The Downside of The Job

I know you thought, "This must be about euthanasia," or, "I know.. expelling anal glands."

No.  It's none of that.

Although, once I am more involved with the euthanasia aspect of things, it might change.

So far, the worst part of the job is.. Well, remember how I told you about people not recognizing me when they come into the clinic?  Yeah.  That's not terrible, in fact, it's rather amusing.

What's really terrible is when I see favorite pup-customers from the store, who LOVED seeing me as much as I loved seeing them, and then they see me at the clinic and cringe and cower.

That's truly terrible.

I don't know if they honestly don't recognize me, or if the fear of the clinic is enough to override any joyful reunion.

But it's heartbreaking, it really is.

It happened to me today.  There is a very sweet little lady who is a regular at the store with her two Australian Shepherds.  I love her Australian Shepherds.  They are gorgeous, gentle, polite awesome dogs.  Today I went up to the front desk to take up a file, and I saw the lady sitting there with one of her Aussies, Peek.

I came out to say hello and Peek just about climbed straight up and over her owner to get away from me.

Wait a minute.  This isn't my sweet, loving friend.  Peek is always happy to see me, Peek always wants to give me her paw while she licks my face.  Not at the clinic.  At the clinic, Peek would rather I did not touch her.

:( :( :(  Sad panda.

The lady and I got Peek re-situated on the floor, and Peek did allow me to pet her and say hello, but not with any of the enthusiasm I was accustomed to getting at the store.  In fact, allow was about all there was to it.  She didn't try to escape, but sat frozen with fear while I petted her.  When I gave up on getting her to thaw, I said goodbye and walked back to my job.  I glanced back at my friends once, before I went through the door.  Peek sat, plastered to her owner's legs, staring at me with this look on her face that was halfway between, "OMG, I just dodged a bullet," and "But wait.. where are you going?"

I was pleased that with five minutes left on my shift, Peek's file hadn't come back yet and thus, I didn't have to do any terrible things to her or hold her while terrible things were done, making an irreparable breach in our relationship.

I went to clock out and came back to use the bathroom when a co-worker stopped me and said, "Hey, can I get you to get a temp for me?"  Sure, no problem.

I opened the door to exam room 2, and there sat Peek.

Damnit.

Immediately I hated myself for what I was about to do.

Strangely enough, Peek seemed much more at ease with me in the exam room than she did in the waiting area.  Before sticking glass things in her butt, I went to say hello again, and she gave me her paw and licked my face, just once, but enough to let me know she didn't hate me.

Sweet girl.

And in fact, she did not seem to mind me sticking the thermometer in the out door.

Still, that first reaction was a horrible feeling.