Um.... thanks for thinking of us? O.o

[MedusasOwl]

Wasn't sure what section to post this in, here or Feeders, so feel free to move it but... just... wow.

Karen had an INTERESTING day at work, and I have to post about it now. She was presented with a poisoned half-dead, young roof rat in a tupperware on her desk. Names have been changed to protect the ignorant. Let's call this woman... Betty.

Sooo, it's pretty commonly known at Karen's work that we keep snakes. She has pics up of all the babies, furred and scaled, in her cubical, and folks occasionally ask her about them etc and so on. Betty is... well, special. She's basically a spaz who likes to kiss up to people and lives on a special planet all her own. We do not know what planet this is, but... it's somewhere else far far away.

So, Betty comes up to Karen's desk with a tupperware that has a post-it on it. The note said something like "I found some snake food in my shower this morning, I thought that you might like it." She said about as much as a very surprised and bewildered Karen read the note and tried to explain that she wouldn't be able to give it to our snakes. She asked Betty if it was dead or alive, and she said she didn't know, so Karen went to open it to look. Betty then fled the scene.

Inside was a still, but breathing mouse-sized roof rat that smelled heavily of chemicals and was soaking wet. Karen stared at it wondering what to do, thinking she should just break the poor thing's neck and put it out of its misery. But then it started making an effort to get up, so she thought maybe it had a chance and would get through this thing. Then Zell's new mommy, Andrea, asked what was going on and they discussed the situation. Karen decided to take it outside, rinse it off, and see if it could make a recovery. Andrea offered to come along, so the pair headed outside with some water. On the way out, Betty spotted them as she was coming in from a smoke break, and she tagged along.

They found a secluded grassy spot, where Karen put the rat down and rinsed it with water. As she did this, she explained to Betty that first of all the rat was poisoned, second of all the rat was wild, and for both reasons we could and would under no circumstances feed it to our snakes. Our snake food shipped to us from a facility where it's fed healthy food and free from disease and parasites. This rat would make our snakes sick and kill them. Betty was surprised by this, and said she didn't know and that it's probably a good thing she couldn't find her cat whom she'd originally planned to give the poisoned roof rat too. Apparently, she had sprayed the poor thing thoroughly with bug spray after hearing it moving around in the drain or something. Then searched everywhere for her cat so he could eat it. Not finding the cat, she thought of our snakes.

The little rat seemed to be doing okay for a few minutes, like it might recover and take off, but then it suddenly stiffened, spasmed, and keeled over. Karen wished she'd put it out of it's misery sooner. The poor thing had been sitting on Betty's desk all day suffering.

Karen collected the body and threw it away. Andrea says she can still see the twitching rat in her brain.

Betty, the mother of 3 children, has learned that eating poisoned things is bad. She even thanked Karen for educating her, so now she knows try not to encourage her cat to eat poisoned wild things anymore.

Karen says she's not sure if she's the victim of somebody who thinks too much about other people, or if she's just had a horse's head put in her bed. All in all, pretty bizarre day and easily now the most infamous Betty story as well as a work story that will be hard to top. You don't get offered a half dead roof rat as a random gift from a co-worker everyday. Just... wow.

[Vomitore]

Wow that's just nuts!

[cassandra]

Yeah, wow. There are some amazingly brainless or non-thinking people out there.

Reminds me of a woman who works with Rick. Key to this story: Rick is English and the company he works for is English, as in the headquarters is in ENGLAND. Lots of people who work there, in both of the US branches are ENGLISH. K, got it? English people...from England.

So this chick, we'll call her Rhonda, asked Rick if they spoke French in England and how long it took him to learn English...

:eek:

She's been an employee of the company for like 10 years.

"Yeah, they speak French in England, the homeland of the English company you've been working for for years and all the English people you work with, they all had to LEARN ENGLISH to live and work in the US."

***
I'm very sorry to hear that poor rat suffered as long as he obviously did. =P

[SatanicIntention]

Some people... should never breed.

No breeding for you! KThx!

[frankykeno]

Tell Betty that I lost a beloved pet cat when I was a kid due to it eating a poisoned rat...and it was NOT pretty. What a silly twit! Glad she didn't manage to poison her own cat but sorry the poor wild thing had to suffer for her stupidity. Can't imagine what it's like to have dear batty Betty as a mom. (Betty's leaving for work routine....grab keys, travel mug, half-dead rat, purse...yep ready to go!...geesh!)

[Freakie_frog]

See what people don't understand is that if it kills bugs it'll kill anything that it touches. I feel for the little rat poor little thing was scared and hurting. Some people I tell you.

[frankykeno]

I'm with you there Ed. It's one thing to have to kill off wild rodents. We recently had to set down spring traps for some house mice that took up residence in my kitchen but at least that's fairly quick and over with. Can't imagine allowing anything even a pest to die slow and hard like that...geeze!

[tigerlily]

Just when I think stupid people can't surprise me anymore. Karen should get major kudos for having patience to explain why not to use poisoned food to feed ANYTHING!! (espcially without smacking them in the back of the head)

[Ginevive]

What a nut job! Unbelievable.. I can hardly believe the whole bug-spray and cat thing.. let along her giving the rat to Karen.. would she feed her KIDS food that had Raid sprayed on it?!!

[Laooda]

I've ALWAYS said that I want to come back as a house cat. Who has a better life!?!?!? I think I'll add "not at Betty's house" to the request!

Lets be glad that her cat doesn't like the smell of bug spray on it's treats....

Wow.... I'm with Becky, some people should not breed. I know a few "Betty's" myself.