More Volunteering

Last night I had a volunteer gig for the zoo. I went to a local grocery store and stood at the entrance and harassed people to sign up to win free tickets to the zoo.

OK, so I didn't harass them. But my fellow volunteers did! Personally, I hate to be harassed like that when I walk into a store. So, I was more of the friendly, smiling lady handing out zoo magnets.

One of my fellow volunteers (an elderly fellow) would yell at people as they entered, "OVER HERE, OVER HERE, sign up to win free tickets to see Rosie!" Of course, most people didn't know who Rosie was or that the tickets were actually for the zoo and not just to see the elephant. I definitely felt like he was scaring people away. However, we did have quite a few people stop to sign up, so it wasn't all bad.

I seemed to be the person people would stop and chat to about the zoo. Asking questions or telling tales of their favorite animals. It was probably because I didn't sit behind the table like the other two.

However, I was pretty lucky to not get the following question: "How do elephants have babies?" The girl was approximately eight years old and standing next to her mother. Unfortunately the mom didn't step in and fortunately the volunteer quickly side-stepped it by telling her it was a great question and that she should visit the zoo and ask a zookeeper that question.

Surprisingly, I've found that I really enjoy helping out at events like that. Weird, huh? Maybe it's because I spend so much time in front of a computer screen that it's a welcome change to greet real people and talk about the zoo.