06 May 2010
by Lauriein Me, me, me, Work
Yesterday my new boss sent me an itinerary of how my first day is going to go. It’s packed. I’m a little worried about 10am-11am, when we’re going to discuss the ideal Practice Manager position, Laurie’s vision and core values.
Vision I have no problem with. I am your go-to visionary person. If anything I see too much of the big picture, and not enough of the details.
But my core values? I joked today that I lost them about four years ago…and then fell silent, because it’s true. I attended a lecture by Shawn McVey in 2008 or 2009 about authenticity (very similar to this article) and I remember thinking “this is what I have lost sight of. This is what I’m missing.” I suspect now that it was a source of a lot of my stress and anxiety about working at this (my current) practice. The practice itself didn’t have firm core values (aside from the obvious) and the target was constantly shifting.
This new job is going to be a culture shock I think.
06 May 2010
by Lauriein Me, me, me, Work
Or, how you can tell that I have less than two days left:
Last week we did a mast-cell tumor removal on a big Labrador (he weighs over 110lbs). The doctor warned the owner to keep an e-collar on him to prevent licking, but the owner objected and said he wouldn’t tolerate it. So the doctor suggested boxer shorts (it works well, I’ve put them on Bender before). We stressed the importance of not allowing the dog to lick else the sutures wouldn’t hold together and the incision could become infected.
Fast forward to yesterday: the dog came in because his incision was gaping open and looking infected. The owner admitted to our receptionist that the dog had been licking at it “for a few days” but told the doctor (a different one than the one that did the surgery) that he’s only started licking at it a day or two ago. At any rate the dog needed another full anesthetic to have the incision debrided and resutured. When we entered the invoice, it came to nearly the same amount as the original surgery, but the doctor and I decided that we’d discount it for the owners. Since the surgery was done in the last afternoon we elected to keep the dog overnight because he was groggy.
This morning the husband called to ask when he could come and get his dog, and I told him that we had to wait until the doctor came in so she could check the incision one last time. He was not amused, but seemed to understand. Then we had this little exchange:
“I want you to tell Dr. [Awesome Doc] that when my car’s engine needs to be rebuilt for a second time the mechanic doesn’t charge me.”
Before I could even think about what was coming out of my mouth, I heard myself say (very cheerfully) “yes, but you probably didn’t lick your engine until it didn’t work anymore.”
Silence.
“So, you’ll call me when I can come and pick him up, then?”
“Yes we will.”
We discounted his bill from $675 to $200. We didn’t have to, we just thought since they had spent almost that much on the original surgery (and histopathology) that we’d cut them a break. And this is what we get? Jackass.
Oh and for the record: I doubt that a mechanic would rebuild an engine for the second time for free if it wasn’t his fault that it blew up again.
28 Apr 2010
by Lauriein Cow & Toaster, Work
Last night I went of a brief stream-of-consciousness rant about why I should be the one who gets the super awesome helmet design (that I really, really want), not Paul. Even though Paul was only teasing me I just lost it and went crazy. I blame it on stress. It’s always the stress.
I’m really looking forward to my new job. I will be the Practice Manager of another veterinary hospital. This hospital is actively trying to grow their business and develop their employees. They have a business coach who is also going to mentor me. Part of the plan is for me to finally start working towards becoming a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager. My new boss (the veterinarian) and I seem to get along very well; we seem to be fairly alike. They’re very excited about having me too…I just hope I can live up to their expectations.
Because this job is in the opposite direction of where I work now (the clinic I work at now is in Ladner, the new one is out in the Fraser Valley) I won’t be able to carpool with Paul anymore (he works in Richmond), so for the most part I’m going to be riding my motorcycle to work every day. The route is longer by distance, but a little shorter time-wise.
I’m getting impatient to start this new chapter.
27 Apr 2010
by Lauriein Work
Counting down the last two weeks working here…right now the only way I’m getting through it is remembering that it’s almost at an end: we’re having an all-time high number of asshattery happening (clients) and staff just not doing what they’re told…both of which make my boss uptight and angry.
This place is a shambles – has always been a shambles – and there’s nothing I can do about it but try to minimize the damage once I’m gone.
I’m working on setting up another blog devoted to motorcycling; it threatened to take over this one and I want to go in a different direction here. Once it’s up and running I’ll post a link, and I’m pretty excited about it. Not sure why I’m excited about it, but I am!
25 Apr 2010
by Lauriein Housekeeping, Life, Work
I feel so guilty for neglecting this blog and any readers I may (still) have.
Life has been exciting since I last posted: we took our motorcycles out of storage – just in time for the weather to turn inconsistent again.
Oh, and I got a new job.
I haven’t started yet; I start on May 17th. I will be the Practice Manager of a veterinary hospital in the Fraser Valley. I think it’s going to be an amazing opportunity for me and I can’t quite believe that it’s happening. It’s similar to the job I do now, but I will have much more responsibility and more ability to be hands-on with the business.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, though. Where I work now has it’s downsides and a lot of negativity but I do care very much about everyone. It was incredibly hard to give notice to my boss (I gave eight weeks) and even harder to tell the staff. We’re all shell-shocked about it.
Life has changed a lot, yet stayed the same.
I am making a commitment to post here more often. I have a lot of stuff floating around in my head these days.
08 Feb 2010
by Lauriein February 2010 "Ties", NaBloPoMo, Work
I spent a great deal of time this weekend reading a practice management book for work so I could glean some ideas for our clinic. I came up with lots of great (if I do say so myself) ideas.
This was supposed to be part of a big meeting with my boss to discuss the clinic, my role, and his goals. It kind of sprang from me telling him why I was missing from work for two days last week. I thought that it was important for him to know, and for him to know that my anxiety started with work and expanded outwards. Not that I’m blaming work for my problems/illness, but my message to him was if things don’t change then I have to leave. I thought at the time that he understood and wanted to work things out so I wouldn’t be so stressed out.
Now I’m not so sure.
The meeting was originally scheduled for last Thursday, the day after I came back. It didn’t happen, we got busy, blah blah blah – story of my life here. So we made arrangements to meet today, off site, as it’s not a day that my boss is scheduled to be in the clinic. Well, if that meeting did happen, this post probably wouldn’t, heh.
I called him to see if he was coming and and no, he’s not. He’s too tired from the weekend.
I spent a good portion of my weekend doing work and research – as I was asked – and the meeting is cancelled.
Now I’m sitting here, quietly angry.
So, the theme for February’s NaBloPoMo is “ties“. What ties me to this dysfunctional practice?
I guess this is something that I’m going to have to examine.
28 Jan 2010
by Lauriein Work
Caller: “So is there any chance that you would spay my kitten for free?”
Me: “No. The price is $xx.xx which includes the exam that must be done before we put your pet under anesthetic.”
Caller: “I thought that if I said I had no money you would have to do it for free. Isn’t it some kind of an oath? To treat poor people’s animals for free?”
Me: “Actually – no. And I don’t think we’d be in business too long if we didn’t charge for our services.”
Caller: “Oh. Never mind then. I thought I’d try and see if you’d do it. The other animal hospital said the same thing.”
04 Jan 2010
by Lauriein Life, Me, me, me, Work
For the past week or so I have been having a really hard time getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. I’m pretty sure it had a lot to do with being off work; it didn’t matter if I went to bed late because I could sleep in.
As it got closer to return to work time I started trying to get myself back on track as far as going to bed and falling asleep at a normal time. Instead I found that it was taking me longer and longer to fall asleep and even when I got to sleep I’d only stay sleeping for anywhere between ten minutes and two hours.
So I was pretty much RAGE-Y!Zombie at work today. Well, work was an absolute joke of a gong show, but I’m not ever going to talk about that.
When I did finally fall asleep sometime after 5:00am I had a bizarre dream where I was in a classroom talking to different versions of myself.
Tonight I’m going to have a hot bath, take some melatonin (even though it did jack for me last night), dab on some TKO and hopefully get some restful, restorative sleep tonight.
I hope this doesn’t become a trend.
29 Dec 2009
by Lauriein Me, me, me, Work
I’ve been off work since the 19th and I go back on January 4th. But I’m really dreading going back. Not just “boy it sure sucks to have to work for a living!” but actual dread.
I don’t have any direction at work, I’m basically left to my own devices to fill the eight hours. Which sounds nice but in reality is really disconcerting. Anything I put my time and effort into (because I think it’s important/useful/will help grow the business/help develop the staff, etc.) is either not acknowledged or looked at and forgotten. More
24 Aug 2009
by Lauriein Work
You know, instead of actually working: pursuing the Poo Trap website.
Check out the FAQs. We were laughing so hard we were crying.
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