The shelter closes in 2 weeks; I can't wait!

On April 15th, the homeless shelter where I've worked since November closes for the season--thankfully!

I never thought I'd express gladness over being out of another job, but the last five months of working with the local homeless population has taken a toll on me. My compassion is quickly drying up because a lot of those people have sucked it out of me like vampires. Here are some examples:

- A middle-aged woman who never showers and who I have had to admonish (more than once) to flush the toilet after she takes a shit.

- A petite 33-year-old woman with a little-girlish face who enjoys playing up to the men and pitting them against each other. She'll walk up to Mr. X and say, "Mr. Y just called me a bitch." Next thing I know, I'm breaking up a fight between Mr. X and Mr. Y! For all I know, Mr. Y may not have said a word to Ms. Petite, but the chivalrous Mr. X just has to make a damned fool of himself to defend her honor.

- Any number of guests who cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars going through rehab or detox, only to finish the program and within days (or even hours) go back on the stuff that got them in trouble in the first place.

- Guests who sneak alcohol into the shelter and don't even have the decency (or is it the brains?) to hide the empty bottles and cans. Rather, they leave them lying around for the staff to find!

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

A lot of those people are homeless because they are their own worst enemies. Far too many of them have a sense of entitlement, as if we are somehow responsible for getting them out of their situation. Yes, there are those of us willing to point them in the right direction and provide them with the means to improve their lives; but they have to take it from there!

Thankfully, I've also worked with a number of guests who looked at their homelessness as a temporary situation from which they were determined to escape ASAP and did just that. But they're not the ones I see every time I show up for a work shift.

Suffice it to say, after five months of working with this population, I think I'm fully qualified to teach middle school!