Chapter 9

"Staff meetings for continuous improvement, Alzu is still heartbroken and we go to the mall"

Over the next few days there were quite some meetings with the Fin Janne, Jeanna, Marni, Miekie and me. Janne, a big man with a small Mohawk who looks like a rocker, had a very surprising character. The first impression I got based on looks was that of a rocker with a very strong personality. Later on I learned that he was a very nice man, with lots of interests (radio hobbyist, lover of good old fashioned music made with instruments) who had a very strong sense of responsibility and was tactful in sharing his knowledge with others (including the management of the wild cat farm). In short he was someone you can always count on to keep a level head in stress situations.

In the meeting he (and I) presented Jeanna, Marni and Miekie with some requests (mere pointers and tips really) on how they could with just a few small adjustments improve working conditions, productivity and contention amongst the volunteers. Among the requests were:
1. Clear information about the tasks to do for volunteers
2. Clear safety instructions
3. Assigning work leaders to ease the job of the current volunteer leaders Marni and Miekie who had also other tasks to perform

I thought the suggestions were really good and I hope Jeanna and the others have taken them to heart as the helpful tips and talked about the ideas with the big boss, Lisette, per intention.

After those talks Janne and me were respected a bit more as the spokespeople for the volunteers and since I was also at that time (apart from Hector and Taru) the volunteer that had been there longest I became the go-to person if the volunteers were unsure about tasks.

Now in these days it also became pretty clear that Alzu would continue to miss his palls for weeks maybe. He spends a lot of time stress pacing and scratched his head open against sharp edges of the fence. We placed blankets to prevent this, but the results are not satisfactory yet.

Later today a new batch of volunteers were to arrive and I found myself wondering how the group dynamics would change. It seemed the old group had finally found its footing. Some still did more than others, but that will always be the case in group projects, especially if some are keen to do as much as possible (like me, Jamie-Lee, Ade and other team poopoo members). When night had come and the volunteers did not arrive the rumour mill started and we quickly found out that there had been some miscommunication and they would arrive together with another group a day later.

The next day Alzu was still heartbroken. He was sporting two more wounds and was still crying himself hoarse. He jumped anyone who came in for hugs and attention. At night Janne, Jared and I treated his wounds and tried to provide some padding to the iron door in front of his house with a doormat from the garage. Hopefully this will help a bit.

Before our treatment session in the dark we had spent most of the day in the mall and afterwards shopping for groceries. Yes, to be quite honest shopping took way more time than I thought it would. I had gone through the mall in about an hour and a half (it was a big mall) and I just bought some extra warm socks, 2 pc-games, a flashlight and binoculars. I also looked at a few books in the book store, but that was it. I have done most of my shopping alone. Not that I was against the idea of shopping with the others, but I had lost sight of them after the second store we had gone into. I met the Finnish people in the music/game store, but the Norwegians seemed to be everywhere I wasn’t. From what I had heard (and could see from the results) my Norwegian palls had shopped till they dropped. Especially the girls had loaded up on about anything from make-up to lingerie, to other clothes and God only knows what else. It was quite funny to see the look on the face of our driver. She was stunned. After a while she too saw the humorous side of the situation. And with a smile and a laugh we went home to the “ranch”.