The point of pets
After an entire summer fending off ever more ingenious appeals for a pet, the first thing I hear at school pick up time is that Daughter 1’s best friend now has a dog. “It’s like having another child,” says Daughter 1’s best friend’s mum, apologetically. “Except he’s always pleased to see me.” Suddenly, I begin to waver. What a tempting thought --someone who greets you cheerfully wagging their tail rather than demanding what’s for supper and then groaning, who comes bounding down the stairs as I enter the front door rather than hastily disappearing up them afraid that I’m going to insist on homework or end a playdate.
I’m feeling in dire need of friendly appreciation at the moment, especially as, thanks to the recession, there looks like being less and less of the financial kind. We homeworkers get none of the gentle stroking and gushing that office workers take for granted – “you made a good point in that meeting”, “love that shirt”, “you look well for your holiday”, the odd appreciative smile or nod. At the same time, we have to put up with the kind of casual rudeness that people would never use if they knew they were likely to bump into you by the water cooler – like not bothering to answer important emails, my current gripe.
In fact, I’m all for employers learning from primary school tactics and introducing a system of “star of the week” or at least the occasional sticker saying “you’re great” -- I’m absolutely with six-year-olds on the value of this one. I wouldn’t mind printing it off myself if budgets were tight.
Instead, as everyone gets more and more stretched there seems to be less and less time to think about how to keep us worker exiles happy, even though praise is pretty cost effective, as are we.
So I can completely see the appeal of the kind of drooling affection that dogs dole out to their owners, even if it does mean years of chewed shoes and pooper scooping. The kids have no idea how close they sometimes are to getting the longed-for puppy, especially if they’re really really nice to me.
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