# Do I need an English lesson? (My rant for today)



## DaveS (Feb 26, 2014)

I seem to have a problem expressing myself. I periodically place ads on Craigslist for dogs on the euthanasia list.
The replies I get fall into the five general categories listed below in order of number of responses.

1. Within a few hours - You #$%&@( BASTARD - stop killing these dogs
2. 7 to 20 days later - Is Fluffy still available?
3. A few hours or days later - This is so sad
4. Any old time - Where is the dog located?
5. Within 14 hours - How can I save this dog. (Easy to answer - I copy and paste that info from the ad into my reply.)

The standard text at the beginning of the ad:

"I don't work at the shelter or with the volunteer group that make the dog's information available on Facebook. I volunteer with, and foster dogs, for rescues that get dogs out of NYACC shelters. I put these ads on Craigslist in an effort to get them saved by adopters or foster parents.

"Each evening, at 6:00 PM, the New York City shelters produce a list of dogs that need to be saved by NOON the next day. On 05/18/2014 there are 17 dogs that only have until NOON tomorrow and about 180 other dogs in imminent risk.
Not ready to commit to care for a dog for its lifetime? You can still commit to save a life by becoming a foster parent with any of the approved rescues.

If you can go to the shelter by 6:00 PM Tuesday, you can apply online to adopt Bella by filling out a short application, selecting the dog you want to save, and paying a $50.00 deposit plus a $2.00 service fee. This option is only available until NOON on 05/19/2014."


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

The ad is perfectly clear. I wouldn't take it personally. People just don't like to read things. 

I used to work for the information service on my university campus, and I can't tell you the number of times I'd have a person come up to me, stand directly in front of a poster or sign, and then proceed to ask me questions that were answered by the poster or sign they were standing directly in front of. And I can't tell you the number of times I've had to point out to my boss that the question she is asking me about the conference/manuscript/speaker invitation/whatever is in fact answered by the e-mail that she was sent but didn't bother to read.


----------



## DaveS (Feb 26, 2014)

gingerkid said:


> The ad is perfectly clear. I wouldn't take it personally. People just don't like to read things.
> 
> I used to work for the information service on my university campus, and I can't tell you the number of times I'd have a person come up to me, stand directly in front of a poster or sign, and then proceed to ask me questions that were answered by the poster or sign they were standing directly in front of. And I can't tell you the number of times I've had to point out to my boss that the question she is asking me about the conference/manuscript/speaker invitation/whatever is in fact answered by the e-mail that she was sent but didn't bother to read.


I never take it personally - for the category 1, I just consider the ignorance of the source, lift my leg on it, and move on. 
So far I have been able to stifle the urge to suggest that due to their level of intelligence a pet other than a dog, such as a snail, might be a better match for the worst of the others,
Your boss sounds just like the college professor I recently had to deal with for a while. She asked the same type of questions and also had an aversion to using whole words, whole sentences, and any punctuation.


----------



## Jen2010 (Feb 12, 2013)

The ad sounds clear to me. People don't read sometimes!!! IMO they're not serious if they don't even read the whole ad.


----------

