OT I Just Need To Vent

Welcome to our Cheerleading Community

Members see FEWER ads... join today!

Off Topic
Apr 14, 2017
1,440
1,067
I work at an animal rescue. Long story short I’ve lost all faith in both the organisation and the boss/founder. I’m at the point where I think either she needs to be ousted, or the rescue needs to be shut down because she cannot be in charge of people or pets anymore.

My boss has never been great at her job — she makes reckless and erratic decisions without any regard to animal/staff safety, comfort or health — but lately she’s been spiraling more than usual. She’s auctioning off puppies (which is basically the opposite of what rescue is about) and, when she’s met with public backlash, doubles down with defensive and tone-deaf responses that lose us a bunch of supporters.

She’s abusing staff with unprofessional, inappropriate tantrums. She recently said “f*** you” to a teenage employee over puppy food, and once punched her former assistant in the arm during a disagreement.

But most appallingly, she euthanised a rescue dog after it attacked her own personal dog, even though the attack only occurred because she left her dog out to wander in an area it should’ve have because there were AGGRESSIVE DOGS LIVING IN IT. My boss knew that it was more her fault for letting her own dog wander in an off-limits area rather than the other dog’s, but she euthanised the him anyway. This despite the fact that when similar incidents have occurred with other aggressive dogs, she let them off the hook because “they’re just being dogs and we should’ve prevented them from fighting in the first place.” But when it’s her dog that’s attacked because she let it wander in a place it shouldn’t have been, she conveniently forgets all that “no-kill” thing we’re supposed to be about.

It’s just not a good place for people or pets anymore, and this realisation has broken my heart. From where I’m standing, the only way this place survives is if she’s outed by the board of directors, which is unlikely. And if she’s not, I’m actually considering taking steps to get the whole rescue shut down because I really do feel it has become an unsafe, unhealthy place for both animals and people. The only reason I haven’t quit is because I don’t want to leave the animals in her care, and because I’m hoping the board will do the right thing and oust her so we can become productive again. But if they don’t, I’m probably going straight to OSHA and the BBB to get this place shut down, which would mean the animals can be moved to other, better shelters. It’s not comfortable with the insubordination since I’ve worked here for years, but I’m also not comfortable just leaving and doing nothing.

So anyway, I just needed to vent. As always, if anyone wants to advise I’m all ears.
 
I work at an animal rescue. Long story short I’ve lost all faith in both the organisation and the boss/founder. I’m at the point where I think either she needs to be ousted, or the rescue needs to be shut down because she cannot be in charge of people or pets anymore.

My boss has never been great at her job — she makes reckless and erratic decisions without any regard to animal/staff safety, comfort or health — but lately she’s been spiraling more than usual. She’s auctioning off puppies (which is basically the opposite of what rescue is about) and, when she’s met with public backlash, doubles down with defensive and tone-deaf responses that lose us a bunch of supporters.

She’s abusing staff with unprofessional, inappropriate tantrums. She recently said “f*** you” to a teenage employee over puppy food, and once punched her former assistant in the arm during a disagreement.

But most appallingly, she euthanised a rescue dog after it attacked her own personal dog, even though the attack only occurred because she left her dog out to wander in an area it should’ve have because there were AGGRESSIVE DOGS LIVING IN IT. My boss knew that it was more her fault for letting her own dog wander in an off-limits area rather than the other dog’s, but she euthanised the him anyway. This despite the fact that when similar incidents have occurred with other aggressive dogs, she let them off the hook because “they’re just being dogs and we should’ve prevented them from fighting in the first place.” But when it’s her dog that’s attacked because she let it wander in a place it shouldn’t have been, she conveniently forgets all that “no-kill” thing we’re supposed to be about.

It’s just not a good place for people or pets anymore, and this realisation has broken my heart. From where I’m standing, the only way this place survives is if she’s outed by the board of directors, which is unlikely. And if she’s not, I’m actually considering taking steps to get the whole rescue shut down because I really do feel it has become an unsafe, unhealthy place for both animals and people. The only reason I haven’t quit is because I don’t want to leave the animals in her care, and because I’m hoping the board will do the right thing and oust her so we can become productive again. But if they don’t, I’m probably going straight to OSHA and the BBB to get this place shut down, which would mean the animals can be moved to other, better shelters. It’s not comfortable with the insubordination since I’ve worked here for years, but I’m also not comfortable just leaving and doing nothing.

So anyway, I just needed to vent. As always, if anyone wants to advise I’m all ears.
Have you reported her to the board? They cant do anything if they dont know. Let them know and give them a chance to Male it right. Then proceed from there. Sorry this is happening though.
 
I work at an animal rescue. Long story short I’ve lost all faith in both the organisation and the boss/founder. I’m at the point where I think either she needs to be ousted, or the rescue needs to be shut down because she cannot be in charge of people or pets anymore.

My boss has never been great at her job — she makes reckless and erratic decisions without any regard to animal/staff safety, comfort or health — but lately she’s been spiraling more than usual. She’s auctioning off puppies (which is basically the opposite of what rescue is about) and, when she’s met with public backlash, doubles down with defensive and tone-deaf responses that lose us a bunch of supporters.

She’s abusing staff with unprofessional, inappropriate tantrums. She recently said “f*** you” to a teenage employee over puppy food, and once punched her former assistant in the arm during a disagreement.

But most appallingly, she euthanised a rescue dog after it attacked her own personal dog, even though the attack only occurred because she left her dog out to wander in an area it should’ve have because there were AGGRESSIVE DOGS LIVING IN IT. My boss knew that it was more her fault for letting her own dog wander in an off-limits area rather than the other dog’s, but she euthanised the him anyway. This despite the fact that when similar incidents have occurred with other aggressive dogs, she let them off the hook because “they’re just being dogs and we should’ve prevented them from fighting in the first place.” But when it’s her dog that’s attacked because she let it wander in a place it shouldn’t have been, she conveniently forgets all that “no-kill” thing we’re supposed to be about.

It’s just not a good place for people or pets anymore, and this realisation has broken my heart. From where I’m standing, the only way this place survives is if she’s outed by the board of directors, which is unlikely. And if she’s not, I’m actually considering taking steps to get the whole rescue shut down because I really do feel it has become an unsafe, unhealthy place for both animals and people. The only reason I haven’t quit is because I don’t want to leave the animals in her care, and because I’m hoping the board will do the right thing and oust her so we can become productive again. But if they don’t, I’m probably going straight to OSHA and the BBB to get this place shut down, which would mean the animals can be moved to other, better shelters. It’s not comfortable with the insubordination since I’ve worked here for years, but I’m also not comfortable just leaving and doing nothing.

So anyway, I just needed to vent. As always, if anyone wants to advise I’m all ears.
I’m sorry :(
 
Have you reported her to the board? They cant do anything if they dont know. Let them know and give them a chance to Male it right. Then proceed from there. Sorry this is happening though.

Yeah, the board knows. I know they're collecting evidence to have some sort of confrontation with my boss, but unless that ends with her leaving I'm not sure what good it'll do. Every time they've spoken to her in the past, she either 1) blame the problems on staff, or 2) apologizes to everyone, relents for about a month, and then eventually resorts to her destructive tactics again.

In the meantime, things are freaking spiraling. All the employees are visibly upset with her and the tension is palpable. She's mad that the employees are mad, which means she talks down to them, which means they get even more mad. In addition, the tension is causing some of the managers to have screaming fits with each other in front of clients. (Like when one said "Don't you ever f****** talk to me like that again!" to another in front of a nice couple who JUST CAME INTO ADOPT A CAT NAMED CREAMSICLE) . It's just so dysfunctional, unprofessional, and bizarre. Rescue can be emotionally and physically taxing, so I've learned to accept the occasional tantrum or emotional disagreement between coworkers over the years. But never on a scale like this, and never to the point where I've actively had to step back and ask myself, "W in T actual F."

Lots of people are leaving, but I'm not in a position to do that. I guess I'm wondering if anyone here has worked in a cartoonishly toxic environment? Or experienced a board of directors to ousting their own founder?
 
Yeah, the board knows. I know they're collecting evidence to have some sort of confrontation with my boss, but unless that ends with her leaving I'm not sure what good it'll do. Every time they've spoken to her in the past, she either 1) blame the problems on staff, or 2) apologizes to everyone, relents for about a month, and then eventually resorts to her destructive tactics again.

In the meantime, things are freaking spiraling. All the employees are visibly upset with her and the tension is palpable. She's mad that the employees are mad, which means she talks down to them, which means they get even more mad. In addition, the tension is causing some of the managers to have screaming fits with each other in front of clients. (Like when one said "Don't you ever f****** talk to me like that again!" to another in front of a nice couple who JUST CAME INTO ADOPT A CAT NAMED CREAMSICLE) . It's just so dysfunctional, unprofessional, and bizarre. Rescue can be emotionally and physically taxing, so I've learned to accept the occasional tantrum or emotional disagreement between coworkers over the years. But never on a scale like this, and never to the point where I've actively had to step back and ask myself, "W in T actual F."

Lots of people are leaving, but I'm not in a position to do that. I guess I'm wondering if anyone here has worked in a cartoonishly toxic environment? Or experienced a board of directors to ousting their own founder?
So sorry. I hope she gets the boot and it gets better.
 
Back