Post by christine220 on Nov 23, 2009 10:38:18 GMT -5
I feel like I am doomed to just not talk to people. I can't deal with trying to meet new people and all of that. I tried something new the past two weeks (I know, not a long time). I like animals and have pets so I decided to volunteer at a local animal rescue. I go once a day on weekends for about five hours.
THe first day was pretty good. I met two women (a lady in her 50's who asked me a ton of questions and made me feel welcome and a girl a little younger than me -she is still in college). I talked to both and felt pretty outgoing as I do well in very small groups or one on one. When the older woman left I had more of a chance to talk to the younger girl. She was a little quiet like me, was very nice and we had some things in common. She is going to school to be a vet. I looked forward to seeing her again this weekend but she was not there. I was told she probably won't be back because she is very busy with school.
The lady in her 50's was there again though and since I"m not completely trained as a volunteer I have to "shadow" someone. She told me to help her with everything so I did. At first our conversations were fine. Then she told me she had adopted an animal last week and I automatically thought she'd adopted it from the rescue we were volunteering at. She said no she would never do that? I thought that was a little strange but we kept working. Then she told me to help her with a cat (it had hissed at her) because "you seem to like animals" and I thought that was a little weird because why would you be volunteering at an animal rescue if you DIDN'T like animals?? But I let that pass and she kept showing me the ropes and she was friendly and asked me a ton of questions. I answered them and asked her a little about herself. We were alone in a room cleaning and I had told her the stories behind my pets (how I adopted them etc) and she said "now let me tell you about me" and she launched into this story that sounded straight out of a soap opera! She told me she was disabled and lived alone which was normal so far but then she started saying she used to be married to a millionaire who was also a drug dealer and that there were two hits out on her and that THEY had moved drug dealers into her apartment building to keep an eye on her. Said her dad was rich and died and her brother took all his money and she didn't see a dime and that her brother should be in prison. Talked about the people trying to kill her and how her mother's best friend turned on her recenlty and is out to get her but thinks she is too stupid to figure it out. She started screaming "fk them" and when she called down she told me the only reason she is working at the rescue is that someone took her dog away from her and took it to a vet who gave it to the rescue. Said it is illegal to take an animal away but they did it anyway and the rescue knew it was her dog and yet they adopted it out and the director knows it was wrong and that the dog was hers but she just wants to know it got a good home and so she is undercover working there to find out what happened to her dog (2 years ago). She said the director knows why she is there and doesn't like her. She started screaming "fk director" and my eyes were probably popping out of my head at this point as I inched toward the door. I just calmly nodded though and listened. I wanted to run out of the room as the woman was seriously freaking me out. I am guessing she is probably a paranoid schizophrenic or something. I have no idea. I just tried to be nice and not argue with anything she said. There is more but it was so bizare! I wanted to get away from her once she started her ranting. She told me she needed help washing the dishes and luckily some woman came in who wanted to adopt an animal so I ran off to find someone to help her.
After that distraction I found a girl who was the team leader for the day (a high school senior) and asked her if I could help her out. She had to assist the lady with the adoption so she told me I could finish the room she was working on. I did this and the older lady found me and was upset that I wasn't helping her. I told her I'd come find her as soon as I was done. I went to look for her (very briefly) and didn't see her (thank god!) So I went to another area and found a volunteer in her 20's and started talking to her. I asked her if she'd ever worked with the other woman and she said yes and I joked that I was hiding from her because I hated washing dishes. We talked awhile which was nice and then I confided in her that I was a little freaked out by the older woman because she told me all these stories and she started screaming and stuff. The girl just looked at me funny and said "yeah she told me all that too, it is probably true, anything can happen" and I just agreed yeah I guess anything is possible but I couldn't BELIEVE that the girl wasn't a little disbelieving. After I told her I was a little freaked out by the woman she basically didn't talk to me much. I felt like I was the freak because I was unnerved by the situation. I found out the older lady was mad at me because I didn't come back to help her so she went home early. I am a little nervous to go back this weekend. I know that older lady will be there and I don't know what to say to her. I don't want to work with her. If she isn't mentally ill (I am not making fun of her, I seriously think she is) then I feel stupid for misinterpreting that. But I don't know how to act around her now. And as far as the other girl acting like I"m the crazy one for not believing those stories I will still talk to her but I don't think we'd ever be friends. I just feel like I can't win even if I try to make positive changes it never works out.
THe first day was pretty good. I met two women (a lady in her 50's who asked me a ton of questions and made me feel welcome and a girl a little younger than me -she is still in college). I talked to both and felt pretty outgoing as I do well in very small groups or one on one. When the older woman left I had more of a chance to talk to the younger girl. She was a little quiet like me, was very nice and we had some things in common. She is going to school to be a vet. I looked forward to seeing her again this weekend but she was not there. I was told she probably won't be back because she is very busy with school.
The lady in her 50's was there again though and since I"m not completely trained as a volunteer I have to "shadow" someone. She told me to help her with everything so I did. At first our conversations were fine. Then she told me she had adopted an animal last week and I automatically thought she'd adopted it from the rescue we were volunteering at. She said no she would never do that? I thought that was a little strange but we kept working. Then she told me to help her with a cat (it had hissed at her) because "you seem to like animals" and I thought that was a little weird because why would you be volunteering at an animal rescue if you DIDN'T like animals?? But I let that pass and she kept showing me the ropes and she was friendly and asked me a ton of questions. I answered them and asked her a little about herself. We were alone in a room cleaning and I had told her the stories behind my pets (how I adopted them etc) and she said "now let me tell you about me" and she launched into this story that sounded straight out of a soap opera! She told me she was disabled and lived alone which was normal so far but then she started saying she used to be married to a millionaire who was also a drug dealer and that there were two hits out on her and that THEY had moved drug dealers into her apartment building to keep an eye on her. Said her dad was rich and died and her brother took all his money and she didn't see a dime and that her brother should be in prison. Talked about the people trying to kill her and how her mother's best friend turned on her recenlty and is out to get her but thinks she is too stupid to figure it out. She started screaming "fk them" and when she called down she told me the only reason she is working at the rescue is that someone took her dog away from her and took it to a vet who gave it to the rescue. Said it is illegal to take an animal away but they did it anyway and the rescue knew it was her dog and yet they adopted it out and the director knows it was wrong and that the dog was hers but she just wants to know it got a good home and so she is undercover working there to find out what happened to her dog (2 years ago). She said the director knows why she is there and doesn't like her. She started screaming "fk director" and my eyes were probably popping out of my head at this point as I inched toward the door. I just calmly nodded though and listened. I wanted to run out of the room as the woman was seriously freaking me out. I am guessing she is probably a paranoid schizophrenic or something. I have no idea. I just tried to be nice and not argue with anything she said. There is more but it was so bizare! I wanted to get away from her once she started her ranting. She told me she needed help washing the dishes and luckily some woman came in who wanted to adopt an animal so I ran off to find someone to help her.
After that distraction I found a girl who was the team leader for the day (a high school senior) and asked her if I could help her out. She had to assist the lady with the adoption so she told me I could finish the room she was working on. I did this and the older lady found me and was upset that I wasn't helping her. I told her I'd come find her as soon as I was done. I went to look for her (very briefly) and didn't see her (thank god!) So I went to another area and found a volunteer in her 20's and started talking to her. I asked her if she'd ever worked with the other woman and she said yes and I joked that I was hiding from her because I hated washing dishes. We talked awhile which was nice and then I confided in her that I was a little freaked out by the older woman because she told me all these stories and she started screaming and stuff. The girl just looked at me funny and said "yeah she told me all that too, it is probably true, anything can happen" and I just agreed yeah I guess anything is possible but I couldn't BELIEVE that the girl wasn't a little disbelieving. After I told her I was a little freaked out by the woman she basically didn't talk to me much. I felt like I was the freak because I was unnerved by the situation. I found out the older lady was mad at me because I didn't come back to help her so she went home early. I am a little nervous to go back this weekend. I know that older lady will be there and I don't know what to say to her. I don't want to work with her. If she isn't mentally ill (I am not making fun of her, I seriously think she is) then I feel stupid for misinterpreting that. But I don't know how to act around her now. And as far as the other girl acting like I"m the crazy one for not believing those stories I will still talk to her but I don't think we'd ever be friends. I just feel like I can't win even if I try to make positive changes it never works out.