sell the 4 tickets. I want to say we made $30+ on gift shop sales today as well but am unsure. Overall, a very successful day. Wish I had better pictures to share but maybe tomorrow.
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| Southern Flying Squirrel |
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