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Just A Reminder
Nov. 6th, 2006 10:46 pmSo I was at work today, at one of the clinics I go to on a semi-regular basis. I haven't been there for a few months, though, and they've had some staff turnover lately. In particular, I haven't met a lot of the new kennel helpers. So when one of the kennel girls was sent to find me and tell me some information about a patient, I wasn't surprised when I didn't recognize her. I was a bit surprised, though, when she continued to stare at me after passing on her message.
Eventually, she asked me if I was new to the hospital. I explained that I wasn't a full-time employee, but that I filled in at a bunch of clinics in the area. Then she asked if I had ever worked at Hospital X. In fact, I had worked there, right after I graduated. When I told her this, she lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks display.
"I knew I recognized you!" she exclaimed. "You're the vet who put my guinea pig to sleep four years ago!"
For some reason, she seemed to think this was a positive memory. Apparently, she even kept the card I sent her afterwards. I spent the next twenty minutes being treated to stories of her new guinea pigs, the cat she had adopted from the clinic we were currently working at, and other vets she had known, liberally interspersed with exclamations of how cool I was, how exciting it was to see me again, and how much what I did had meant to her.
For me, my job is often just that. It's what I do every day, and while there are the occasional bright and shiny exciting cases, most of it blurs into a routine of vaccines, lectures to clients, and a Top Ten list of most-common, uneventful diagnoses. It's easy to forget - or never to notice - how people outside my own head perceive what I do. To think that one meeting like that could have so much of an impact on someone..... it's impressive, and scary, and amazing.
My job is pretty darn cool.
Eventually, she asked me if I was new to the hospital. I explained that I wasn't a full-time employee, but that I filled in at a bunch of clinics in the area. Then she asked if I had ever worked at Hospital X. In fact, I had worked there, right after I graduated. When I told her this, she lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks display.
"I knew I recognized you!" she exclaimed. "You're the vet who put my guinea pig to sleep four years ago!"
For some reason, she seemed to think this was a positive memory. Apparently, she even kept the card I sent her afterwards. I spent the next twenty minutes being treated to stories of her new guinea pigs, the cat she had adopted from the clinic we were currently working at, and other vets she had known, liberally interspersed with exclamations of how cool I was, how exciting it was to see me again, and how much what I did had meant to her.
For me, my job is often just that. It's what I do every day, and while there are the occasional bright and shiny exciting cases, most of it blurs into a routine of vaccines, lectures to clients, and a Top Ten list of most-common, uneventful diagnoses. It's easy to forget - or never to notice - how people outside my own head perceive what I do. To think that one meeting like that could have so much of an impact on someone..... it's impressive, and scary, and amazing.
My job is pretty darn cool.
