Waiting List

So, this was something different that I don't believe I've experienced before, so I wanted to write about it.

This morning, I was calling people on the waiting list, to tell them we had room for their chins.  For two numbers, I called the number... several rings... and then you could tell, they declined the call.  They didn't send it to voicemail, they just declined the call.  Called back, even less rings, declined the call.

So for both people, I sent a text message, detailing who I was and why I was calling.  So far, no response.

While I understand people don't always pick up numbers they are unfamiliar with... declining phone calls from those numbers, while the person is on a waiting list at a rescue, does no good for anyone.  I suppose this can tie into the post from the other day, where I talked about one thing affecting many others -- I give everyone on the waiting list 3 days to respond.  So, if the person doesn't respond (because, to be fair, they can  respond and say "no longer need to bring the chinchilla in"), that pushes the next person back at least three days.  Multiply this by multiple people who don't respond, and then not only does it seem pointless to even have a waiting list sometimes, but also makes it so that people who really DO want to bring their animals in, have to wait forever to do so.

I even have one person who emailed me in the middle of October... they were on my list and wanted to check where they were on the list, because they were "really in a bind" and needed to bring the chins in ASAP.  So we exchanged a couple emails... and then I didn't hear from them for like 10ish days.  So I called them.  They said they had some stuff going on, and hadn't had a chance to get back to emails.  Ok.  So we talked about when they could bring them in.  Oh, maybe the 2nd or 3rd, if not then, maybe the 16th.  What happened to being in a bind? 

Now, I understand that people have lives outside of chinchillas, and other things to do.  I do.  But it's so easy to get frustrated when someone acts all rush-rush to get their chinchilla in... and then suggests a day, a month out, when they miiiiight be able to bring it in.

And maybe it's just me that looks at it like this, but the point of a waiting list is so that when you get the phone call... you bring it in.  Reasonably soon.  Not like, you bring it in, at whatever your convenience is, in the next couple months.  Unfortunately, it's that sort of thing that makes the waiting list take so long to get through!