unpopular-ship-queen: the-awkward-turt: loveiseldritch: papprekakinga: Always reblog As a former z

unpopular-ship-queen:

the-awkward-turt:

loveiseldritch:

papprekakinga:

Always reblog

As a former zookeeper we would hear this a lot. “If you don’t study hard you’ll end up cleaning poop for a living.” It’s the one time we’re allowed to go off on the visitors. I once heard my boss rant for five minutes at a lady, in front of her kids, about how he had a Master’s degree, how people literally worked there for free, and how dare she judge people without bothering to know anything about them. Later that day his boss came by and said, roughly, “She told us what happened. Thanks for not throwing anything this time.”

Oh maaaannn yeah I can’t even imagine how hard myself or my coworkers would lose their minds if someone said that within earshot.

For those who don’t know: Zookeeping is a ridiculously competitive field. You perform incredibly difficult physical work while also needing highly specific and refined scientific and experiential knowledge. And you make a depressingly small amount of money in comparison to any other job you could get for that amount of education and experience.

Those people shoveling poop are the lucky ones. They are living the dream. And they aren’t there for any reason other than passion for animal care and conservation. And yeah, almost all of them have bachelors degrees and many have masters.

Say this kind of BS around a keeper and they will come for you.

i helped work behind the scenes at the zoo past two summers and that shit is exhausting. there’s no such thing as holidays off, because the animals need you. you’re out in the zoo no matter the weather, breaking your back because these little innocent creatures depend on you for their wellbeing. and it’s great. but it’s hard work and those keepers who do it for a living do it because they love it, and because they love the animals we work with. they absolutely deserve full respect and appreciation.