RIP - Shelter Chronicles

Shelter Chronicles are over.

The past few months have been relatively uneventful at the shelter. By that I mean that there have been few developments of violence and madness that have been drastically different than previous ones I wrote about. All in all, there was tons of minor attacks on me, close calls, traumatic events and incidents of heavy drug use, sexual violence and marginalization of people for their colour, mental illness and gender.

Still, it was nice to work at the shelter. I really felt I confronted a difficult set of issues and working conditions and handled myself well and with care. I walk down the street in the DTES and know people and it was always nice to have someone come into my work and be surprised that I remembered who they were.

Sadly, though there was a possibility that I could have come back to the shelter at some future date to continue working there, my last day at the shelter was one of the worst last days you could have. I immediately cam home, bawled my eyes out for an hour and sent in my total resignation (I had originally taken a leave for 6 months).

I was set to get away scot free until the final hour when I witnessed what I considered to be extremely bad actions by my coworker which turned into her screaming at me for a good half an hour. I was set to pass this on to my coworkers before I left but no one seemed to bothered by what had occurred and no one really listened to me. So to conclude, after giving it 100% at my job for the year my final day had me witness to homeless people get insulted to the point where they get violent. My attempt to get them out of the building was rewarded by my coworker insulting me for half an hour. My attempt to call her out publicly on this resulted in her getting a pat on the back for a job well done. The last thing my coworkers saw of me was me leaving in a huff. It was a shitty end to an otherwise great job and will leave me bitter and angry for years to come.

RIP - Shelter Chronicles