Yes, I can turn you away

Today was an interesting Monday to say the least. I know that people's tempers are a bit frayed from the continued state of emergency in High River. Here's the thing, it does not give you the right to be rude to my staff. They are my work family and I tend to be very protective of my family.

A lady called and made an appointment for her dog because it had a cut on its leg. Not a problem, the staff "made" an appointment (aka, we were fully booked and needed to find a place to squish her in). The fun started when she arrived. My receptionist, Belle, told her that she would take them into a room and I would be in shortly to do an exam to see what needed to be done. This person told her (in no uncertain terms) that the dog was not going to have an exam because the dog just needed to have some stitches put in. Oh yeah, she didn't want antibiotics either cause vets just like to over medicate the animals. Belle tried to explain that unless I saw the dog, I wouldn't know how to treat the dog appropriately. The person informed her that she should just get the vet.

So Belle came and got me. I came out and asked what the issue was. I sure got an earful!!!! Can I tell you how much I love being told how to do my job? Here's the thing, without examining the dog and coming up with a treatment plan, how do I know what needs to be done? Does it have a small cut that can just heal on its own? Is it a large laceration needing a general anesthetic? The person flipped out when I mentioned a general anesthetic as her vet never used an anesthetic and would just take the dog out back and throw in some stitches. I finally figured that no matter what I said, it would start another argument.

I took a deep breath and told the owner that we had obviously gotten off on the wrong foot. She nodded her head in agreement. "So, with that in mind, Belle, would you mind calling X veterinary clinic to see if they have any room to deal with this patient?" After picking her jaw off the floor, she stormed out with the poor dog in tow.

This is my dear Reason who is now 14 years old. Just added her picture as a reward for reading my little rant.