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Chapter 59. "The Customer is Always Right"
"Your volunteer just assaulted me!"
Rachel K's stinging words shot through me like a lightening bolt.
"Rachel, there must be some kind of misunderstanding or mista......."
"There is no mistake, Patty! That blonde woman grabbed the cat from me and later punched me!"
"Rachel, we normally don't let people take the cats out of the cages. I didn't know you were coming. I forgot to tell the volunteers that....."
"I am reporting this to corporate!"
Rachel's rage seemed to quell once she had an idea on how to really hurt us.
"Rachel, please don't do that," I pleaded. "We will lose the store and that would mean not being able to rescue any more cats!"
"I have to do what I have to do," Rachel countered seemingly without hearing me. "That woman is not going to get away with it!"
And with that, Rachel quickly stormed out of Petco. She had a plan now and was going to act on it. The "feeling" I always had about this potential powder keg had suddenly come true and despite all my efforts in prevention, had suddenly blown up in my face.
The one thing I had failed to do, was discuss Rachel K. with my volunteers.
I picked up the boxed and newly rescued CACC cats from the floor where I had placed them to try and deal with the enraged Rachel and made my way back to our adoption display.
LJ and Ann moved quickly to help me unload the cats and put them in cages.
"OK, you want to tell me what happened with that woman?" I asked LJ and Ann. "She is making a complaint to the corporate office."
LJ quickly and nervously explained that Rachel K. had walked over to one of the cages and removed a cat without asking anyone. LJ moved over, took the cat from her and verbally corrected her for the behavior.
"She's claiming you punched her, LJ."
"No, no!" LJ replied emphatically. "She became angry and tried to remove the cat again after I put him back in the cage! Said something like, she 'does this all the time.' I got between her and the cage, and gently tried to push her back. I certainly didn't punch her! That's a lie!"
Ann corroborated LJ's account. I knew both were telling the truth. But, I also knew it would probably make no difference. "The customer is always right" -- even when they lie.
I figured this was the beginning of the end. We were cooked.
"I should have told you about Rachel K.," I despairingly said to LJ and Ann. "It's true I used to allow her to take cats out and hold them. I always knew she was a nut case and didn't want to go up and down with her. Oh my God, this is a disaster!"
We all hoped Rachel would not act on her threat and continued on with the work of the day.
But, deep in my heart, I knew Rachel would make trouble and in the process, exaggerate beyond all limits of any kind of reality. How could we possibly defend against her wild accusations? "The Customer is always right."
A few days later, I was informed by the manager of Petco that we had until the end of the week to leave the store. "Corporate has received too many complaints," he told me dispassionately without being specific to any one grievance.
Over the next few days many efforts were made to keep us at Petco, but none to any avail. I wrote a letter to corporate. Almost two hundred Petco customers signed a petition to keep us in the store. Other people called and even wrote letters on our behalf. But, in the end, I was faced with 14 CACC cats in the store and only four days to try and find placement for them.
LJ was a tremendous help. She willingly took several of the cats home with her. She helped me to disband our display, bring cages and other supplies to my house and drummed up public support. Suzanne Goldhirsh took a couple of other cats and Holly Staver of the rescue group, City Critters agreed to take the two remaining cats on our last day at Petco.
When it was all finally over, I felt like someone whose entire world had just collapsed on her.
How will I be able to rescue cats?
I thought about all the animals I had not been able to save despite the roughly 1100 adoptions we had secured in the three-plus years we were at Petco and all the ones I would not save now. Would 1100 go down to zero?
What about the 8 cats I was fostering in my apartment? Would I be able to place them?
I was finally home. Tina greeted me at the door as she did every night. Several cats rubbed themselves against my legs.
Despite all the chaos and the ruins, all seemed surprisingly normal. A flick of the TV brought images of smiling salespeople, sitcoms, cop shows and 24-hour news.
"Life goes on without you"......Was that a line from a song or something?
And yes, life went on as always, despite my personal world falling apart and along with it, the dream of saving every animal who needed and deserved to be saved.
I had somehow failed them all.
I collapsed in a chair, lit a cigarette, and seemingly for the first time in more than three years, finally exhaled.
"Its All Over Now, Baby Blue.
But, you can breathe now.
After some time of mulling in self-pity and feelings of despair, I finally got up to feed and care for my cats and walk Tina.
We may have been thrown out of the store, but that did not end my responsibilities.
Walking with Tina along the dark, quiet streets of Park Avenue, I suddenly felt a sense of calm.
"The Customer is always right," -- but there is always another road and another way back.
For now, to wait things out and see where fate led.
I will think about this tomorrow.
A light rain began to fall as I headed back home with Tina, seemingly washing away the images and memories of a very, very tough week.