Back on the subject of 7 Eleven, I worked for a contractor that built stores for new franchise owners. They prefer sites in downtown business districts because stores located like that do massive lunch time business. One store went in on the ground floor of a ten story office building and on opening day they were completely sold out of hot dogs by 1:00 PM. Most here in CA do not sell hard liquor for various regulatory reasons. (proximity to schools and the like) They wish it were more. Booze is lucrative. Most never have more than four employees at a time working. If they did they would have to provide two restrooms for employees (mens/womens) per health code. If they sell gas some localities may require the restroom to be public. Fast food establishments that serve food for on-site consumption must provide public restrooms unless the square footage of the dining area is below a certain threshold. This is why Subway Sandwiches are all so small. they don't have public restrooms. I went to survey a site once for a prospective franchisee. This involves measuring the store and sketching a floor plan with dimensions showing plumbing and electrical locations, photos of the power panel and things like that. This was a mom&pop store and the owner was bugging me about his chances of getting a franchise-not my job and I repeatedly told him so. I did tell him I could see the need for some serious remodel. The restroom was not ADA compliant, nor was the entrance. He had built a curb ramp with some asphalt patch and was astounded when I told him it wasn't up to code-slope too steep I could tell by eyeball. "What if we put a sign on the restroom that says 'No Wheelchairs'"?
Saw a piece on Facebook about how veterinarians wish that pet owners, dog owners especially, would be sure to stay with their pets when they have them put down, that it's important for the dogs to have their owners with them at that time. I glance to the side at my desk, and see a photo of my late German Shepherd, Julia, gazing at me, and I simply cannot imagine having left her to die alone. I stayed, and it was one of the saddest moments of my life. Not the same overall impact as the recent loss of my mother and sister, but just as powerful in a different sense. I recall walking to the car and suddenly simply breaking down in tears after Julia's demise. None of them died alone, and for that I am grateful.
My sister is a vet tech and says this too. She will text me in a rage or in tears because owners just leave their pets to be put down like its nothing. So she will go in there and sit with them and talk to them so they arent alone.
I got dozens of calls about that book. Never read it. But the callers wanted it pulled from the shelf because of sexual abuse
I do not know, but a part of me would like to think that it isn't just callousness on behalf of the owner. But a coping mechanism, if you never say goodbye, maybe you can trick your mind that your companion never died? Or maybe people are just more generally cold than I would like to acknowledge?
Hong Kong has the world's longest life expectancy and also the world's highest per capita consumption of meat. https://nam.edu/people-in-hong-kong-have-the-longest-life-expectancy-in-the-world-some-possible-explanations/
It's hard to be there, and the temptation is understandable to avoid it, especially if the veterinarian, out of a sense of duty, makes it clear you don't absolutely have to be there. But I can tell you it's better in the long run for everyone -- dogs especially seem to have a bond with their owners. Though I will add here that when the time comes for my bird to be put down -- if it came to that, though odds are he will simply pass away in the night -- I will make every effort to be there, because he has obviously bonded with me.
I think there are some owners who cant be in there when its happening... my sister-in-law couldnt be in the room when they put their dog down earlier this year and sat in the waiting room (in these cases, my sister says, staff will go out and comfort the grieving owner). my mother-in-law went in with their dog and sat with her during her last moments. I think my sister and Graham's post are is getting at the people who just drop them off and leave all together.
it seems all of my pets have passed away without me being there. I still feel guilty about my 1st ferret's death We bonded; I'd take her everywhere with me (camping, walks, car rides). she was well behaved and came when called. I'd just started high school when I got her and was going through the typical angsty teen emotions, and i think she knew that and was my comfort. She passed away while I was in college. My mom said that she looked for me... that she crawled on my bed and laid on my pillow. That night, she made a noise and my mom went into my room and saw she wasnt in a good way (she was old). So she took her out of her cage and put her beside my pillow. When my mom came in in the morning, my ferret was curled up on my pillow and had "gone to sleep." it still hurts to think about how i wasnt there for her...
Yeah, except I'm not "getting at" anyone -- I think everyone has to make that call, but I would encourage people to make it carefully and compassionately to the best of their ability. This is not quite on point, but my daughter had a pet fancy rat who was getting very much up there in rat years (around 3 in human years) and didn't move much. Daughter kept the rat on her desk while she did homework, the rat curled up in an old Dr. Seuss hat; later I found a poem daughter had written on her desk pad to the effect of how much she loved the rat and wished she could do more for her.
Well, whatever we need to do to pretend bad things don't exist. And prevent them from happening in the future by striking their presence from the public discourse.
For the photography people amongst the crowd… https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023_in_the_United_States Wikipedia is doing what they call the world’s biggest photography contest this month. You’ll have to check the web page for the details of what they want, when they want it, what they’ll do with it, and what you’ll get out of it if you win.
Euthanasia is hard on the vet staff. My wife cries every time she has to put down an animal, even if it’s not one of ours. She had to put down a horse once, and that just absolutely wrecked her. It’s not a mandatory thing for the owners to be present. The vet staff knows it’s hard on them too. There’s a measure of guilt about not being able to do more, or not being able to afford to do more. Some people just can’t bring themselves to be there. My wife’s clinic will do anything they can to make things easier on the family (within the law). My wife will even make house calls after hours. It’s the owners who give the air of not caring, that impression of it’s-just-a-dog nonchalance that make the staff want to draw up a second dose of blue juice.
I was there for both Fideaux and Baby. Both before their time. Baby was the great hunter and we suspect she got hold of a poisoned gopher. Fideaux got feline oral cancer. I wanted to put her down sooner, but the wife was too attached.
There is a town in California named Port Hueneme. It is pronounced WaNeeMee. Probably a Spanishized spelling of a native word. It is immediately south of Oxnard, named for a sugar magnate who built a sugar beet processing facility there. He never lived there.
We may think of a minute as being longer than a moment, but a moment was a medieval unit of time equal to about 90 seconds.
I think it's still 60 seconds but a lot more can happen in that time if you're in NYC. Which is probably true. That place is nuts. Super cool, but super duper nuts. Everytime I arrive I want to move there, but everytime I leave I'm like, yeah, too much, bad idea.
