Season 1,Ep. 10

The One With The Bullying (Not At School)

Bullying. We all know how it works, one feels shit about themselves, one doesn't get enough attention at home, one comes from a broken or bullying environment at home, and one takes it out on someone else. It's simple yet so complicated.
It is super awful and absolutely necessary to at least try to be ceased from happening at schools only because children are pretty much helpless when it happens to them. They don't have the skills to fight back, they barely even know who they are as a person. And guess what. Being bullied surely defines a lot on who you become later on. Hashtag chain.
If you're bullied and you know it clap your hands. *clap clap*. And if you're not sure if it was bullying that happened to you, bullying ranges from verbal abuse such as light-hearted talking down on you, such as someone telling you that you cannot do something, such as someone treating you according to the way you look to full on physical abuse. So yes, I can safely say that pretty much a good 80% of us here with big hearts have probably been or are being bullied somewhere by someone, either once or continuously. Am I right? Hashtag Hallelujah?
Anyhow, yes, bullied at school although it definitely didn't seem to had hold me down afterwards, it just made me one very depressed 10 year old for a year who would start crying even if you pinched me. No biggie. No grudges. Bitch. Ahem.
But my bullying experience as an adult is what is definitely worth mentioning. My friends have heard about it, my parents have heard about it, my kids will definitely hear about it, my grand-kids will be making jokes about it. In the hope of helping anyone out there who deals with a similar situation here is the "employer gone wild" story.
In the year 2013, I had already completed a few months as a part time dog walker, but I slowly started filling in for full-timers who needed time off so I started spending time with the boss more and more. We had already started on the wrong foot but then again so did all of her other employees. It was simply the kind of situation where you couldn't win with the woman. You don't do something, you get told off, you do something, you do it wrong, you answer back to her, you are a rude rebel who has an answer for everything, you don't answer back and just nod along, to make your day easier to move along, you're not listening to her.
And that was the start of it. All employees experienced it, all 90% of them who quit within a few months, plus the 10% who hung in there a little longer for the money and the dogs. But by 2014 things took an unexpected turn and the daily minor telling off became major scenic, dramatic, verbal abuse. Suddenly I am getting bullied about not doing what I am told, 5 minutes after she would see me do it. If someone else wasn't doing something right, there would be a couple of incidents where I would still get the blame for it. If I tried to talk back and stand up for myself, the woman would reach the point where she would attack my physical appearance as a reason for being "shit" at my job. Pardon my French.
Two things I cannot stand are guilt and the feeling of someone being treated unfairly. Being the little passionate artist I am, I tear up like that *click*. One day I did, and next thing I know she is pointing her finger at me like I am a puppy being told off for chewing her shoes. "All you know how to do is cry anyway, so go on cry". Um yeah, hashtag true story bro. The money was great, the dogs adorable and the clients kind. I did the math for a while and held on. Until that notorious moment which probably still haunts me. Final straw I guess. Just because someone pays you doesn't mean they have the right to treat you like dirt. Please don't forget that. Life is short.
Bullying employer's profile: Mid-fifties, single, no friends, shut everyone around her out, including family, constantly made mistakes with her clients and blamed it on her employees, was mostly attacking her female employees, not attached to her clients' dogs at all, they were nothing but a big fat cheque to her. Are you smiling yet? Wait for the punch line. My next employer in that industry emailed me after a month of working for her to express her gratitude for being good and reliable. A MONTH after I started working for her.

Remember, Karma is a bitch only to bitches.

Feel free to share your story on the comments below. Everyone has a story.

Season 1, Ep. 09

PREVIOUSLY ON THE MOO POINT...

So here I am thinking that life is short and for what is worth, you should always pursue any passions and moments of happiness and since dogs have always been the juicy cherry on top of my passion cake, here I am being offered to get paid to look after them. It was a no brainer.

And boy was I loving it. Dogs are what they are. They all have their personalities, they all have their mannerisms that come from their homes, they never ever hold any grudges and most of all they sure know how to have a good time. That is the biggest lesson that working with dogs have taught me. I may have learnt how to teach them to sit and how to stop them from pulling the leash while they are on a walk, but the biggest lesson I'm taking away is that those four-legged best friends of ours, know how to live their lives to the fullest, they know how to have a good time whenever and wherever they are, whether they are alone or with friends, whether they have an entire park to run in or are stuck in a tiny box, a crate, a kennel, dogs know how what their life is about. And they value it. 

So it dawned on me that I may able to teach them not to chew on furniture for example or never ever to pee indoors again, but they certainly are the teacher when it comes to the right attitude. The attitude to grab that opportunity to make the fullest out of any situation we are put in. Quite deep ae? 

So dogs became my therapy as well as my passion, as well as my part time job. Spending time with them most days of the week even if it was for a couple of hours, took my mind of all the rest. All those little every day stresses that the London lifestyle provoked. Oh yeah rent is due again next week, oh that's right another audition I didn't get, oh my agent is pretty shit. Oh well I am walking my dogs now so all is hushed. This probably became and will always remain one of the best jobs I've had so far. The only downside, that boss o'mine. Downside would be sugar coating it. But more on that later. And that's my truth today. So. How are you?

Season 1, Ep 08

Who Let My Dogs Out

Ah dogs. There's probably gonna be a handful of episodes on dogs as it has been, is and always will be one of my biggest passions. Oh yeah. All the theatre, Musical performing, ballet, choreographing and teaching craze can probably definitely measure up JUST about to how passionate I am about dogs. 
Definitely deprived from them as a child, I grew up in an apartment, and my mother's answer to all my attempts to beg for one was 'and where am I gonna put it, on my head?'. It was a classic. 'On my head'. But in her defence I did always have a love for the bigger breeds and the ultimate dream breed for my taste was a German Shepherd. So FAIR ENOUGH, the woman had a point. 
The grown up version of me realises that having a dog means mum does all the work and I'm just there for the pats. I realise that now. So I settled for a canary. Coolest canary ever by the way. But we'll get to that later. 
Now not to blow on my own trumpet here TOO MUCH, but not only have I always been a dog lover, but I must admit I always had a way with them too. Kinda like a mini-Dr Doolittle type or shall I say, Dr DoGlittle *flaring eyebrows*.
...Anyhoo, 24 years later after all that dreaming of having my own dog, or being around dogs or something, here I am living in London, and I move into a fancy pansy neighbourhood on the same road as a dog 'day care' centre. Oh yeah, it's a thing. A huge thing. You see, the rich and powerful of London own a dog for a whole different reason. To be considered rich in London you must have the house, the car, the maid, the dog and the dog walker. Dog gets treated like a kid, gets picked up and dropped off at day care, gets groomed, fed, trained etc etc. But hey, those who run those businesses end up being richer. Just saying. 
SO, here I am, struggling with auditions etc etc and it felt like a sign. Like a big sign. Dogs? Work? Hell yeah. Life is short. I knocked on the door and next week I started as a part time dog walker. I was in heaven. Walking dogs and getting paid for it? WHAT. Part time became full time and I swear if I hadn't moved away from London it probably would have been a career.
I learn best and I am at my best when I learn on the job. Clearly I never did a course or earned a qualification but here I am 3 years later, able to do behavioural training, basic health checks and in the meantime lets just say at least one of my clients whose dogs I took care of are total crème de la crème. Hashtag celebrity. But still no dog of my own. Let's just say working in London WITH dogs, made realise it is no place to have your own dog if you work unless you can afford your own dog walker. Hashtag irony. 
I have a million stories to tell you about my time at the dog day care centre before I had to quit and move on to a different super amazing agency where I got to work with my own clients, but I realise I rambled on again today so I'll give you a break, you know, leave you wanting more, and fill ya in on all the stories and the experience I have taken away from that job that I will definitely be telling my grand-kids about.That chapter of my life has probably been one of the most significant chapters so far. But I am super professional, no names shall be mentioned during storytelling. For now I'll leave you with the ultimate breed for me, the Lion King of all dog breeds, my Alsatian. 

Season 1, Ep. 07

SLAP

Remember Grey's Anatomy? Yeah, it's still going on so let me rephrase. Do you remember Grey's Anatomy until a couple of years ago, while it was still awesome? That's better.
So the Grey's Anatomy we all knew and loved had those poetic pep talk scenes, the dramatic 'rise to the occasion' scenes and most importantly the big 'slap in our face' scenes. That last one. That big slap in the face that you felt pretty much after every episode is what I'm gonna focus on. It has been my favourite long running TV show after Friends, and even though it could become 'too much happening and all at the same time' at times, if you think about it, individually, the accidents, the illnesses, the drama, the losses, the killings, they can all happen individually, and yes at the same time even, to anyone.
So my point being, slap in the face. Slap in the face to remind us how okay we are. We are okay. Hashtag OK.
Where the hell am I going with all this? Migrants. Thousands of unfortunate families and individuals who absolutely DID NOT chose to but had to leave their homes for a safer place. Not just a better place. No, a better place is what someone like me and you would move somewhere else for, a safer place. A place where they don't have to sleep under the bed with one eye open at night in case their home gets invaded and they get destroyed as a family in a few ways that I don't even want to type about. So basically, this is the wrong term to use about them. Refugees. Not migrants.
Enter media. First we hear on the news that they're 'invading' our countries. We roll our eyes. Then we stop for a second and think. We use our brains, media-free, and realise that they have every right to at least try to illegally enter a safer place. Of course each of these countries has to protect their borders, of course they have to protect their legal tax paying residents, of course, it is after all our patriotic duty. But it is also our human duty to understand that they have no choice, this is what we quite literally call a matter of life or death for them knowing that they can still lose the battle to enter another country and quite fatally. Bureaucracy-Shcmureaucracy, we are all people, we all breathe the same air.
Hashtag shoutout to the wealthy countries that are legally accepting big numbers of refugees in the next few days and providing them their safe land. Bra-vo. I may be twisting some bones here and causing rage to those who don't agree with my opinion but hey, my blog.
Getting right back to my initial point. Did you see the photo of the dead boy who got washed up by the sea? There's your slap in the face. We live in a free country where we are sleeping in our beds and with both eyes shut at night. So keep it humble you little stars, keep it real and be kind to one another. I stole that last one from Ellen DeGeneres...

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