Fishy Business

It’s still raining, and we’re still inventing reasons to get Woo out of the house. Today we checked out a local fish hatchery. This is a Federal Fish & Game facility that raises salmon to be released into the Sacramento River. We figured with it being December and raining, we shouldn’t expect too much. That turned out to be a pretty accurate expectation.

I don’t mind that there wasn’t much to do, or that most of the holding tanks were empty. What I do mind is that most of the public buildings were locked, including the bathrooms. What’s worse is that an employee saw us trying to get into the public bathrooms and told us they were “closed”, then directed us to a portapotti in the parking lot. What the fuck do you mean the bathrooms are closed? Open them asshole. This place is ten miles out in the country, it’s not like they’ve got a problem with non-patrons boogering up the joint. The only reason I can figure that the bathrooms were closed is because they’re too lazy to clean them.

We walked around the place, jiggling locked doors and peering into tanks, trying to see the fish. We ran into a group of five employees, only one of which acknowledged us by waving. You’d think seeing someone walking around with a kid, they’d volunteer something to do or direct us to something to see. Guess that wasn’t in their job description. In poking around one of the buildings – the one with the ping-pong table and basketball hoop, I did manage to shake loose another employee and corner him. When I told him we were trying to figure out what the place is all about and find something for the boy to see, his answer was “Well we’re having lunch and the water’s too murky to see any fish. Good luck.”

So let me get this right: these people work at a place with public access, where the public is invited to visit, and then get annoyed because we actually come? It must really suck to be you. It irkes me that my dollars pay for their salaries and that facility, including the ping-pong table and basketball hoop. Hey buddy, if you don’t like your job, go get another one where you don’t have to deal with us pesky taxpayers. But that might mean you actually have to do something to get a paycheck, so I doubt that will happen.

As I said, we didn’t go there expecting much, but a shred of helpful information and a sanitary place to pee would have gone a very long way in making our walk in the rain more enjoyable.

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